SUCCESS coach and entrepreneur Natalie Lue-Fung has decided to provide youth aged 15 to 24, and young adults 26-35 with access to information and systems that will enable them to increase their opportunities for creating and ensuring physical, spiritual and financial realms of success.

This comes in the form of an inaugural event — First Steps to Success — on June 27 at the Jamaica Conference Centre in Kingston.

Many will remember Lue-Fung for her story in the Jamaica Observer’s All Woman, last November when she spoke of her journey through life to attain her goals.

Born in the tough South St Andrew community of Arnett Gardens, also known as ‘Jungle”, Lue-Fung was homeless at 15, pregnant at 16, and became a child of the system. But she developed a spirit of resilience to chart her way through life’s many obstacles.

Her determination earned her over 40 scholarships, has three university degrees from Morgan State University in Baltimore, USA and a job on Wall Street, where she gained a background in finance. But even then, she still had setbacks. However, she used them as a motivation to achieve more.

“While I was on Wall Street, that summer I was actually homeless. I was supposed to be staying with family members, but based on the fact that I was the first out of my family to achieve that level of success it actually triggered jealousy and at one point they violently hurt me and abused me so I ended up homeless for a couple of weeks,” she told the Sunday Observer.

“I slept inbetween the office and I would hang out late. I would sleep in the sick bay, sleep during lunch time and break time and work late, but I used it to fuel me to do more, to actually work at a higher level,” she said.

But, having overcome the difficulties, Lue-Fung was not satisfied and having been abroad during the time of the 2010 Tivoli Gardens incursion, she became convicted to do more for her homeland.

“When that event took place someone put in the opinion section of one of the local newspapers that they should just bomb us up. I remember when I was six years old and there was a fight between Jungle and Rema, and I remember hearing people complaining over the radio saying we’re just a bunch of parasites and they should just get rid of us and I thought, what if someone had got rid of me then?” she said.

As a result, she said she began to think what could be done differently to avoid such situations in the future. But, like most people, she complained about not having enough support and resources.

“I started to look into myself and realised that I was mentored and coached and I don’t have to have Oprah Winfrey’s money or Butch Stewart’s money to be able to give back, and so many of us are waiting to have that to give back.

And so, the idea for the conference evolved, where Lue-Fung intends for it to guide young people through the formative years of their professional lives.

“First Steps to Success will look at how people can position individuals to know that whatever their situation, financial or where they’re from they were born to win. Every single one of us was born to win. The question is often asked: “How do you eat a large elephant?” It’s simple — one bite at a time. Focus on doing the small steps and finding people who have achieved some amount of success, look at how they did it and follow exactly what they’re doing,” she said.

The event, put on by the Wealth Improvement Network (WIN), according to Lue-Fung, is in alignment with the nation’s guiding sustainable and developmental vision (Vision 2030 Jamaica).

“We want to engage the leaders in areas that our young people need support to have a solid foundation for a successful life. Successful individuals and spiritual leaders all agree that the real secret to success is not simply motivating oneself to “take massive action” towards his/her goals. Instead, it is learning how to reprogramme their subconscious beliefs so that success is no longer hard or farfetched, but instead automatic and effortless as they are willing to do all it takes to accomplish their goals. It all comes down to having a determination for change and empowerment, renewing one’s mind, seeking after continuous education and personal development,” she said.

“When I started out I struggled with depression, I struggled with fear, and I was insecure as much as I was talented. I didn’t have a positive mental attitude. I was told that by the age of 18 I’d probably be dead. Being told that as a child, I believed, and even though I was taken out of the community and went to a foster home and experienced a nicer life, because that was planted in my head that was what I believed. Because I was mentored and being around positive people, it pushed me to think of the possibilities instead of all that was going wrong. It was about being around people who believed in me, inspired me and caused me to look and delve deeper in success.”

She added that the challenges people face locally oftentimes lead to a pessimistic outlook on the foreseeable future, but the conference aims to combat this limited view of success and will produce an environment to affect change and shift these paradigms in our youth and young adult groups.

“Exposure to positive images and concepts of success as well as practical training shapes the way our young people think, act and ultimately the results they produce. Additionally, we believe that engaging our young people is another strategy to reduce crime and violence and increase productivity for a very fragile group,” Lue-Fung said.

According to Lue-Fung, First Steps to Success will begin with a major worship session led by pastors and worship leaders from The Potters House of Dallas Texas, where Bishop TD Jakes is the leader. Afterwards, the day will comprise large and small group seminars where local and international speakers will inform, motivate and inspire patrons on topics specific to a variety of career and business endeavours.

“For instance, we will have sessions on First Steps to Success in the field of medicine where our guest speaker Dr Patricia Yapp will speak on some of the decisions and actions she made/took to build a business and brand and now her very own line of products.

“Or another speaker, Ian ‘Container’ Miles speaks on how he went from pushing hand carts as a youth to now owning several successful businesses and building a brand all without ever participating in illegal activities. Another example, is Ricardo Gardener, the professional footballer who will speak on the importance of a positive mental attitude to taking talent to an international stage,” Lue-Fung said

Other speakers for the day will include Omari Edwards on entertainment, Luton Shelton on sports, Isaiah Raymond, Pastor Andrew Castillo and Rev Dewayne Shettleworth on ministry, Lue-Fung on corporate, Melarka Williams, Ian Miles on entrepreneurship, among others.

Lue-Fung said that the evening will end with a concert by local and international musicians and throughout the day there will be vendors who share the goods and services at a discounted price for those present.

She encouraged reader to the updates on FB at @WealthImprovementNetwork and to attend event page @FirstStepsToSuccessJA for updates on the conference regarding tickets and giveaways as well as on Instagram at @WealthImprovementNet.

WIN will also host a second staging in October at the Montego Bay Conference Centre.