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Yannick Hicks: From Cameroon to Calling · Why I Believe

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Hello and welcome back to Why I Believe.
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I am your host Michelle Von Ruden and today joining us we have Yannick Hicks.
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How are you today Yannick?
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I'm doing fantastic, how are you?
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I'm doing well, thank you.
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And thanks for being here today.
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Can you give us a brief introduction to yourself?
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Yes, so my name is Yannick Hicks and I'm a person of faith.
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I grew up in Cameroon and been in the US for 22 years.
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but yeah, I don't know what much you need, but that's, I'll say that's a little bit about me.
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You know, from Cameroon, West Africa, been in the US 22 years and you know, I'm a person of faith and faith.
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It's the foundation of everything that I do.
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I love meeting people, new people learn new ideas, growing, changing, becoming better.
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How can we make the world a better place?
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That's what it's all about.
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So glad to be here.
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Awesome.
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So when you moved here from Cameron, where did you move to?
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So when I moved to, that was 2004, so I moved to Atlanta, Georgia area where I currently live.
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So I went to high school here in Georgia.
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So I started sophomore year high school, know, as a teenager.
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And, you know, part of my story, which, you know, we share was I faced a lot of challenges, you know, like most people that come from back home, America is a different
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environment, culture shock, you're meeting new.
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culture, new people, new ways of doing things.
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So um yeah, it was tough kind of adjusting to the changing circumstances.
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And I mean, there were times that I thought about maybe I should go back home, but of course I can't.
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I don't have the money to go back home.
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But high school was, even though it was challenging, but it was also fun.
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I saw a lot of things, you know, was a big high school.
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Things are just completely different down here in the States.
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And of course,
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with the, I would say the language.
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I I grew up speaking English.
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We have our own types of uh ethnic languages.
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And so, uh you know, you have an accent coming for the first time hearing about such things as accent.
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I didn't know there was such thing as accent.
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we come, it's here that we come in accent, right?
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Because America is a place of people from different nationalities.
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And so there's different languages.
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I mean there people from different countries but not so much as the United States.
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So yeah, I had a previous high school, college, then I went to further school, to West Virginia for pharmacy school, then I moved to Arizona.
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I worked there.
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And then a couple of years ago, about three years, going to three years now, I decided to move back to Georgia where it all started.
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We have to come finish the work where it all happened.
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absolutely.
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Awesome.
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I can totally understand the culture shock and you know, even here, everyone has different accents.
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People laugh at me when I say I'm from Wisconsin, right?
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It just sounds funny.
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So you're not alone.
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Like everybody has their own thing.
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so, but I got to ask, like coming from another country, a whole new culture, that had to be hard, right?
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It wasn't easy for you.
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How did your faith help you stay guided and grounded during that time while trying to learn so many new things at once?
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Yeah, so I grew up Catholic.
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um Catholicism is the, I'll say it's one of the main, maybe religion back in Cameroon.
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Of course they have different religion, you know, it's, know, the bigger one is really Catholic.
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So I grew up Catholic.
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ah My grandfather, my grandparents, my grandfather and my grandmother, but my grandfather was a disciplinarian and he really, you know, he's my hero, he's my mentor, he's the
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person that really laid the foundation for my life.
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I grew up waking up at five o'clock to go to morning prayers and during the Lent, I mean, you cannot miss church from where I'm from.
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I you have to go to church.
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I went to a Catholic school, primary school, went to have to go to morning prayers.
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And then after that, you know, during Lent and then you cannot miss church on Sunday.
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And after that, you know, what did you learn from from?
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from service.
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You being kids, right, when we go to church, it's really about going to sleep and, you know, and playing around.
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We want to go to sleep.
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And so when my grandfather would ask me what I learned, I'll make sure that I don't really, even if I fall asleep, I make sure I learn something that I can be able to share
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when he asks me about what I learned.
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So, and then I went to uh a Catholic minor seminary.
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My grandfather, I guess, maybe my family wanted me to become a priest.
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and in the Catholic faith.
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And then a friend of mine introduced me to a woman.
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So I decided I just, but so I already had that faith foundation.
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So coming here and living with my now parents, mom and dad, they were also Catholic.
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So we'll go to church on Sunday.
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It wasn't as frequent, but it was also very important.
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But now we're getting to be a teenager.
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It wasn't.
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like you have to go like back home.
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So now it's, I would say we had to go, but you know, sometime we might miss a Sunday or something like that.
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But I mean, faith has always been there.
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So even when I came, it kind of, I'll say I had some, maybe some tests, you know, coming to a new culture, new place, new people.
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The good thing was I was still, you know, going to church and you know, we pray, we had,
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different types of prayer, especially being Catholic.
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So that kind of helped me oh just navigating some of the challenges here.
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Because it just kind of kept me grounded.
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um I still knew I wouldn't really say I had a personal relationship with God.
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Then I had something, at least I knew about God and I knew some things.
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And there were some things that were kind of getting me to...
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to understand that, this is, you know, we have a creator, this is this, and it can be grounded.
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And humility is very important, especially going through life.
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But that helped me to see different things and perspective.
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And coming to the US, I now discover different types of, would say maybe denominations or religions, which I wasn't really aware of.
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mean, back home was really Catholic and Presbyterian and full gospel.
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That's probably I mean those Muslim of course Islam, but it's more exposed here.
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There's you know, it's more exposure and more stuff but ah Yeah, when my parents go into church on Sundays here in the US it was also very Also strict about us going to church my
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mom, but it wasn't as like back home some days We could miss but I'll say that kind of the grounder Yep
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So you mentioned that you went to Catholic school back home.
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So when you came here and you were a sophomore in high school, were you going to a public school or a Catholic school?
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went to, of course it was a public school, friends went about it.
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Yeah.
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So that just adds to it, right?
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So you go from like a very routine and structured Catholic school to a public school in Southern US.
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That is exactly, like because I went to boarding school back home.
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I went to a, it was a boarding school, like you said, was very structural.
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We wake up at five o'clock, then we had to go to the chapel.
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Then, you know, morning prayers, then you go to church, then we have evening benediction and all this stuff.
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And then coming here and going to a big public school and.
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seeing people holding hands and kissing around and doing all those stuff was shocking.
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I was like, man, this is it.
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And then seeing people talking to teachers, know, disrespectfully, I mean, that's not very common where we're from.
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We really respect the elders.
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You don't really talk back or, you know, disrespect.
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So it was just surprising and shocking because, yeah, so I to, I'm talking about the school that I, when I graduated, my high school class were almost maybe 800.
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Just, just my,
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High school so so you can imagine I'm in one of the biggest high schools here in Georgia and it's just massive I came from a small Catholic and to a massive now not only the u.s.
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But a massive school, right?
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I guess everything in us is big and stuff so that was um, no that was a Interesting experience to say this.
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Yeah
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Yeah, wow, that had to be challenging.
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So you had mentioned when we first started talking that you had always known your faith, but you hadn't developed a relationship yet.
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You hadn't made that relationship clear.
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What was the turning point?
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What made you decide to go down that path and really embrace a relationship with God versus maybe conforming to societal norms in the area in which you lived?
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That's a very good question.
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you know, coming here in the US and like I mentioned in high school, not having the, you know, the challenges that I face, right?
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And so being, not having my identity, that's why it's good to know who you are and what you believe in.
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Because, you know, if they stand up for what, like Les Brown says, stand up for what you believe in, because if you don't know what it is, you'll fall for anything.
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And so I'm a teenager, I'm in a new country.
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Yes, I have my parents, but I didn't really grow up with my parents.
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My grandfather isn't there anymore to keep me grounded.
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And so I'm wanting to fit in, right?
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Because I don't know who I am.
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mean, even if I knew, but like as a teenager, you still need some kind.
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And so I'm wanting to fit in.
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So the following year, my junior year, one of my friends came to my school.
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He was from Cameroon.
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So.
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You know, aren't that many Cameroonians and things like that.
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So I knew it coming, became my junior year.
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So now he became my best friend.
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And next thing you know, my junior year, before we got, I say maybe getting close to our senior year, I went to the club, you know.
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So now, you know, I started going to the club, started drinking.
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But now I felt like I fit in.
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Because now I had a group of friends where we, so now I didn't have that.
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lack of self-confidence and belief because you know, not being from the US and the insecurity and they're telling you you're not good enough and you need to go back to where
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you're from and all those things that they said in high school.
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um But the turning point for me really, it happened, I remember, so I um so many challenges getting into pharmacy school but I remember I had an interview, Marshall
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University School of Pharmacy,
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in West Virginia.
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I went to that interview.
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After the interview, I was in the airport.
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I was getting ready to go back to San Francisco Bay Area where I was living at the time with an uncle because I just had a DUI.
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I was in my mind story.
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And so he, so I had a DUI and so was going through, I call it anonymous.
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My life basically hit rock bottom.
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And I was talking to this, my friend, my best friend, the one that I told you, he introduced me to the club.
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We were always together when he's going to the club or drinking.
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And he said, hey, have you heard of Joe Austin?
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I said, no.
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He said he went on to say, Joe Austin is a pastor, a minister in Houston.
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And you should download his app, iPhones or maybe smartphones were just coming.
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You should download the app and listen to one of his messages.
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And Michelle, I'm telling you, when I...
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went back home and listened to Joe Olson's message, I would say that was a turning point for me.
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That's when I really began the journey of who am I, what is God's purpose for my life, and really began to start that whole process of wanting to know really about God and who, yes,
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I grew up, I knew about God, but really getting deeper and understanding, and where do I fit in?
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Yes, you know, my grandparents are my parents, but I have to find my own identity, my own path and what resonate with me.
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And so I went on a massive search and where I belong.
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And, and, but that was a turning point for me because I've never been the same ever since then.
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Yes, I've fallen, I've fallen down every, every now and then, I've always held on to the faith.
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It's always.
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oh It's really been the true compass in the identity.
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It changed my life.
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My life changed significantly, majorly.
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And we can go more in depth.
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you said that you you said that you were at rock bottom so do you want to talk about that a little bit more like what led up to that point and You know, I think it's important to
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talk about those things because you hit a turning point right so and I think most people do when they hit rock what their version of rock bottom is is They either lean in or they
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go farther away and you chose the lean in So do you want to like tell us a little bit about that?
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Well, would say, mean, like I said, I hit rock bottom because, you know, after undergraduate, knew, you know, the goal was to get into pharmacy school and just continue.
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My grandfather was a retired nurse when I was growing up.
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My mom is a nurse, you know, you just go.
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And my mom had made a lot of sacrifices for me to get into pharmacy school, to research in the schools and all those kind of things.
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And so it was just kind of normal.
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But I was
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you know, undergraduate, like I said, I had spent part of high school and all throughout college just drinking, partying, smoking, hanging around the wrong, not hanging around the
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wrong friends, but just maybe doing more, much of it than I probably should.
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And like I said, hit rock bottom, I had applied to about 14 pharmacy schools at the moment.
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And now I just got pulled over and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol.
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So,
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You know, having driving on the influence of alcohol now on the record and you're trying to get into pharmacy school.
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First of all, your grades weren't.
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And you took the I took the the entrance exam, we call it PCAT pharmacy, you know, college admissions test to get into pharmacy school.
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My grades weren't too good.
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So was just you know, everything was happening.
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I was just getting these rejections and now I had DUI and then I had to, you know, we had to hire an attorney, which costs money.
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you know, going to alcohol anonymous.
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um It just seems like the whole dream of becoming a pharmacist was far-fetched.
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Everything was just kind of going downhill and just like, you know, Murphy's law, right?
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Everything, you know, it didn't seem like it was working.
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All right, of course, I didn't really have, I hadn't gone to church, know, just every, when I come back home, holiday and then mom said, let's go.
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So I didn't really have no.
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know, faith foundation or going to church or building any personal relationship like that, none of that.
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So it was my identity.
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Basically, I was just a wonder in generality, not a meaningful specific like Ziegler said, like there was no purpose, no sense of direction, nothing.
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And I was just kind of going through the motion and just, yeah.
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But that moment when I listen, you just click.
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The reason why my life is where it is now is because of the choices that I made and the influences or the people that I'm surrounding myself with.
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And that is what's happening to me.
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So yeah, that is how I reheat rock bottom and work on it.
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Yeah, and your life turned around from that point forward, right?
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So I mean, did you ever end up going to pharmacy school?
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Did you?
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I know where you're at now because I know you, but like, did you ever?
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Yeah, so my life turned around because it's very funny, right?
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This is information without application is really worthless or transformation.
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um Because one of the things was when I got introduced to Joe Austin, and I listened to these faith based messages, I'll look for ways to apply it into my life.
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And I began to see tangible results.
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like little, you know, small wins.
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Small wins begins to build your confidence.
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I began to see myself like laughing more, being happier more, like listening to these messages and applying it to my life.
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I was more motivated.
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There were complaints at work because I was working at my uncle's place.
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The complaints weren't there anymore.
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The DUI situation got dropped directly, driving.
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So many things were happening.
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Finally, I got accepted into a pharmacy school.
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So the school that had me on waiting list, they finally accepted me into the pharmacy school.
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So my life changed because of that.
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And that happened because I changed.
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mean, yeah, got regular driving, finally got into pharmacy school.
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ah Everybody was shocked because by February of 2013, when it looks like, and then I got in.
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And by April, already got into pharmacy school.
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had to take course in the summer.
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I aced it.
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I got reckless driving.
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The UI got into pharmacy school, quit drinking completely.
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And so many things just began to go my way.
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Of course, yeah, I was in pharmacy school.
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And yeah, for four years graduated and had a doctorate and definitely finished it.
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But all by the grace of God.
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And I've always, you know, stayed there.
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And I would say I stopped being a Catholic
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I mean, I found my own path.
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I found my own path.
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It's really about building relationship with God.
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And I attended non-denominational and evangelical church now here in Georgia.
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But the faith and the foundation has always been there to help guide me to going forward.
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And it's what got me to change my life and to pharmacy school.
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It's what got me to finish the pharmacy school and it's what continues to take me going forward.
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Yeah, and speaking going forward, so you're part of the Maxwell Leadership Team.
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And through that, you're a speaker.
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And so you're speaking on leadership and team communication.
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How much of your faith comes out into your conversations that you're having on stage or with different corporations?
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That's a very good question because, you know, some, some.
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oh
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I mean, people that know me know I'm a person of faith, I don't think, I think one of the things that I would say I do, I would say I do well is maybe bring faith in the
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conversation.
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If I see like, oh, maybe the person of faith and bring something, then I'll kind of go, you know, deeper.
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My family, like I was speaking with my sister yesterday and she was kind of complaining about my little nephew and they know me as someone that I fast a lot and I pray a lot.
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It's like I'm the person that would help.
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But I'll mention it briefly of how when I speak on stage, know, a of mine introduced me to a faith-based message or something.
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Sometimes I mention that, you know, I'll mention it briefly and then I would, you know, how my life changed and things like that.
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But yeah, I would just say um if I feel it's person that...
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you know, maybe they have some, I would say some against faith, but maybe they just bring something that we can of course engage in that dialogue, share, you know, my faith and how
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my life has changed or turned around.
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But maybe I need to share more, right?
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And talk about it more and get more people to see because really it's the, it's my, course, faith is my number one value.
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it's really where it's got me.
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was reason why I even got into Maxwell leadership and the reason why.
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um
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I continue to do what I do.
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And that's what I would say.
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I think our friend John does it very well.
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I'm always trying to figure out how he does it so good.
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Yeah, awesome.
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So if there's something that you would like listeners to take away from our conversation today, what would that be?
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I would say...
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When you lose your faith, you lose everything.
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Your blessing comes from your faith, right?
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A person that loses your faith has lost everything.
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So I would just encourage you, as it were, encourage you to have a faith, build your faith, strengthen your faith.
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Because your faith will build a foundation and a rock that will get you going through this thing called life.
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Because life is going to happen, right?
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Like one of my friends says, life be life-ing.
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Life is going to happen.
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Life is going to happen.
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Some things are going to take you by shock or surprise.
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But when you have that rock solid foundation of faith, it's going to take you through the tough time.
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It's going to, like, I'm.
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When I wake up in the morning, the first thing I do is grab my Bible or pray.
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The first hour is dedicated.
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And I see that my life, I'm happier.
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I am more just joyful.
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So if you just want to be more joyful and happier and just have more zest for life, that even when you're going through challenges, people wonder, do you go through the same thing
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that you're going, but then you're still this happy and excited?
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you don't seem to.
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It's because of
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my faith is because of that's what I put first.
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You have to be intentional.
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You have to be intentional about it.
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Don't see how impressive of faith and then you don't study a Bible.
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You don't pray.
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don't solitude or listen to faith based messages.
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You can tell what you value by looking at what you do day in day out.
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Your schedule, your priorities and what it is that you do.
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So I just say put God first and everything else.
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Like we said in Matthew six, verse 33, seeking for is the kingdom of God is my righteousness and all these things shall be given on to you.
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So seeking first.
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That's what I would say.
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Yeah, I have so.
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much for joining us today.
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I really appreciate your time and sharing your story and your journey.
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Absolutely, I really appreciate and you know I really commend you for you know putting something like that to help people to come to faith.
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I think it's such a great gesture.
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ah It's also for me to kind of reflect and see how because you know I'm always speaking, I'm always on stage, I'm always talking to people right.
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How do I see John kind of weaving
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using his opportunity and platform because when you're excellent at what it is that you do, people begin to want to trust you and want to find out, and then you use the
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opportunity to share, it's my faith, it's what it is.
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So I really want to commend you for creating this to be able to lead people to the ultimate, which is God, that will transform their life, make them happier, healthier.
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Everything that one in life will come much easier and better for them not that you're not going to go through some stuff You are going to go through a whole lot of stuff, but you
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live a more fulfilled and rewarding life.
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It's gonna be worth it and Thank you
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Thank you.
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Thank you.