Lorenzo A. Daughtry-Chambers is more than an entrepreneur, author and speaker. He is an advocate for the soul. Growing up, Chambers lived in Brooklyn but was given the opportunity through his mother Sharon to travel the world because of her professional singing career. Chambers also grew up in the Christian church, which was the foundation of his family and his values. He is the look-a-like grandson of the Rev. Dr. Herbert Daughtry, national presiding minister of the House of the Lord Churches.
“My family is very close,” Daughtry-Chambers said. “We have a covenant with God that we take very seriously. We will struggle for the people. I am the sixth generation of my family involved with this. We have a bloodline that is close and connected to God. We don’t see a dichotomy between the secular and the spiritual. My grandfather started in downtown Brooklyn and my mother is an executive director and my aunt is principal. Everyone in my family is involved in service in some kind of way. Ultimately our purpose is to serve here on Earth. We will find ourselves when we lose ourselves in something greater than ourselves.”
Chambers puts these values into his business called The Global Development Initiative. This leading social enterprise is focused on training and developing leaders, businesses and resources that can positively affect communities on an educational, economic or cultural level. Daughtry-Chambers is the CEO, chairman and founder of this business.
“My mission is to uplift God’s people and so my business is really an extension of my ministry,” Daughtry-Chambers. “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime, right?”
He continued, “My biggest achievement is starting and continuing and developing the Global Development Initiative. I had experienced many things in my life, like seeing Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech on the Washington [memorial], but growing my business to this point has to be my greatest accomplishment. I gave myself a year and here it is. I’ve been interested in business since I was a little kid.”
The Global Development Initiative is a company that grooms leaders. They help people where they are and help them to understand their purpose and ways to sustain themselves that help fulfill their destiny. They also invest in social impact projects such as low-income and affordable housing.
“You can do good and make money at the same time” said Daughtry-Chambers, “We are interested in people and profit. All of our best and brightest are within our community. We trained and developed so many people to work in corporate [America]. Ultimately people have to make a living. We have to be able to generate resources for ourselves.”
Chambers is both fun and serious. He is stern about the work that he does and the interactions that he has. However, he inherits his silliness from his charismatic mother and hilarious grandfather.
“People do their best work when they are having fun,” he said. “Having fun gets you through tough situations.”
Along with his Christian faith, Daughtry-Chambers possesses a strong Black consciousness
“I will turn up for justice,” he declared. “Our millennials and our young Black men give me hope. Black men are the untapped potential in our country, and we have programs and initiatives for every other race of people but if we really want to find the solution for the future we need to return to the magnificence that is within our Black men.”
When Daughtry-Chambers described our country, he spoke about the faults within the communication and intentions of speaking out when it comes to American citizens and leaders. People reject the opinions and thoughts of others because we fail to listen to one another. No one is speaking to be understood but heard. He said, “People are talking at each other.”
Complaints and issues are brought up, but no one puts in the effort to offer an actual solution. Chambers described himself as a man of results. “When we discover something greater that we can give ourselves to, that is when we find a greater meaning in life,” he said.
To learn more about Lorenzo Daughtry-Chamber’s business visit http://www.theglobaldevelopmentinitiative.com,