Rising Stars: Meet Rashad Schaffer

Today we’d like to introduce you to Rashad Schaffer.

Hi Rashad, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Growing up in single-family home from San Diego, I was a very adventurous and curious kid. I always found myself in trouble at school. At home, my brother and I looked out for each other as often as we could until he started to get locked up at a young age.

My emotions spiraled from not having any male figures in my life. I began to hate the life I was living, little did I know it would only get worse. Growing up in Church I believed in God, but with life hitting me left and right it was hard to trust Him. Fast forward to High school, I was not able to graduate with my friends and the feeling of being a failure grew. My mom was disappointed in me, believing my father never wanted anything to do with me, and my brother not there resulted in me feeling like all I had left was me. At the age of 19, I got the phone call that would change my life forever. My father, the man I wished I had in my life passed away. My hurt quickly turned into anger, bitterness, as well as even jealousy of those who had fathers or father figures. I turned to drinking heavily and smoking in hopes to numb or escape the pain I’d been dealing with, but it never worked.

In 2011, I got out of a relationship that pushed me closer to God because I lost everything. In my lowest moment, I knew I had to change something about me. I transitioned from retail of 15 years to working with students which was a complete shock. Not knowing this would be the platform to how God would change who I was to who I am today still blows my mind. I’ve been a youth mentor for the past 9 years. This has been the best thing I could have done. Aside from working with students, I learned how to create content via social media that taught me not only how to engage long distance but teach me the life/world of a Social Media Influencer. Going viral on both IG & TikTok a total of 3xs I realized I had a gift. So now I teach students as well as Entrepreneurs how to merge their businesses with Social Media platforms. I love what I do, and who I am becoming.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Definitely not a smooth road! Some of the biggest challenges I’ve faced would be believing in myself. My lack of identity causes a lot of self-sabotage in healthy friendships as well as relationships. Another was allowing the affirmations or lack thereof to dictate how I moved in life.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m an author. I wrote my first book called Command Your Day & currently working on my second book. I work for a nonprofit called Rescue a Generation. There I teach success principles to middle, & high school students. Outside of being a Youth Mentor I life coach individuals on finding their lane on social media whether it’s becoming a content creator, influencer, or just creative ways to grow their business.

What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
My goal for the next 5-10 years is to teach and or life coach on a larger scale from, but not limited to corporations, school staff, camps, as well as conventions.

Contact Info:

• Website: E5themovement.com
• Instagram: E5ManofGod