Who First Showed You What It Meant to Lead?
Welcome, 5AM Warriors!
I’m so excited to introduce to you I L🫶🏾VE MONDAYS: Your Cure to the Sunday Scaries. This weekly Monday newsletter aims to give you some personal leadership tidbits that can give you that competitive advantage for the week and help you reach Friday feeling like a boss. I’ll also be linking to my Monday Motivation playlist on Spotify with 16+ HOURS of specially curated gems across a multitalented genres and eras to give you just what you need to conquer the day ahead.
Read some now or later, grab a green juice, and let’s vibe this week.
Who First Showed You What It Meant to Lead?
I believe excellence is a habit, and excellence in our careers start with excellence in our daily habits. Personal leadership before professional leadership. We have a lot to get into, but for my welcome note, I want to talk about what it means to lead and be a leader, especially in these days in times.
And my question is a simple one: who first showed you what it meant to lead?
If you’re anything like me, you might’ve grown up thinking “leaders” were people on TV—polished suits, soundbites on the evening news, far removed from your everyday life. But real leadership? The kind that lasts? It’s not about titles or timelines. It’s a rhythm. A lifestyle. One I first witnessed in my grandfather.
Roy Young was born in Alabama and raised in rural, segregated Eastern Kentucky. His father—Frank C—was a man of size, strength, and service. Frank C ran a boarding house near the coal mines where he worked through conditions most of us couldn’t begin to fathom. After finishing at Lynch Colored High School at the top of his class and attending what was known then as Wilberforce Normal School, my grandfather went off to fight in World War II. His was blown up in a tank, I’d hear him say every once in a while when catching up with other old timers around the way. Yet, he walked away, somehow, and went on to serve 35 years without missing a single scheduled day of work, I’m told. But, that wasn’t about medals or praise. That was duty. That was leadership. He had a wife and 6 mouths to feed.
My grandfather Roy raised me alongside my grandmother Barbara primarily in my most impressionable years. He was always up before my siblings, cousins and me, way before the sun rose—dressed for the day, with breakfast hot on the table by the time we came down the hall. I mean every day we had some version of oatmeal, eggs, bacon, fresh fruit, toast, and juice before we got off to school, and he always left me with 4 quarters by the door because he said “a man should always have a little money in his pocket.” He didn’t play about order, discipline, or doing things right the first time. Pants on a hanger. Clothes laid out the night before. Greens at dinner. That structure? I hated it then. I cherish it now.
Because years later, after reading every leadership book I could get my hands on—from Quincy Jones to Ben Franklin—I realized some the lessons most imprinted in me weren’t in those pages. They were in the home my grandparents made. From a man whom I’m not really sure read me a leadership quote but embodied every single one and wrote to me in a note that I will forever cherish: “with God’s help and your desire, anything is possible.” Leaders serve. They show up. They stay ready. They create order so others can find peace in the chaos. They have desire.
So, thank you Grandpa. For being the first model of leadership I ever knew. You never got the headline, but you gave me the headline I now write.
Welcome to the 5AM Club.
You’re here because you’re building something—bigger than a job title, deeper than a resume. You want legacy. You want influence with intention. You’re chasing the kind of life that echoes. You have that desire that can’t be described.
And before most people even hit snooze, you’ve already activated your discipline, your vision, and your purpose. That’s why you’re here. That’s why this space is for you.
Every week, I’ll be dropping your Monday blueprint—designed to fuel your body, clear your mind, and lock you into the rhythm of a life well-led.
What’s inside this week:
🧠 Fuel Like a Warrior: High-achieving bodies need high-functioning fuel. Every week, I’ll share tips to help you optimize performance and longevity—without giving up joy. Today’s fuel: a wellness ritual from the ancestors with modern-day power.
📅 Organize Like a Soldier: Systems are sacred. The most successful leaders I know—military vets, pro athletes, political strategists—have one thing in common: structured daily rhythms. I’ll show you small systems that create big results.
💎 Recover Like a Champion: This isn’t hustle for hustle’s sake. This is about vision. Freedom. Fulfillment. So I’ll always include a little dopamine hit—a reward, a destination, an experience that reminds you why you started. #VisionBoardReady
📚 Plus: Picks of the Week: Each week, I’ll leave you with a book, podcast, article, and YouTube clip that’s worth your time. Curated. Relevant. Culture-forward.
Let’s go build.
Sincerely ☮️🫶🏾✊🏾