During the first semester of my senior year in High School, I decided that when I grew up, I was going to be a lawyer. In fact, I believed in this so strongly that I attended three memorable class trips during that semester which included visiting Simpson, Thatcher and Bartlett, a prominent New York law firm, interviewing then United States Attorney Rudolph W. Giuliani – and spending a week in London, England to study the British Legal System – a trip which included attending a session of Parliament.

During the second half of my senior year, I decided that when I grew up, I was going to be a disc jockey. In fact, I believed in this so strongly that I landed myself an internship with WPLJ, a prominent New York radio station. This time, I took my interest farther than a single semester and majored in Radio Broadcasting at Kingsborough Community College. I even got a stint as a newscaster on the college radio station, WKRB 90.9 FM.

It was during those live newscasts that my career choice changed for the third and final time and took me from the bottom of the Totem pole to the very top – despite the fact that I have never taken a single course on the profession since the day I set foot in a classroom – journalism.

After I graduated college, I got a few odd jobs, such as working at a Pathmark Drug Store as an assistant manager, selling Electrolux vacuum cleaners – and working as a bank teller at Independence Savings Bank. But despite who my employer was – I still kept pursuing my interest in journalism, which included attending many political campaign functions, community events – and celebrity functions either after work or on the weekends. And while I may have spent close to five years trying to land a job in journalism, it wasn’t until October 13, 1994 that my first article was published – and I officially entered the industry of journalism as a contributing reporter.

During the next ten years, I worked at nine different newspapers in every conceivable position. From staff reporter, to news editor, to editor-in-chief, to columnist, to assistant publisher – I worked my way up the ranks with each new position I attained. But it wasn’t until this week that, despite taking a five year break from the industry, I finally reached the top rung the journalism ladder – which is something I consider a tremendous honor – and a truly amazing accomplishment for a guy with a two-year degree in Radio Broadcasting.

During one of my routine trips to Bon Appetit a few months ago, I ran into a woman who is a member of the Board of Directors of the Brooklyn Board of Realtors. After learning that she needed some flyers printed and distributed, I offered my services and met with her a few days later. While discussing her flyers, I learned that she also wanted to take the Board’s newsletter, The Pulse, and transform it into a newspaper. Seeing as how I have both written for and designed newspapers since I entered the business in 1994, I again offered my services, designed a mock paper for her to show the Board – and wound up getting the job.

At a meeting this Tuesday, I presented what will be the first issue of the new Pulse to the Board for approval and explained to them that we never went over the Staff Box, which is the list of the newspaper’s top executives. On my own, I put a few names of top members of the Board in the Staff Box with question marks under their names until the Board gave me titles for each name. I also put my name in the Staff Box as “Art Director” since I am the one who is laying out the paper. At the meeting, they gave me a list of who should be in the Staff Box and what their titles should be – and at the top of the list was my name with the word, “Publisher” underneath it.

I can still remember how terrified I was when I handed in my first article, which was about a candidate for Attorney General, to my editor at the time. Having absolutely no experience, knowledge or training in journalism – I knew from that first day that my journalistic career could end before it started – or become my life’s path. Obviously, I was hoping for the latter and looking forward to one day publishing my own newspaper. And as I traveled from newspaper to newspaper and from position to position, my dream of being a publisher grew. And even when I hopped the journalistic fence and went into politics – I still held onto that dream. Who knew that my dream of being a newspaper publisher would not only come true for me – but would happen the same way all of the other wonderful things happened in my life – completely by accident.

As always, I thank God for the blessings of success that He has bestowed upon me. I am also thankful that each and every person that has employed me in journalism – from Josh at the Brooklyn Skyline as a contributing reporter to the members of the Brooklyn Board of Realtors as the Publisher of The Pulse – have had faith in both me and my abilities and thought I was the right man for the job. And no matter the future of my journalistic career, I am thankful that I accomplished my goal of entering the field of journalism as a contributing reporter and working my way to the top – successfully.