Today’s guest was Jeshua Zapata,

the President of Xzito, a full service marketing agency focusing on delivering measurable results for his customers through expert, creative marketing using new technology and, as a result, increasing the ROI (return on investments or business success) of his clients.

Today’s host was Josiah Diaz,

who welcomed Jeshua to Hope High School and the Hope Life Skills class.

Josiah (right) introduces Jeshua to his classmates to start today’s class.

Josiah‘s classmates introduce themselves to Jeshua and welcome him to the Life Skills class.

Jeshua begins his story of success from his humble beginnings part of an immigrant family in Central Falls, Rhode Island, to pushing out of his comfort zone enrolling among more privileged students at Bryant University majoring in business, developing a network of successful people, and then fulfilling his entrepreneurial dream by starting his company, Xzito.

“I didn’t let my humble beginnings in Central Falls and attending a school with a terrible brand like Central Falls High School prevent me from being the person I wanted to be.  

I believe success is a choice.  While most of my high school friends were only applying to Rhode Island College and URI,  I wanted to start my own business so I decided to push out of my comfort zone and apply to a great, private, business school where a lot of students from wealthy families were going, Bryant University.  I asked for a scholarship to help me afford the tuition at Bryant.  They gave me a significant scholarship.  But, it wasn’t enough.  So, I took out a loan and then got a job while I was enrolled at Bryant to pay for the rest.  I worked hard at Bryant to earn my business degree that got me closer to my entrepreneurial goal. “

Jeshua spoke about his regimen of “reading one book summary, saying something nice to someone, and exercising each day as well as regularly networking with smart people in his entrepreneurs group, attending business classes at Harvard and MIT,” and reminding himself in his daily “I AM” mantra how smart and good he is and how successful he can be.

Josiah exchanges business cards with Jeshua during the networking session at the end of today’s class.

Elliott Burrell likewise exchanges business cards with Jeshua to add him to his growing network of successful people.