Arel Moodie

BusinessWeek said that Arel Moodie "teaches young people that anything is possible." Essence Magazine said that "Arel Moodie should be the poster boy for rags-to-riches stories...He made it to college and is now America's Top Young Speaker." USA Today recognized Arel Moodie as a Top Generation Y Entrepreneur.

Arel is the bestselling author of Your Starting Point for Student Success, a book not about helping students go to college, but more importantly helping students successfully go THROUGH college to truly succeed in school and in life.

Arel grew up on welfare in the projects of Brooklyn, NY where he witnessed those around him being murdered and imprisoned. Being picked on, beaten up, and robbed at knifepoint were typical, harsh experiences he now credits as the force behind his success. Seeing college as his "way out", Arel took advantage of his college opportunity to the fullest. He started his first successful internet company while in college, and served as president of four different student organizations. Arel's college awarded him the "Albert Tillman Award", naming him "The Most Outstanding Graduating Senior".

Now, as a professional speaker and co-owner of The Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour, Arel has spoken to over 65,000 students in 39 states and two countries by his 26th birthday. Arel is named one of the country's Top Generation Y Leaders in the book Millennial Leaders as well as being featured in the #1 NY Times Bestselling book who's got your back by Keith Ferrazzi (also author of Never Eat Alone).

In his spare time, Arel likes to dance and has performed with the Grammy Award winning R&B group 112.

He also loves his pug and high-fives.

More about Arel

Biggest obstacle overcome...

When developing the idea for the placefinder.com, neither myself nor my business partner knew anything about web site development, which became a huge problem. To make a long story short it took us 2 ½ years to build a functional website. We went through numerous sub-par programmers and designers who did not produce a product that was sufficient.

Biggest business mistake...

One of the biggest mistakes I've made in business was launching our business before the site was ready. I heard how important it was to just "jump right in" and figure it out as you go, but this strategy resulted in a lot of angry customers, and my business was a major focal point of a lot of stress in my life because of it.

Biggest vice...

Sugar. I love sweets and I have to work on cutting down on them.

Biggest advice for others...

Remember that every overnight success took at least 5-7 years. What people from the outside don't see, is all the sacrifice it takes to succeed and make a business work.

What I do for fun...

Dance, watch movies/youtube clips, work out, play basketball or random sports like miniature golf

Most embarrassing business moment...

This one time, I'm ashamed to admit, I was showing an apartment at a place that wasn't in the best area. And as I was showing it with the handyman present, a neighbor ran up to the handyman to let him know that last night someone broke into his apartment and stole all of his stuff. As the neighbor said this I looked at the prospective tenants and felt so embarrassed. It's safe to say that those tenants did not move in and I felt like poop.