My name is Koffi Aboagye; I was born and raised in Togo, a country in West Africa. I was adopted by my aunt and her husband who added me to their three children and raised me as their own. I see this event as a chance life gave me to be raised by those capable of giving me the future I deserve. When I was back home, I wanted to be a nurse like my father, but was not good at sciences and I ended up studying literature and went to law school in college. Coming to America gave me a new opportunity. I took my chance to learning sciences and I succeeded, I went to nursing school and against all odds, I became a nurse. Today I am an ICU nurse, and I am hungry for more and I am going for more. I have learned from this experience that life always gives you a second chance to become who you are meant to be. I also learned from my educational experience that whatever you put your mind on, you will achieve and that “men are born to succeed, not to failed” (Henry David Thoreau).
My career as a speaker is my second dream. My dream is to inspire others to go for their dreams and desires. “Whatever you do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it” (Johann Goethe). I grew up in a culture where risk is not something we really believe in. We see abroad such as America and Europe as places to take risk at, we see those places as where opportunity and success are. But I believe Benjamin Disraeli, the great British Prime Minister who said, “we are not creatures of circumstance; we are creators of circumstance.” I am here to tell you that: you are the creator of your life; not the locations, not your environment or the people around you. I am here to tell you that where you are, is where you are meant to be. But where you will be from now is your creation. Whether is your marriage, career, self-esteem, finance, or the achievement of your dream, you must design it and make it happened. I am here to tell you to be like Napoleon Bonaparte, “circumstances-what are circumstances? I make circumstances”; William Jennings Bryan, “destiny is not a matter of chance; it is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for; it is a thing to be achieved”; Eleanor Roosevelt, “the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams”; and Abraham Lincoln, “always bear in mind that your own resolution to success is more important than any other one thing”