Meet Bayonle Arashi | Leadership coach, founder Midas Football Academy Houston

We had the good fortune of connecting with Bayonle Arashi and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Bayonle, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
I was born in the city of Ibadan Nigeria in June of 1980, I am the first son and the first child of my parent’s marriage. My dad could be considered a middle-class man since I grew up knowing him as a self-employed man. My dad was a land surveyor by profession and it was what he did till around 2006 when he accepted Christ and became the first generation Christian in our family. The story of his becoming a Christian did not suddenly happen, but he had a lot of deep lessons in it. As early as I could remember I was around 10 years old when my dad became a polygamy by marrying a second wife. I did not understand why or the reason back then but what I know for sure was the impact that decision made in my life and that is my siblings which consist of 3 other boys and my only sister making a total of 5 of us from my mum.

I knew things changed because my mother was no longer the main chic though still had the position of a first wife, I started paying attention and knew I had to grow up fast and provide leadership and cover not just for my mum but my siblings also. Dad did not stop with the first one he married as he exchanged 4 more wives before my 19th birthday and graduated from the Government Technical College in 1999 where I studied broadcast communication and earned a diploma. This was my get-out-of-house opportunity and I got my first broadcasting job a few months after graduation with a private broadcast organization in Nigeria MITV.

By this time I had already made many decisions and one was to promise my mum that I would take care of her and never be like my dad. I have done my best to stick to those promises to date as I turned 44 on June 28.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My story is what I can summarize as grace and a walk with God, coming from a background of broadcasting in my home country in Nigeria with 16 years of experience in the industry to relocating to the United States in early 2015 and having to start all over again with nothing but a bag pack and a basket full of dreams. I had to pick myself up and start with what I had which was to grab a six-hour night shift from Denny’s restaurant in San Bernadino California, my first job in the country after which I got a call from a senior colleague to come down to Houston and help a Nigerian brother with a local television channel and I have been in Houston since then. I held that broadcast job for two years and had to find a new career path in the criminal justice system with TDCJ. What I am most proud of is my growth as a person and my relationship with God. I firmly believe in the general saying that adversity introduces a man to himself. Having the chance to come to America and chase my dream of helping other young people became clearer when I joined TDCJ in 2018. I have always been curious all of my life to knowledge, I always want to learn and get better with my mind and hindsight. It was during my job with the state agency that I found a link between my broadcast career and criminal justice to find a common ground which made me discover the topic of leadership. I have been learning about leadership ever since then and not just learning it. I have been acting it too.

Now I am a leadership coach and a published author of one book with the second one finished and waiting to be published. I also started a soccer nonprofit organization in Houston launched in April 2023 to mentor children and teenagers from becoming at-risk youth. Our focus is on three areas that we believe are in urgent need by the Houston community and beyond, eliminating behavioral issues among young people, tackling obesity and mental and making the game of soccer a right to play for every kid. This project is part of my legacy and the dream we have is big. Our long-term plan is to build a facility that can accommodate 120 young people as a full residential academy where they will learn how to play soccer and earn a skill that will serve them after a successful soccer career, it is also to prepare them for the world even when they don’t make it as a professional athlete. None of our graduates will be a menace to society but an ambassador of their generation going further to help other people.

Getting from where I used to be to where I am at the moment mentally, physically, and spiritually has been a lot of work and dedication, it has been a lot of sacrifice, pain, and suffering. I have lost many things but also gained a lot in the process but this is not a place to share all of that. However, I want to make a point that if anyone out there decides to dive into the world of personal development and to follow their dream, there is always a price to pay.

The only thing I can say about overcoming the challenges I have faced so far is that I never did it alone or by myself. God has been a part of it. There is no way I will ever get to where I am today without the grace of God. You have to be willing to suffer, to work your face off, to never stop working hard and chasing your dream. You have to be open to learning and ask a lot of questions too. You also need a lot of people to hold your hand and walk with you.

I want the world to know that I am coming, you will hear about me real soon at a bigger stage because the work we do will eventually be noticed by the community and then the state and believe it or not at the federal level and the entire world will hear about what Midas Football Academy Houston stands for and the importance of our project to the society. I believe they will soon be asking us to teach their young men and women beyond Houston how we did it and they will pay us to do it.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
This will be an interesting visit for my friend because I am very cautious of what I eat, not that I am on a strict diet or anything like that but just a healthy eater and some might even say I am a freak. LOL. However if anyone will be visiting me for up to a week, it will probably be a friend from home in Nigeria so we will be doing some local Nigerian dishes among the many Nigerian restaurants within Houston. I work very hard and barely have time to explore new restaurants and food places but I am sure Google can help us out. I will also be making some of my favorite meals for them like Baked Salmon and potatoes and some shrimp and eggs.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I want to dedicate my shoutout to first my father, for being hard on me while I was in my formative years and not understanding many things going on in the world as those lessons early in life shaped me to be the man I am today. I am also grateful to him for making the ultimate sacrifice of accepting Jesus as his Lord and Savior giving me a chance to have a solid footing in God as I journey through life. Thank you, dad.

I have also learned from many individuals whom I am not going to ever have a chance to meet in person because some of them are late and some, our paths might just never cross but they have inspired me so much with their work, their books, their countless hours of videos I have watched online. The number one amongst them is the late Dr. Myles Munroe whose work has had the biggest influence on my life. He is the other father I never had. He made me realize how powerful I am as a being and how to continue to develop that power and share it with others as I journey through life. Others are Jim Rohn, Lesley Brown, John Maxwell, Pastor Sam Adeyemi, Napolean Hill, and many more whom I am not going to be able to remember at the time of completing this interview. Thank you all for using your gift to bless me.

Website: https://bayonlearashi.com/

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Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSRgIs8gboXSWO65U0CNrJQ