Stephen Thompson walks you through his journey from being a ward of the state at age nine to Silicon Valley Executive and how he created a community to pave the way.

As a successful executive recruiter in the software industry, Stephen is dedicated to finding and hiring some of the most unique and smartest people in the world.  His expertise extends from data scientists who help people make the right purchase when using the Apple.com website; to infrastructure engineers that help companies process 35,000 transactions per second.  Stephen has worked with both private companies trying to go public and Fortune 10 companies. LinkedIn, Apple and Google are some of the most recognized names who have retained his services over the years.  Stephen has been married for almost fifteen years to a wonderful, successful woman and together are raising two funny and talented boys.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx