Jose Yrizarry, Co-Founder, CEO & Managing Editor of The New Tomorrow Publications

It's 14 minutes passed the hour. Smile. It's contagious.
Who says 2 people cannot formulate a positive association in the time it takes to ride an elevator together? That's exactly how I met our guest, Jose Yrizarry,who is Co-Founder, CEO & Managing Editor of powerfully written publication called "The New Tomorrow" which focuses on empowering youth and young adults. Thanx for joining us in the studio today Jose.

What is the name of your company and what products or services does it provide? The New Tomorrow (TNT) monthly publication providing researched information and resources to young Black and Latino students striving for Higher Education and Entrepreneurial Ventures through: Our guiding pillars B.R.I.E.F. (Business, Role models, Information, Education, and Finance); and our interactive sections to foster (Knights in Armor, Women of Valor, A Place for Writers and Poets) to foster community unity and writing incentives. www.TNTomorrow.com

What role do you play in your organization?
Co-founder, CEO, Managing Editor, Columnist

As a successful person, how did you get started?
I got tired of seeing, having an opinion, and needing a vehicle to share

How did you learn what it takes to succeed?
I didn't learn it. I had to do it and still learning. It's the nature of the beast, once you start, it takes its own momentum and all you have to do is stay in the saddle no matter what.

What personal/family activities do you enjoy?
Family gatherings are very grounding, biking and hiking are rejuvenating, and reciting is empowering

What experiences in your life have helped you expand who you are as a person?
My time as a teacher and counselor led to creating alternative programs that grew into Planned parenthood and Outward Bound. My computer rentals led to building networks for Missionary Organizations. I've learned to take my eyes off money and individualism to focus on the task through teamwork with a conviction that obstacles are opportunities for innovation. Most of all, the understanding that it's all a package deal; the good, the bad, and the ugly.

What are your concerns about the world today?
That we fail to realize that it's about passing the baton from one generation to the next: a bad pass makes the next run worse. I don't think capitalism was meant to equate individualism. It could mean, and does, among the best, collaboration.

If you had all the time and all the money you needed, what types of things would you do? - Consider money as no object.
I would invest in creating a model community with all the whistles and bells

Are there any tips or advice you would like to offer people?
Believe in the planet. We are a collective speck contributing or depriving its role in a bigger picture yet to be fully defined.

Are people more interesting than product stories?
Electricity, the light bulb, the traffic lamp, bacteria, etc are all fascinating; more fascinating are the people who made them.

What are your goals and aspirations for the future?
To finish preparing my two books of poetry for submission, return to my novel, go back to school and never leave again. I'd like to see The New Tomorrow become borough chapters and grow to national chapters tying in key states with similar issues. And most of all build my speaking opportunities with hope to share the joys of discovery hope where there seemed to be none to find.

What obstacles do you have to overcome to achieve your goals?
My immediate partners without giving in to the concept of replace, replace; we need to consider whether and educate over eliminate: People are not expendable without consequence

Which people have been role models to you?
My family, especially my mom and sisters who have made careers out of civil and spiritual service; my childhood, neighborhood priest, Father Kenner, who after 40 years continues to fight for community; Marty Needleman, head of Bklyn Legal Services, who has never left the needy standing alone in court; and believe it or not some enemies who have shown me, by their fates, which way not to go.

What are your favorite books, computer programs, or forms of entertainment?
While computers and their programs are but fascinating tools to use, books like: The bible (Job, Joshua, Isahia),Sociology, philosophy, psychology (Fromm, Cambell, Marx, Skinner), are great things to share in the woods in front of a fireplace over a game like chess and a glass of wine. Yet Winnie the Pooh, on a park bench over a game of checkers and a glass of water would probably serve the same purpose

What is it that you are most passionate about or gives you the greatest enjoyment in life?
When I speak/teach and see the light bulbs of understanding brighten up in peoples eyes: especially the youth. I never forgot what an Indian friend told me a long time ago "If everyday I learn something, productively apply it something, and share it with so! meone, then I am at peace with God and my inner self: where he and humanity reside."