Les Brown

He was born on February 17th, 1945. His mother gave birth to him and his twin brother on the floor of an abandoned building in a low-income district of Miami, FL. Soon she gave them both up for adoption. Their new mother was a single lady with little more to offer the boys in the material sense than their birth mother. But fortunately for them, Mamie Brown possessed something far more valuable, a very big heart.

As a fifth grade student, Les was held back a grade. Labeled as a disruptive student, he was soon placed in special education classes where he remained for several years. During his high school years at Booker T. Washington, a caring individual intervened once again. This time, it was a speech and drama instructor who saw talent in the young man and encouraged him to pursue a career in radio broadcasting.

The restless energy and insatiable curiosity that once made him a distracted student continued to haunt the young man for years but it also propelled him to success. Armed with only a high school education, and fueled by a passion to realize his own potential and help others to achieve theirs, Les began the hard work of realizing his goals. He worked briefly at the Department of Sanitation before becoming the errand boy for a Miami Beach radio station. While there, in what became an early break, Les stepped in for a disc jockey who clocked into work after kicking back one too many alcoholic beverage! Shortly thereafter, with a bit of experience under his belt as a morning broadcaster, Les moved to Columbus, Ohio where he went to work for WVKO and began to involve himself in the community. He soon became a political commentator and then a three-term legislator.

Today he is an award winning premier keynote speaker. And in today’s southern quote we feature these inspiring words by the best-selling author.

“The only limits to the possibilities in your life tomorrow are the ‘buts’ you use today.” –Les Brown

~Shellie