Lawyer Zaki Ali, born and raised 50 years ago in Peoria, Illinois to Girtha and Cleo Dailey. The youngest of the five children, Ali is said to be among 3 of the 7 percent of the community to have dyslexia. His unlikely story of success began when he faced educational challenges and is a teenage father who is known to alter one's success. This is what reading is like when you have dyslexia.
Despite all that adversity, his mother found alternatives to get her son the help he desperately needs. Although his elder brother found minimal success at the Catholic school he then later attended which then created a new set of problems for Ali whom he describes his childhood as 'lonely' according to WashingtonTimes.
School administrators and teachers then suggested placing Ali in a separate, self-contained special education classroom. At times, Ali was told by a particular teacher that he had "quick eyes" perceiving that he can scan things too quickly without being able to absorb and getting all that information or what it meant. He wasn't diagnosed until the spring of his senior year. Always expected to proceed in college, Ali spent his first year at a community college before transferring, where he finished in public relations and marketing graduating at a staggering 2.79 GPA. Having some false starts, he then ended up earning a master's degree. After that, he went to work for five years as a sales representative in Cincinnati according to CNN.
But then a personal tragedy took Ali's career down to shreds. Gulley managed to upbeat her standard of living, bought a home Ali still owns on the south side of Peoria and merged with the not-so-profit board of directors. His mother spent five months in a federal prison. Ali started his career working in the Indiana Attorney General's Office before proceeding to work more than a year in Madison County Prosecutor's Office. But no one is prouder of Ali's accolades and achievements other than two people he credits and owes his success to Kathy Hopenrath and Bob Smith. Though Ali did well on the field to participate in a Division I school, he couldn't make the cut to get in, so Smith recruited him to Southeast Missouri as an offensive guard. Smith reportedly said his reputation preceded him regarding being a hard worker. Smith added he was so coachable, understanding and all he wanted so desperately was to get better athletically, mentally and intellectually. Smith would be the first to say that he wouldn't have predicted the ceiling of Ali's future success based on his academic intellect expertise. He uttered that Zaki Ali never lets anyone down and that's one of the reasons that he is an impressive man now.
