About the author
Markevis Gideon
In his own order of priorities: a man of Christ, a husband, a father, and a social-good entrepreneur — in that order, and he'll correct you if you get it wrong.
Founder · Speaker · Author
In his own order of priorities: a man of Christ, a husband, a father, and a social-good entrepreneur — in that order, and he'll correct you if you get it wrong.
ABC's Shark Tank. Shout-outs from elected leaders. A life that has carried me around the world. I'm quick to reframe all of it. First, I'm a follower of God, who I credit with every measure of grace, mercy, and opportunity in my story. Then I'm a husband to Kristen — the girl I met at a Delaware mall and have loved ever since. Then I'm a father to Malachi, Noah, and Genesis, the motivation behind everything I build. Then, finally, I'm an entrepreneur.
At twenty-two, I lost my car, my girlfriend, and my job in the same morning. Standing in a parking lot on Route 202, I made a decision that changed everything: I bought a one-way ticket to Chongqing, China. I didn't speak Mandarin. I didn't know anyone there. I went anyway.
Four years later I came home having taught at a university, learned a language one word at a time in a tiny campus store, built a bar inside a Holiday Inn with no prior experience, and found a community that showed me what it looks like when nobody is pretending. I came back clearer, stronger, and ready to build something that would outlast me.
That something is NERDiT NOW — the only certified technology recycler in the state of Delaware. It went from $15,000 in its first year to a Shark Tank appearance and a 50,000-square-foot warehouse in Riverside, the neighborhood I had once run from. We've donated tens of thousands of devices to underserved communities across the tri-state region, built on a simple belief: a device's best second life is in the hands of someone who needs it.
The work has earned national recognition, but the goal has never changed: to build a stronger community for my children and the children around them, and to pour into people the way I wish someone had poured into me.
Kristen and I are raising our kids to see the world early. By the time this book went to print, Malachi had visited fourteen countries, Noah eleven, and Genesis four — before she was four months old. No small thing for a man who didn't take his own first international flight until he was past twenty.
I speak to schools, churches, companies, and conferences about finding your passion, building from nothing, and the faith it takes to do both.
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