#163 Refuse to be a victim with JeVon McCormick

In this week's episode of The Unconventionalists podcast, Mark Leruste sits down with JeVon McCormick to talk about his incredible but true story of going from being abused, neglected and homeless as a child to becoming the award-winning CEO of a multi-million dollar publishing company that was recently ranked the #1 Top Company Culture in America by Entrepreneur Magazine.

In short, if you looked up “Unconventional Leader” in the dictionary, a picture of JeVon McCormick surely should appear.

JeVon was recently named Best CEO in Austin. He’s made millions in the stock market (even though he didn’t go to college), he was the President of a software company (even though he can’t code) and he’s currently the CEO of a publishing company (even though he can’t spell). 

“You need to go down in your dark basement and own your story if you truly want to be free.” JeVon McCormick

In his 2017 book “I Got There: How I Overcame Racism, Poverty, and Abuse to Achieve the American Dream” JeVon shared his incredible backstory of what it was like growing up with a black dad who was a pimp and drug dealer, who also fathered 23 children.

His white mother was raised in an orphanage with no clue of where she came from, living on welfare, who did her best to raise her son. Despite her best efforts, JeVon was sexually molested from the age of 6 to 8 years old, faced racism, abuse, was in and out of Juvenile detention and was even at one point homeless.

This is one of my fravourite conversations on the podcast as rarely do I get to share the story of a successful CEO willing to open up about his back story, successes, warts and all.

I hope it will inspire you as much as it has inspired me.

As always I can’t wait to hear what you got out of today’s conversation, so please leave your comments below and share what was your biggest takeaway.

Be true, be brave, be kind and let it rip.

Mark


Warning: This episode contains curse words, explicit language, descriptions of abuse and triggers that may cause a traumatised person to relive a past experience, especially related to abuse or sexual assault. Viewers discretion is advised.

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IN THIS WEEK’S EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN

  • Why JeVon stopped editing himself after the murder of George Floyd and why he stopped trying to fit in the playbook of corporate America

  • How JeVon managed to take all the stories that he was concerned, feared or had shame about and turn them into an inspiring message

  • How JeVon blew up on TikTok

  • What helped JeVon go from feeling embarrassed to serving a wider audience

  • Why you need to focus on the things you can change

  • Why there’s always positivity you can take away from any situation, no matter how dramatic or tragic that event may be

  • Why JeVon ditched a high-paid CEO job at a software company to lead a startup in publication

  • How despite facing so much advertistiy, JeVon never struggled with self-love

  • Why JeVon has banished the words hope, wish and luck from his vocabulary

  • Why “belief” forces execution

  • Why there is power in sharing your story

  • And why embracing the fact that not everyone is going to like you is the most freeing feeling in the world


SHOWNOTES:


SPONSORS

 This week’s episode of The Unconventionalists podcast was brought to you by:

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