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May 24,
2006, NEW MILFORD, CT— The journey from poor
farm girl to a successful entrepreneur wasn't easy
for Daphne Clarke-Hudson. From the loss of her
mother to homelessness, she's been through it all.
But surviving those trials are what made here what
she is today a talk show host, community volunteer
and head of a company whose purpose is to help and
inspire others. Clarke-Hudson grew up as the only
child in Jamaica. After her mother died when she was
13, Clark-Hudson's father sent her off to live with
an aunt during the week to attend school.
"My aunt had three children, and she treated them
better than me. She didn't treat me kindly," she
said. Often, she would keep Clarke-Hudson out of
school to help run a grocery store. Eventually,
someone told Clarke-Hudson's father what was
happening, and she returned to live with him to
attend her old school. But she missed too many
classes and failed the country's high school
entrance exam. Despite the setback, Clarke-Hudson
continued her education and eventually graduated
from nursing school, finding work as a nurse while
attending public health school.
Married with a son, Clarke-Hudson moved to New York
in 1985 to join her husband. "When I came I got a
rude awakening. I realized my husband was leading a
double life. He had somebody here he was living
with," she said. "So I went ahead and divorced him."
Clarke-Hudson found work as a caregiver, and she
took classes in order to pass the New York nursing
exam on weekends. It was while riding the train to
one such class that she began talking to a woman who
told her about Mary Kay cosmetics. "This lady told
me that this company give you a car. Because I was
walking, it sound good to me," she said. Confident
in her people skills, Clarke-Hudson signed up, even
though she had never worn makeup. Still, she said,
"I got business cards, and I was so excited because
it said Daphne Clarke, beauty consultant."
She eventually moved on from Mary Kay and began
working for a company that sold knockoffs of
designer perfume. Because of her experience with
Mary Kay, she was quickly promoted to manager. By
the end of the first year, she was ready to strike
out and start her own branch, but the relocation
money never came. "All I had been looking forward to
was this perfume business that they had promised me,
and I didn't have that anymore," she said. "Now we
have nothing. I think I had $250 in my savings
account."
With little money, no apartment and unable to pay
the bill on her storage unit, Clarke-Hudson stayed
in a local shelter and later with Amos House,
eventually finding work at a group home for the
mentally challenged and later with Danbury Children
First. Saving her money, Clarke-Hudson eventually
saved enough to purchase a home in New Milford. It's
a long story with more details than Clarke-Hudson
can remember. But the lessons she learned along the
way are something she says she will never forget.
"Now I choose to empower people because I have gone
through so much. All these little ditches; I don't
see them as failures. If I were to do it again I
would not omit one of these things because they have
made me who I am," she said. At Danbury Children
First, Clarke-Hudson worked as a parent school
coordinator, acting a liaison between the Danbury
School system and its parents. She also worked as
the Danbury Housing Authorities' drug elimination
coordinator. Looking back at the many jobs she has
held, Clarke-Hudson can see a common thread. Nearly
all of them placed her in the role of helping
people.
Still, she never considered that she could make a
career out of motivating people to succeed. "I
wasn't thinking that was a career that people was
paying for," she said. But then Clarke-Hudson
visited a life coach and took a personality profile
that told her she would make a good motivator. She
then wrote to ten people, some in Jamaica, some in
the United States who had known her for years,
asking them to write about how they saw her. "It was
as if they sat around a conference table. They
didn't talk to each other, but they all saw me as a
motivator and gave examples," she said.
Convinced, she opened Clarke-Hudson and Associates
in 1998. The company offers motivational
presentations, career consultation, team building
programs and other services geared toward helping
people understand and meet their potential. Last
year, she launched her own cable television show, "A
New Day: Your Personal Guide to Personal
Empowerment." The show, which first aired in
September, has run for nearly 50 episodes, featuring
state and local politicians, storytellers, artists
and others.
"I don't deal with topics. I deal with stories
because each guest comes with a story," she said.
"It's just a blessing. People come up to me and they
thank me for the show," she said. "I thank God for
the opportunity to be a coach, to help people. I'm
still a work in progress, but I can help somebody
else."
"A New Day: Your Personal Guide to Personal
Empowerment" airs at 7 p.m. Saturdays and at 12 p.m.
Thursdays on Charter. It also airs at 6 p.m. Mondays
and 10:30 p.m. Thursdays on Comcast.
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