ENG-HeroPullout_2014.. - Amway Achieve Magazine

2014
deter mination
leader ship
BENJAMIN MCGHIE
DEXTER AND BIRDIE YAGER
generosity
patriotism
OSCAR OVIEDO
DAVID AND SHARRON COLEY
Each year, Amway Independent
Business Owners nominate their
peers as recipients of the Amway
Hero Awards. Selected IBOs each
demonstrate the conviction and
qualities of true heroes in their
everyday lives – Determination,
Generosity, Leadership, and
Patriotism. They show there’s no
limit to what’s possible, and their
stories serve to motivate others.
generosity
deter mination
leader ship
patriotism
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LEARN MORE ABOUT THE
AMWAY HERO AWARDS AT:
AchieveMagazine.com/hero-awards-2014
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AMWAY HERO AWARDS: BENJAMIN MCGHIE
AMWAY HERO AWARDS: BENJAMIN MCGHIE
2014
Benjamin McGhie
After breaking his neck and battling cancer, Ben McGhie survived
and beat the odds, crediting his large, tight-knit family and new found
resolve to live life fully for his health, happiness, and success.
Family matters
“When I hear the word ‘hero,’ I think of my parents,” says Ben.
The fourth of 10 siblings, he appreciates everything his parents
did to raise them well.
“I remember my dad would wake up at six in the morning, drive us to
school, go to his construction job, then pick us up and take us back to
work with him,” he recalls. “We would work as long as we could, but
usually fell asleep at the job. I’d wake up in the middle of the night and
hear him still working. It’s who he is – he just keeps going, and does
whatever it takes.”
Ben also credits his mother for helping him to be strong. She passed
away in 2013 after battling cancer for five years. “When I went through
my own chemotherapy, she was there the entire time,” he says. “If I
fell asleep during treatment, she was there holding my hand when I
woke up.”
DETERMINATION
Now, Ben says that wanting to provide for his father is part of what led
he and his wife, Buffy, to become Amway Independent Business Owners.
“My dad is 64 and still works hard,” Ben says. “I want to retire him and
give back everything he gave to us.”
Ben and Buffy are also close friends with their upline Emeralds, Terry
and Jenny Brown, who have seen Ben’s selfless nature firsthand.
“I’ve known Ben for over nine years, and he’s one of the nicest, most
incredible guys,” says Terry. “He’s just phenomenal, he really is.”
Positive attitude
Ben’s parents instilled strong values in him: working hard for what
was important, staying focused on the good in life, and caring for
others. He’s applied these lessons time and time again when things
have been difficult.
In 1999, when Ben was 18, he went on a father-son campout with his
brothers and his dad. At the pool, Ben went down the 16-foot water slide
head first. He over corrected as he slid and hit his head on the bottom of
the pool, breaking his neck.
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AMWAY HERO AWARDS: BENJAMIN MCGHIE
AMWAY HERO AWARDS: BENJAMIN MCGHIE
Battle with cancer
In 2004, tragedy struck again as Ben was diagnosed with stage
3 cancer. Determined to beat it, Ben started on the strongest
level of chemotherapy possible. He faced treatment with the
same bright outlook.
“I remember him saying to me that some people don’t go to
every chemo session,” Buffy says. “In the beginning, he couldn’t
imagine not going. By the end, he realized it was a mental battle
to go. He knew what it was going to do to him physically. But he
never missed one session.”
2014
DETERMINATION
The Amway Hero Award for
Determination recognizes personal
responsibility, work ethic, and
dedication to self-improvement
despite difficult circumstances.
Being determined
means being a dog
on a bone. You don’t
stop. If you want
something, you make
sure it happens – no
matter what.
– Ben
“Right after I hit, the force crumpled me up into a ball,” says Ben.
“I was paralyzed for a minute or so. I couldn’t feel anything, but I
knew I needed to breathe, and fast.”
Ben prayed to God, asking for help to breathe; his body started to
unlock, and he touched the bottom of the pool. Surfacing enough
to catch a breath, he called for help. “I remember my dad, who was
trained as a paramedic, telling me that if I ever had a head injury
I needed to keep my neck stable,” he says. “I told people not to
move me until my dad got there to secure my neck.”
“Until that moment, I had never considered what it meant to have
your nerves go crazy,” says Ben. “It was like needles being jabbed
into every hair follicle all over my body. The pain covered me.”
Ben remembers doctors at the hospital talking about the anomaly
of the break – and how lucky he was. “My fifth vertebra snapped
in half,” he says. “The way it broke was just a miracle because if it
had broken in the opposite direction, I would have likely had issues
my whole life.” As Ben was in traction, his parents, friends, and
family all prayed for the doctors to know how to best proceed.
The next day, follow-up X-rays showed an unexplainable
improvement. Ben left the hospital wearing a halo neck brace to
keep his head still. “It was a miracle – there’s no other way to
explain it,” he says.
A quick healer, Ben’s recovery was rapid. He even walked across
the stage at his high school graduation. The whole time, he tried to
stay positive. “My goal was to have a good attitude through it,” he
says. “Making people laugh is the best way to take the focus off
me and my problems.”
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“Doctors tell you chemo is basically a race,” says Ben. “The
chemo attacks the cancer, but it also attacks the rest of
your body. They’re trying to kill the cancer before the chemo
kills you.”
Eventually, the chemotherapy stopped working, and the doctors
had to operate to remove a lymph node that would not shrink
any more. The procedure was serious – but Ben viewed it as just
another step in the process.
“In his mind, he was already healed,” says Buffy. “It’s just the
way he thinks. He knew that it was going to be fine, and he just
had to figure out how to get there.”
A year after the initial diagnosis, Ben was declared healthy
and has been cancer-free since. He says that his journey to
health was all about staying strong, even when things weren’t
easy. “Being determined means being a dog on a bone,” says
Ben. “You don’t stop. If you want something, you make sure it
happens – no matter what.”
Starting their own family
In 2011, due to cancer treatments and other complications,
Ben and Buffy learned they were unable to have biological
children. Their desire to start a family took them through the
foster care system, where they fell in love with their daughter
Mikayla (9 years old at the time). Mikayla was living in her
13th home and was targeted to be moved to a final group
home until she aged out at 18. The day before a meeting
where Mikayla’s fate would be decided, Ben and Buffy’s foster
license was approved.
“When we went to see her the first time,” says Ben, “I kept
preparing Buffy that we couldn’t get our hopes up yet. But the
second I walked in and saw her face, I heard a still, soft voice
whisper to me ‘This is your daughter.’ I knew without a doubt
that she was ours, and that God had a plan for us.”
Eighteen months later, they adopted Mikayla into her 14th
and final home at age 11.
“It hasn’t been an easy road, but Mikayla knows she’s part of
our story now,” says Buffy. “She came into a huge, welcoming
family. A dad like Ben is exactly what she needs – someone
who teaches her to get through the hard times no matter what.
We’re determined to love Mikayla past her pain.”
Ben feels there are many others out there who are more
deserving of this award than him. “I’m getting an award for
doing something that I feel you’re supposed to do. I just hope
that if somebody out there is going through any of the same
trials I have faced, I can inspire them to know everything truly
is going to be ok.”
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AMWAY HERO AWARDS: OSCAR OVIEDO
AMWAY HERO AWARDS: OSCAR OVIEDO
2014
Oscar Oviedo
Seeing the potential to create something bigger than himself, Oscar Oviedo turned
his love for the sea into a lifestyle of giving and environmental preservation.
Call to action
Oscar has always been connected to the ocean. Born and raised in the
Dominican Republic, he’s been scuba diving for nearly two decades.
But in 2006, a single blog post opened his eyes – changing a hobby
into an active pursuit of environmental conservation.
“A visitor on a tourist dive forum wanted to go scuba diving on the
northern side of the Dominican Republic near the city of Puerto Plata,”
says Oscar. “She made a post asking where the best spots were for
diving, and I gave her some suggestions.”
GENEROSITY
After returning home, the woman made a follow-up post about
the experience – and it wasn’t good. She wrote about the lack of
infrastructure, dives that were boring with little sea life, and dirty,
trash-filled beaches. “She criticized a lot about the Dominican
Republic,” Oscar says. “It was hard to read, but it was all true.”
Oscar took the criticism and responded constructively.
“I started with 15 friends,” Oscar says. “We each picked a beach to
clean. Some were places where my friends surf. I focused on the beach
in Barahona near where my father was born. There were 16 of us on 16
beaches, and we each thought we could get a small group of people
helping us – maybe 600 total at the most.”
Oscar and his friends were surprised at the response. “We had
more than 2,000 people turn up during that first year,” he says.
“We got a lot of people from area schools, churches, Boy Scout
groups – we had 400 volunteers in Barahona alone, which was a
really big deal for the city.”
In the years following, the small-scale project Oscar and his friends
started has grown to become the nonprofit organization Fundación
Vida Azul (The Blue Life Foundation). The foundation works with local
and international partners to restore the Dominican Republic’s
coastal beaches.
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AMWAY HERO AWARDS: OSCAR OVIEDO
AMWAY HERO AWARDS: OSCAR OVIEDO
After being invited to the United States through the
International Leadership Program, Oscar was introduced to
Be the Change, a nonprofit organization that creates and
manages campaigns at the national level. Inspired, Oscar
developed a new program, Yo Soy El Cambio (I Am the
Change), that includes a virtual platform to connect potential
volunteers with people and opportunities near them.
2014
GENEROSITY
The Amway Hero Award for
Generosity recognizes
commitment to improving the
world through extraordinary
volunteerism or philanthropy.
Volunteers don’t earn
anything for what they
do. It has to be out of
the heart, the interest,
and being motivated
and inspired.
– Oscar
“We’ve created a big movement that I didn’t realize we were going
to build,” says Oscar. “People see us on the beach and ask for
gloves and plastic bags so they can join us. As of a few years ago,
we had 25,000 volunteers.”
Fundación Vida Azul also has an education program to teach
children the importance of protecting the environment. “It’s most
effective to work with little kids,” says Oscar. “After they’re 12
years old or so, they get interested in other things. But young
children can learn good habits early. They talk to their parents
about saving the planet and taking care of the places they live.”
The organization also hosts periodic community cleanups to get
towns involved with caring for their own beaches. “We say ‘The
beach that’s cleanest is not the one you clean the most, but the
one you dirty the least,’” he says. “We have to teach people to
take care of their own resources – we can’t always just go to a
beach and clean it up for them.”
Lasting impact
The foundation is currently working with a local artist who creates
large-scale environmentally friendly sculptures from iron, metal,
and concrete. Those figures will be sunk offshore – “an underwater
museum,” Oscar says – to give divers something interesting to
look at.
“Its mission is to join people who care about something and
think they’re alone,” says Oscar. “Some people collect dogs
on the street and bring them to shelters. Others look for
people and organizations that work with kids. It’s like a job
search engine where people can post events and activities.”
Helping people through business
Along with his philanthropic work, Oscar devotes his time
to his Amway™ business he owns with his wife, Asami
Tateyama. Asami originally started their business on her own
a few years ago. As a regional manager for an international
corporation, she frequently traveled for weeks. With Oscar
working as a vice president at a local bank, as well as his
time spent with Fundación Vida Azul, they were both busy.
“I was working until 9 or 10 in the evening. For what? To
see my daughters’ pictures on my desk?” Asami asks.
“I was looking for something different – and then I was
introduced to Amway and I thought, ‘I have to do something
different.’ Oscar saw in my eyes that I wanted it, and he
said, ‘she’s determined.’”
Once Oscar started meeting people, going to conferences,
and seeing the results of Asami’s hard work, the business
spoke to him too.
“As I learned more, I could see the business was about
helping other people help themselves,” says Oscar. “It’s like I
discovered myself again once I started. It’s given me balance
in my life. It’s part of my social life – I’ve met other people
with similar interests, and it’s opened a lot of possibilities.”
Today Oscar and Asami are Sapphire, and Asami believes the
business is a perfect fit for her husband. “Oscar cares for
his community, for our country, for our daughters Sumi (10)
and Emi (6),” she says. “It’s more than helping one person
at a time. He has clear ideas about the foundation and the
business – and he’s good at carrying them out.”
Oscar explains his life’s work as a true desire to make things
better. “Volunteers don’t earn anything for what they do,”
says Oscar. “It has to be out of the heart, the interest, and
being motivated and inspired.”
“If we can get something in the water, fishermen will be able to
make money by taking people out to go diving instead of fishing,”
says Oscar. “We can start building a tourism industry instead of
a fishing industry. People will fish less, so there will be more fish
around for divers to see. It’s about changing the economic model.”
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AMWAY HERO AWARDS: DEXTER AND BIRDIE YAGER
AMWAY HERO AWARDS: DEXTER AND BIRDIE YAGER
2014
Dexter and Birdie Yager
With a penchant for helping people realize their dreams, Dexter and
Birdie Yager find the greatest reward is seeing others succeed.
Humble beginnings
Long before reaching the astounding milestone of Founders Crown
Ambassador with 65 FAA (Founders Achievement Award), Dexter and
Birdie were a young married couple living in Rome, New York. “It was a
small mill town, filled with people who had good values, but there was
little opportunity,” says Birdie. “Coming from where we did, there was
no way to imagine anything close to what we have today.”
At the time, Dexter was working as a brewery representative, and
dreaming of something more. “All my life, I believed that I was going to
succeed and make something of myself,” says Dexter. “I was sick and
tired of being sick and tired.”
As they were looking for their next path in life, one of their friends
introduced them to the Amway™ business. After discussing it, Dexter
and Birdie decided to give the business one year of total commitment
and attention.
Now 50 years after that decision, Dexter and Birdie have built a
business that spans the globe. More important to them, they have
dedicated their lives to being leaders who inspire others, and to
helping countless people reach for their own dreams and become
leaders themselves.
LEADERSHIP
Coming from where
we did, there was
no way to imagine
anything close to
what we have today.
– Birdie
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“Real leaders are just ordinary people with extraordinary dreams,
decision, and discipline,” says Dexter. “A leader is someone who can
make others feel bigger and better when they’re around that person.”
Birdie remembers that as long as she’s known him, people have
found Dexter’s charisma and charm to be infectious. “I think it was his
passion for people,” says Birdie. “They could see his passion, and that
he wanted the best for them. That draws people to somebody.”
That passion comes from a simple motivation: showing people they can
achieve whatever they set their minds to.
“What makes us most fulfilled is pursuing dreams – and freedom
is a big part of those dreams – for us and for others,” says Dexter.
“Cheering people on, and seeing them succeed in life. Helping others
believe in themselves and begin to see their own potential inspires us.”
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AMWAY HERO AWARDS: DEXTER AND BIRDIE YAGER
AMWAY HERO AWARDS: DEXTER AND BIRDIE YAGER
father’s personality and outlook were part of what helped
him come back.
“The things that really made him successful in business
and life also helped pull him out of that situation,” says
Doyle. “When you hear about ‘mind over matter,’ it’s true.
It was all about his attitude and perseverance in getting
through that challenge.”
2014
LEADERSHIP
The Amway Hero Award for
Leadership recognizes a
positive focus on mentoring,
teaching, and helping others
succeed without personal gain.
Family values
Real leaders are
just ordinary people
with extraordinary
dreams, decision,
and discipline.
– Dexter
The Yagers have seven children, and all of them played a role
in the family business growing up. “We’re proud of raising our
seven kids in and around the business,” says Birdie, “and the
tremendous influence it’s been on us and them.”
From a young age, each of the Yager children pitched in by doing
what they could: stocking shelves, bringing in products, answering
the phone. As they got older, three of their sons – Doyle, Jeff, and
Steve – saw the business as more than just a daily way to help out
their parents, and as something they wanted to be a bigger part of.
“I always wanted to do what my dad was doing: helping people,”
says Jeff. “I saw the changes people were having in their lives, and
I wanted to be able to do some of the same things that he had
done for others.”
Meanwhile, Dexter and Birdie were thrilled to have their sons
approach them about joining. “They just came right up through
the ranks and learned how to do everything as they became
experienced enough to do it,” says Birdie.
Doyle, Jeff, and Steve are continuing their parents’ legacy today
while helping the business grow. The boys say Dexter and Birdie
were the greatest mentors they could have asked for.
“They taught us a lot of basic fundamentals, like how to treat
people,” says Steve. “That the best way to get respect is by giving
it to others, and that everyone should be respected. Being honest,
having integrity in all you do. The things I learned from them stuck
with me, and I think about them every day.”
Dexter and Birdie believe that, no matter what their
children decide to do in the future, it’s important for them
to always remember to take time for helping others.
“We’re proud of our kids who are involved in the Amway™
business and continuing what we began by helping
thousands of people around the world change their
lives for the better,” says Birdie. “And we’re proud of our
kids who are pursuing their own dreams and making a
difference in people’s lives in other ways.”
Don’t let anybody steal your dream
When asked about the biggest factors in their success,
Dexter and Birdie are always quick to emphasize the
importance of knowing what your dream is, and never
letting go of it.
“Get a big dream, and don’t let anybody steal it,”
says Dexter. “And don’t just read about successful
people. Associate with the people you admire most,
and stick around.”
Dexter and Birdie stress that a big part of what makes
dreams into reality is relentless commitment. “We worked
very hard, tried to be as smart as we could, and just did
whatever it took,” says Birdie.
Part of that commitment is demonstrating what’s possible
to others. “You have to set the example, and be the
example for others,” says Dexter. “People don’t follow
programs, they follow people. You have to see how far
you can go in order to show others how far they can go. A
leader is someone who knows the way, goes the way, and
shows the way.”
The Yagers also emphasize the importance of giving
back where it matters, and they feel privileged that they
can contribute to dozens of charities and organizations,
including Easter Seals disability services. “We’re proud of
our support of the Easter Seals organization, and all the
kids and adults that fight for a sense of independence,
regardless of their disabilities,” says Birdie.
In the end, the Yagers believe the basic ingredients for
success are simple.
“Everybody needs a dream,” Dexter says.
“And everybody needs somebody to love them,”
Birdie adds.
Their parents also taught them about hard work and dedication
– and lived what they taught. After Dexter suffered a stroke in
1986, he fought hard to recover. The Yagers’ sons know that their
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AMWAY HERO AWARDS: DAVID AND SHARRON COLEY
AMWAY HERO AWARDS: DAVID AND SHARRON COLEY
2014
David and Sharron Coley
These IBOs built impressive careers while serving their country, and they
continue to affect others’ lives through their Amway™ business.
Working as a team
For both David and Sharron, the U.S. Air Force represented opportunity.
David joined the military simply to find a better life. “I didn’t want to
work in the local steel mill,” he says, “and my uncle was in the Air
Force as well.” Looking for the chance to make something of himself,
he decided to enlist while in high school.
Sharron had no military background in her family – yet she’d always
dreamed of becoming a pilot. Raised by a single mom with little income
meant there was no money for her studies. “I hadn’t heard of the Air
Force Academy, but I met a recruiter and saw the Air Force as a way to
get that training,” says Sharron.
PATRIOTISM
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Once they graduated from the Academy, both of their careers took off.
David became an expert in Aircraft Maintenance and Logistics and
won many awards for his work. Meanwhile, Sharron reached her goal
of flying. She became the first African American woman to pilot the C-5
Galaxy, the military’s largest cargo plane – nearly as long as a football
field and as tall as a six-story building.
After a year and a half of dating long-distance, the couple married in
1994. Since then, they’ve each continued to play valuable roles in their
military professions.
“After 9/11, the Air Force flew C-5s into Diego Garcia, a little island in
the Indian Ocean that’s as close as you can get to Afghanistan,” says
David. “This was monumental effort, and something we’d never done
before. We bed down five C-5 aircraft on the island, getting the cargo
as close to the troops on the front line as possible. We were flying
round-robin missions from Diego Garcia to Afghanistan, and minimizing
the troops’ need to resupply by dangerous convoys. Sharron flew, while
I was managing all the maintenance and personnel.”
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AMWAY HERO AWARDS: DAVID AND SHARRON COLEY
AMWAY HERO AWARDS: DAVID AND SHARRON COLEY
The Coleys were suddenly pulled in two different
directions. Platinum at the time, they left strong team
leaders in place who not only kept their business moving,
but growing too.
2014
PATRIOTISM
The Amway Hero Award
for Patriotism recognizes
noteworthy service to
community or country through
civilian or military endeavors.
A hero is what you are
to someone else, not
who you think you are.
– David
“Sharron and I have always worked together,” David laughs.
“Her piloting the planes and breaking them, and me fixing
them up after.”
But there’s also a serious side to serving in the same military
branch. “They never let couples deploy together,” says Sharron.
“For the family’s sake, they never want to risk losing both
people at once.”
A strong business
When David was first presented with the Amway™ opportunity, he
realized what a difference it could make in their lives and was
excited to get started. Sharron was focused on her career at the
time – and supported her husband once she fully understood the
potential of the opportunity.
I had such a sense of
pride in supporting the
soldiers because they’re
the real heroes.
– Sharron
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“David would ask me to meet people and attend events to see
what it was all about,” says Sharron. “The more time I spent, the
more I got to experience pieces of the Amway values – freedom,
family, hope, and reward – in ways I hadn’t seen other places.”
“We both come from single-parent families,” says David, “and I
knew we’d need to support our parents someday, as well as our
kids, Sierra (15) and Darron (17). We were looking toward the
future – we built our Amway™ business ‘yesterday’ so we’d have it
for ‘today.’”
The Coleys continued to steadily develop their business over the
years. Then, just one month after Sharron graduated from her pilot
training course, the 9/11 terrorist attacks happened. “My pilot
career got off to a rough start,” she says. “Right away, we began
pre-positioning troops and their gear in preparation for war.”
“We were away for a year,” says Sharron. “And our
business held strong. We compare it to another
couple we know – they had to turn their restaurant
over to their managers. When they came back, their
business had failed. We’re so fortunate that our Amway™
business continued to grow at a time when everything
was so unsure.”
Today, the Coleys have reached Founders Emerald, while
Sharron continues to serve in the Air Force reserves.
The couple sees even greater potential as their business
heads into the future.
“In the military, you meet a lot of people and you get to
know them, but you lose touch so easily,” says Sharron.
“We’ve had people in our Amway™ business for over 15
years. Our coaches are Dave and Kristin Dussault. We saw
them impacting people’s lives and the challenges they’d
gone through. They were inspiring to us, and we wanted to
be like them.”
Being a patriot
“I didn’t understand patriotism until I joined the Air Force,”
says David. “During basic training when I first stood in
formation to salute the flag at a retreat ceremony and
the hair stood up on the back of my neck – I never lost
that feeling.”
That feeling instills a drive within him to continue helping
others. “It’s not about you, it’s about everyone else,” says
David. “It’s about the country. A hero is what you are to
someone else, not who you think you are.”
“I had such a sense of pride in supporting the soldiers
because they’re the real heroes,” says Sharron. “While I
was flying in and out of Iraq, I brought home the soldiers
who were fighting. When my eyes met theirs, I knew they
had endured some of the hardest things imaginable. I was
proud to have been a small, small part of making their
missions successful.”
The Coleys are also committed to seeing others succeed,
and helping them realize their own goals. “Our positions
taught us about helping people, staying focused on a goal,
and helping people achieve it,” says David. “We look at our
business and what we can do to further our country. When
you give people hope and help them succeed, you can
bring the good out of them. One at a time, you’re changing
a person, changing a household, and changing America.”
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2014
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for the 2015 Hero Awards at:
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