Welcome to Between the Covers Summer Series, where we put the spotlight on our South Florida authors.

Hi, I'm Anne Bok and joining me is Tevin Ali, author of Ambitious Archie.

Tean Ali is a national awardwinning motivational speaker for high school and college students, and this is his second book.

Oh, welcome.

Oh, thank you so much for having me and such a pleasure to meet you and be here.

Ambitious Archie, first of all, it is a cute book.

It is adorable.

It is dedicated to your father.

It's beautiful.

It's an inspirational story.

I read it and I said, "This is not just a tribute.

It's a love letter to your family."

to understand where this book came from, we need to look at your journey and your family and your growing up.

Tell me a little about that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So, uh, growing up here in Boon Beach, um, um, first in my family to go to college.

So, uh, growing up, my parents always instilled in me the values that education is something nobody can take away from you.

So, parents worked hard to make sure I did well in school and uh yeah, just grew up here and got my bachelor's and master's degree and then ended up becoming an author along the way.

How old were you when you moved here?

Yeah.

So, probably three years, two years old.

Yeah.

Around.

And your family came from uh Trinidad and Tobago.

Yeah.

And I understand money was pretty tight at first.

I think your family actually were living in someone's garage for a while.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So that uh starting off uh in the city of Boon Beach.

Yeah.

That's how they uh started off and then was able to save money, buy their own house and uh yeah, we just stayed here ever since and just grew up here in this lovely uh Palm Beach County.

Ambitious Archie is the second book.

You had previously written a book called Forging Your Inner Diamond.

Also inspirational for a little older group of kids.

It's about moving forward and challenges.

Tell me a little bit about that.

Yeah.

So, forging your inner diamond is uh on overcoming adversity.

We all go through struggles in life.

So, when I go out to speak to college audiences, I kind of share my five lessons uh within that book, but I tell it through an overarching story.

And I wrote I wrote a wrote the character the main character Serena.

So, I wrote it her in a way that, you know, it's kind of lost in life and a lot of us can feel like that at times.

So a lot of people can relate to that character and she she goes through this journey and along the way each chapter teaches a different lesson till you get to climax and and she's able to you know move forward in her journey which is beautiful.

What was it that sparked your love to pick up the pen and start writing?

Yeah.

So you know that process started in college.

I was always the shy and quiet kid uh in in high school.

Uh but college kind of find my voice and and found a love for for writing just I I love storytelling and that's how I approach uh this the writing concept because I was going to I was going to write that book as a a self-help book but I was like you know I love storytelling so I merged elements of self-help with novel writing and I blended them together to create that book.

What's the biggest thing that you would like your readers your little readers to take away from this book?

Yeah.

So from Ambitious Archie, I would say uh the deep magic within that book is is legacy.

When we think about legacy, you know, legacy isn't some always something we leave for people.

It's also something we leave within others such as wisdom, love, and and values.

So really challenging the status quo there and looking at legacy as some some things that we instill within others.

You are a motivational speaker.

That is your job.

You speak to teens.

You speak to college kids.

Those are challenging years for most teenagers.

Absolutely.

There is so much uncertainty.

How do you reach them and what do they get from you?

Yeah.

So that's a great question, Ann.

So relating to college students, you know, during that time in your life, like you know, if we reflect back at that stage in our life, it it really is, you know, a canvas, right?

And we're painting it, you know, the journey of life along the way with that.

So to relate to those students, you know, really, you know, really kind of understanding them, you know, taking a step back and remembering how you were uh during that that point in time.

And for me, being a college student, I I struggled uh as well.

You know, I experienced the lows uh and the highs.

And I think that's how I'm able to uh reach a broad audience of college uh students because I experienced the failures on in terms of like even failing out of a college and then becoming state of Florida student of the year graduate graduating from John's Hopkins and earning a national scholarship and achieving all those achievements.

I could relate to you know both to success and failure.

It's authenticity.

Yeah, absolutely.

It's reaching them at their level... you did mention to me that not only college and high school, but you are going to talk to fifth graders as well.

So, yes, I have a gr.. coming up.

So, I'm excited for that.

Tevin, you yourself have overcome challenges and obstacles in in your life.

Is there was there ever self-doubt?

Yeah.

And you know even you know even giving speeches you know you get those butterflies and the fear that but you always have to tell yourself you know I've done it before and I'll do it again.

And sometimes we got to step out of our own skin.

And you know when I deliver messages I'm like you know get over yourself.

It's not just about you.

It's about the message and how that could benefit someone else.

Like whether I'm speaking to an audience of five or 5,000.

It's always about that one person you can connect with.

And I'm just so fortunate they would approach me after the speech and be like, "Hey, what you said was really powerful.

Change my way of thinking or change something and you know that makes it all worthwhile."

Absolutely.

Yeah.

What's a piece of advice that.. give young people about their own dreams?

Yeah, that's a great question.

when it comes to you know setting really setting those goals for yourself like taking it out of your head and putting it onto paper and a mantra I always tell myself and I learned this from a mentor in college don't let people happen to you you happen to people because we can get influenced by the environment or others so easily but be that person who who takes the high road be that person who makes an impact and always put that at the forefront of your mind may I steal that mantra from you.

I got you.

You could use it anytime.

Ann, what would you tell little Tevin, the tiny Tevin, who just arrived here from Trinidad and Tobago?

Wow.

I would tell him so much.

I guess the key is everything will work out in the end.

And always to trust your inner voice cuz we we know ourselves the best.

And sometimes you could get advice from other people's, but we know our situation the best.

And those grains of salt can help, but instinctively you know what's best to do.

You know the right thing to do.

I love that.

Everything will work out.

Yeah.

The new book is Ambi.. Elli, thank you so much for sharing your time here today.

The book is great.

A thank you so much and that means a lot.

Thanks for having me.

Ian Boott, please join me on the next Between the Covers.