Overcoming adversity and turning obstacles into stepping stones is the expertise of author, speaker, and purpose coach, Yannik McKie.
At age 11 Yannik suffered the heartbreak of his parents’ divorce and learned that both Mom and Dad were HIV positive. By the age of 15 Yannik lost both of his parents to the deadly AIDS disease. Overcoming such adversity has helped Yannik earn his reputation as an expert on how to overcome life’s toughest challenges. Yannik’s amazing life story has been featured on numerous media outlets including ESPN, The Huffington Post, The New York Daily News, Good Day Atlanta, and many more.
Yannik lost both of his parents to AIDS before the age of 16. This pain led Yannik and Living In Purpose to create the Let’s Talk About Sex Conference. L.T.A.S. is a regional conference that is a healthy relationship and abstinence-based youth conference designed to help encourage and inspire youth and young adults to live their life in purpose by making positive choices through relationship education, refusal-skill coaching, and character education.
According to the Center of Disease Control, suicide is the second leading cause of death among children ages 10-24. Beyond that, many other young and young adults are turning to drugs, sexual promiscuity, and violence in an effort to numb their pain. The purpose of the MASK OFF Conference is to encourage and equip youth with the tools necessary to endure their pain and turn it into purpose. MASK OFF is an environment where youth feel safe! They are empowered to share their struggles and receive the support needed to make it through their difficult circumstances.
An estimated 8.5 million youth (about 20%) do not have caring adults in their lives, putting them at serious risk. Men In Training aims to partner caring adults with hurting children in an effort to prevent academic failure, criminal activity, drug abuse and other serious risk behaviors. Research finds that resilient youth-those who successfully transition from risk-filled backgrounds to the adult world of work and good citizenship-are consistency distinguished by the presence of a caring adult in their lives.
Sisters Informing, Healing, Living, and Empowering (SIHLE) Augusta aims to positively impact the extreme health disparities experienced by African American women. Along with safe education, character development, self-esteem empowerment and abstinence coaching, we aspire to give these girls the tools and confidence to achieve all that they strive to be. The goal for them is to know self-love, self-care, self-respect, and self-responsibility.
We know you share our interest and dream of creating a higher standard of living for our community and its citizens. Living In Purpose operates, solely, as funded by the generous support of tax deductible gifts from partners and friends. You can help us to change a life today by your financial support.