Raven Magwood packed power at a young age. By the age of 12 she was speaking at a youth event hosted by billionaire Oprah Winfrey’s longtime companion Stedman Graham. Magwood started her career off as a national gymnastics champion when she was 11 years old.
She wrote her first book the next year, and that is when Oprah Winfrey’s longtime companion Stedman Graham decided to book her to speak at his youth event. Raven Magwood told Atlanta Black Star in a recent interview.
Raven’ s success didn’t just happen over night. She worked hard as a gymnast and worked even harder to accomplish her four time best selling Amazon publishing’s, and public speaking engagements.
So what is her secret to success? Raven wastes not time, “Whether it’s, you, me, Oprah, Beyoncé or the man on the street,” 24 hours is all we have in a day, Raven said. Use them.
The 26-year-old entrepreneur said she learned that lesson early as a preteen gymnast.
As a young gymnast, Raven woke up every school day at 6 a.m., attended school from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., practiced for four hours at a gymnastics facility one hour away from her home and returned home after 10 p.m. to eat, shower and do her homework, she said.
“I just remember even at 12 saying, ‘Yes, I’ve accomplished this, but this is how hard I worked for it,’” she said.
That work ethic didn’t fizzle out over the years.
Raven started taking college classes when she was 13 years old through a program that allowed students to do so before entering college.
After skipping two grades, she said she graduated high school when she was 16 years old with a 5.1 GPA and 48 college credits under her belt.
Raven graduated college with a degree in communication studies, emphasis in sports and a minor in writing ate the age of 19. By the age of 22 she had embarked on a journey to becoming the owner of Sparkle City Gymnastics. The successful owner was nearing retirement when Raven decided to stay to see the success of the gym.
Raven had taken over a coaching gig at the gym when her friend had to leave abruptly. “And one year turned into two” with her group of 20 girls, Raven said.
“I just wanted the gym to be successful, and I wanted the girls to be successful,” she said. Raven’s desire for success lead her into ownership of the gym. She tapped into new marketing opportunities social media provided, created a business and marketing plan, and worked continually to update them.
“So many nights I stayed up all night,” she said.
Under her leadership, the gym went from 150 athletes to about 500, and Raven made her first million at 25 in 2018.
Raven’s success came with trials as well. By the age of 17 she discovered she had a benign tumor in her breast. Raven remembers vividly the day she reached over for the remote and felt a hard lump in her breast. By the grace of God the lump was removed. However, at the age of 19 Raven endured the return of a lump. This time the experience was different.
Raven noticed a change in how her doctor reacted when he examined her. She said he was lighthearted when she brought the first lump to his attention two years earlier. This time, he told her, “‘but this one concerns me,’” she said. At the time, she said she just remembers thinking, “Wow, I’m 19, and I may not see my 20th birthday.
During this time Raven Magwood was a College student traveling far distance to attend school. “It was an awful experience,” she said. When her surgery day came, Still recovering from anesthesia, she remembered waking up and seeing her mother in tears, Raven later realized they were happy tears. She didn’t have cancer.
Raven said that moment changed her outlook on life. She now tells audiences she’s speaking to “the fact that you’re still alive means you still have purpose.”
Raven said she has known her purpose was helping people since she was 12-years-old. She had given a speech at a church once, and a man came up to her in tears afterward.
He told her he had tried to commit suicide three times, but to see someone so young so passionate about life served as a reminder that his was worth continuing.
“He was like, ‘I promise you right here right now that I will never try to take my life again,’” Raven said. “That’s how I knew this is what I’m going to do.”
