Sanjay Laforest
NYC Hospitality Entrepreneur & Author
I made it out. And I kept getting back up along the way.
I started alone — no blueprint, no fall back plan, nobody coming to save me. After years of toiling away in NYC, I ended up running my first company from a penthouse office in the financial district. On Broadway with five offices and a private balcony in the skies. The Wall Street Bull was directly out front — that symbol was never decorative. It was a reminder.
Models. First class flights. Lux Miami apartment. I wasn't supposed to be here — or so they thought.
We procured epic Fashion Week events. Thousands of attendees, and a company people gravitated to — one I built from nothing.
This story is not about success. It's about abuse, betrayal, collapse — and always finding a way.
A way to get back up.
I was at the top, and I let my distant past back into my life. Time for expansion, I thought. A French bistro, a Mexican mixology bar. Our plan was to build an empire. I had no idea what they already had in motion. I worked so hard to get where I was. To build what I had built. Before I knew it, it was all gone. My name, my reputation. I was humiliated and brought down to my knees. The headlines did not rest. My name as the mastermind, attached to things I couldn't answer for. I still could not see that I had been tricked. Their curse still had not been broken.
I had the chance to cooperate. I didn't take it. Not because they didn't deserve it — because I couldn't be the one to do it. Not to people I used to love.
All I had left was a vow of silence and — a pen.
This is a broken little boy's story, written by the man who put him back together.
Hey kid. It’s going to be ok.
Coming Soon.