Whitetrash privilege
About the Author
Joe Manns, 45, is an entrepreneur and visionary who knows what it’s like to live in extreme poverty – and to never give up.
Raised poor in Huntington, West Virginia, and rural Dixie County in Northwest Florida, Manns dropped out of high school in 10th grade to get married and raise a family.
At 21, he found himself alone and desperate after his wife and two children moved out and his father was killed suspiciously. He joined the Army and turned his life around. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in marketing (3.83 GPA) and a Master’s degree in marketing and communications (3.94 GPA) from Franklin University in Columbus, Ohio.
He worked for eight years as an account supervisor and then director at one of the world’s largest advertising agencies,, McCann Erickson, before starting his own promotional company. Today, he is VP Accounts for JMC Brands and principal of Ad Grid USA. One of his largest clients is the U.S. Army.
Manns is also a career coach who loves to motivate and inspire others. His semi-autobiographical story, Dismissed, is being turned into a movie to raise awareness about the important mental health issues of veterans.
Manns, who loves to hunt and fish, lives with his wife, Jessica, and their two children in Palm Harbor, Florida.