Excerpt from address given by A. P. Ri'Chard to graduate students at Long Island University Sept. 27, 2008

The aforementioned statement by the multifaceted producer, author, screenplay writer, actor, and motivational speaker known as A.P. Ri'Chard characterize not only his experiences but also his optimistic disposition, resiliency, and limitless generosity.  

Tireless in his pursuit of excellence and conscious of his higher calling—-which is to surface the “best” in others—A. P. Ri'Chard has applied his gifts to a variety of endeavors.  And while he creates wonderful stories for stage, screen, and books, his story is as remarkable as any of his works of fiction.

A. P. Ri’Chard, a Detroit native, left the Motor City for New York in 1997 with nothing more than the blessings of his family and friends. In doing so, he abandoned a well-established professional career as a computer engineer. His burning ambition to publish his manuscripts drove him to make that leap of faith - to migrate to the epicenter of the publishing world.  As so often happens for so many passionate faithful, Ri’Chard’s resources ran dry before his royalties rolled in.  He found himself among the homeless, a paradigm shift in lifestyle, which ultimately provided him fertile ground for stories of struggle. 

 Likewise, as with so many who first fall before rising, he kept his quest moving ever forward through his consistent writing regimen.  Shortly thereafter, through a fated benefactor encounter, Ri’Chard regained traction using his extraordinary computer engineering skills for which he was self trained.

After a momentary repaging of his game plan, he next met Cliff Benton, a literary agent and founder of Audacity, The Literary Consortium. Benton recognized his talent and the ever-requisite ambition.  Mentoring Ri’Chard on the wiles of the industry, Benton gave him entree to the professional ranks, including Maxwell Taylor, Editor at A & B Publisher’s Group.  It is one thing to gain access to the inner sanctum, it is entirely another to deliver the plateau-caliber manuscript required to stay.

Considering “Damn!” one of his so-called park-bench gems, Ri’Chard amazed Taylor with his deft skill and artful stylings contained in the polished tome.  A & B Publisher Group brought joyous and welcome news to the Detroit-based Ri’Chard family of their creative son and his first published book.  Spurred on by this success, Ri’Chard plunged headlong into developing numerous manuscripts simultaneously.

As with each new opportunity comes both a challenge and responsibility.  Striking out for uncharted territory Ri’Chard was introduced to a young man who stated that he was wrongfully imprisoned for the murder of a racist white male in his hometown. This story fueled Ri’Chard to pen a story inspired by this young man’s dilemma.  Facing the challenge of creating a manuscript worthy of this heart-wrenching reality, “Caged Innocence” was borne. As Ri’Chard’s second published work, it is due for release on November 4, 2008, by Strebor books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.

Ri’Chard is producing the feature-length film adaptation for “Caged Innocence” set for release in the second quarter of 2009. 

Ri’Chard has also penned a biographical feature-length film, a legendary tale of a controversial and world-renowned figure, called “King of Rhythm, the Ike Turner Story.”  Once again, Ri'Chard is bringing his producing talents to the big screen with the film having an anticipated release of 2009.

He also created a made-for-television dramatic series “The Market Place”, the pilot was co-written by Mpenzi Ramadhan Nanji.

Ri’Chard is well on his way to reaching his goals of writing for television, the silver screen, and the literary community.  His other works include, screenplays: “Future”, “Shadow of Memory”, “You Never Know”, “Sanction”.  Several more novels include “At War With The Devil”, “Can’t You See I Love You”, “False Impressions”, and “Thank God”.

In support of screening and broadcasting his screenplays and television projects, Ri’Chard has launched an audio-visual production company, United Spirits, LLC, on the strength of his motto: “Like Hearts And Minds At Work”.  As Ri’Chard takes stock of the pending release of yet another book, he looks back over the road between Detroit and today, believing that his huge, risk-it-all leap of faith brought him where the Lord planned for him to go. 

A. P has assembled a group of very talented individuals who understand the seeds that have been planted. These Like Hearts And Minds came together because they listened to their Director of Animation, Motion Pictures, Television Sitcoms/Dramas, Publication, whether it be Magazines, Comics or Novels. He is most of all, our Director of LIFE. 

           When others Tell US we Can't, he proves that we CAN.

LIKE HEARTS AND MINDS AT WORK GOD DIRECTS US (United Spirits)