Ray Smith.

I was born in Oakland County, Michigan. As a kid we moved a lot. Ohio, Kentucky, Illinois. We settled in Davison, where my brother Clay and I finished school.

My father shaped me more than anyone. He taught me the duality of man. Rough on the outside, kind underneath. He was a smart man and an industrial welder by trade. He taught me to bully the bully. He taught me that the things you love are worth hard sacrifice. He was direct. He believed in showing, not saying. He took pride in his work. He fought for my brother and me every day of his life.

“Dumb men ignore problems. Average men deal with problems. Smart men eliminate problems.”

Davison gave me a real education and a sense of right and wrong. I wrestled, ran track and cross country, and played football. Coaches Roy Hall, Kent Elliott, and Bob Smith taught me to be comfortable being uncomfortable. Coach Ames taught me marketing and business. Much of what I do today started in his classroom.

I went to EMU in 2005 to run track and study education. I left disillusioned. I watched the 2008 crash bail out the gamblers while the middle class drowned. I saw the system work against the people it claimed to serve.

I fell into real estate and built a career, from buyer’s agent to broker with my own firm.

Then came the hard years. Covid wiped out small businesses while the government handed billions to fraud. I could not get my father the care he needed. He died too early, in 2022. The system fought me instead of helping me save him. That is when this work began to take shape.

In 2023 I was carjacked in Ypsilanti. The man was never arrested. When I demanded justice, the people sworn to deliver it chose to grind me down for exposing their corruption.

“The system fought me instead of helping me save him.”

That brings us here. I look forward to the work we will do together.