From changing homes to moving to a new city, uncertainty and hardship marked the early life of George Robey IV, an associate director at AT&T, an American telecommunication company.
Narrating his story to People, Robey shared how "around the end of 2006" he was kicked out of his home for mingling with the wrong crowd, and just a few months later he found out that his partner was expecting a child.
This realisation that he needed to improve led him to start seeking work. One day, he came across an AT&T sign. He said, "When I saw that sign, I took a leap of faith."
He went inside the store and met Yassir Querishe, the store manager, who motivated him to apply for the job. He said, "It was really cool that the store manager did not judge me and gave me the opportunity to change my life."
He told Robey to apply online, but Robey didn't have a computer to do so, so he quickly went to the nearest public library and printed the form from there. He brought the application back to Querishe, who, upon checking, told him, "There's no number to contact you."
Robey didn’t have a phone, so he spent the next two hours asking people on the road for any extra money that they could spare. He collected $25 and, with it, bought a GoPhone.
His determination paid off, as two weeks later he got a call for the interview.
He nailed the interview process and was eventually offered a job with AT&T. Robey shared that he wore charity clothes to the interview as he did not have any formal clothes.
As Robey continues to build his career, his journey serves as a powerful example of how resilience, combined with the right support, can lead to remarkable achievements.