Mama, I Made It

Everybody in West Philadelphia had an opinion about DeAndre Whitaker.

Most of them were not good.

At thirty-one, Dre is broke, recently fired, freshly dumped, and still living in the same rowhouse where his mother has spent years telling anyone who will listen that her son is going to be somebody.

Everybody else?

They laugh.

His uncle says he has no direction. His cousins clown every business idea. His ex is tired of waiting for potential to turn into stability. Former bosses call him unfocused. Neighbors think he spends too much time "playing on that computer."

But Loretta Whitaker has never doubted him.

Not when his bank account holds four dollars and seventeen cents.

Not when his car gets repossessed.

Not when his newest business idea is scribbled on the back of a Chinese takeout menu.

And definitely not when that ridiculous idea becomes JAWN—a neighborhood platform that starts small, catches fire, and eventually turns Dre into one of the richest men anybody from his block has ever seen.

Suddenly, everybody always knew he was going to make it.

Funny how that works.

Now Dre has hundreds of millions of dollars, national fame, a company worth over a billion, and something even more dangerous:

a very long memory.

Every insult. Every joke. Every "get a real job." Every person who rolled their eyes, laughed at his dreams, or suddenly remembers "believing in him from the beginning" has been carefully documented.

Because Dre has discovered something important:

Success is sweet.

But success with receipts?

That is a whole different tax bracket.

What follows is a hilarious, outrageous, and surprisingly heartfelt journey through new money, family foolishness, fake supporters, legendary revenge, West Philly loyalty, and a mama who still does not care how rich her son becomes if he has not eaten.

Mama, I Made It is a laugh-out-loud story about proving everybody wrong—and discovering that the people who truly matter are the ones who believed in you before there was anything impressive to believe in.

He made it.

Now everybody who doubted him is about to hear about it.