Here is the full transcript of Hakki Akdeniz’s talk titled “Homeless But Not Hopeless” at TEDxRutgers conference.
In this talk, Hakki Akdeniz shares his personal journey from being a homeless immigrant to a successful pizza chain owner. Born in a small village in Turkey, Hakki moved to Canada and later to New York City, where he faced homelessness and language barriers. Despite these challenges, he found aid in a homeless shelter and gradually secured employment in a pizza shop.
Hakki’s resilience led him to save money and eventually open his own pizza store, Champion Pizza, in Manhattan. Throughout his talk, he emphasizes the importance of kindness and giving back, sharing stories of hiring and transforming the lives of other homeless individuals. He advocates for business owners to offer employment opportunities to the homeless, stressing that a small act of kindness can significantly impact.
Hakki’s story is a testament to the power of perseverance, compassion, and the human spirit in overcoming adversity.
Listen to the audio version here:
TRANSCRIPT:
Early Life and Journey to America
Homelessness is everywhere in this country. We see this, but we really act as if we don’t see it. Where they came from, and where they become homeless, we don’t know too much about them. Today, I would like to remind you that they’re all human, and they have a unique story like we do.
Let me start with mine. I was born in a very small village in Turkey. I was working at age nine to support my family financially. That’s why I didn’t go to even elementary school. I wish I would have gone to college like you guys, but I didn’t.
Years later, I moved to Canada, working with my brothers at his pizza shop. I was so happy, but things didn’t go well, and I moved out to New York City. The reason I came to New York was that I had a friend of mine, we were talking on the phone, and he told me, “Hakki, if you come to New York, the American dream is big.”
Struggles in New York
I told him, “But I don’t speak English, if I come over there, do you think it’s okay?” He said, “Yes. You come over here, you stay at my house, and I will help you with a job.” And on January 28, 2001, I came to New York City.
I called my friend, and I will go fast forward. He made me wait two and a half days at Port Authority. He didn’t come, he didn’t help me, he didn’t show up. I didn’t know anyone else, and I didn’t speak a word of English. I had $240 in my pocket. I went out, and in Times Square, I saw those big buildings. I said, “Wow, this is America, it’s big, this is true, it’s big.” So, what was I going to do? I found a cheap motel and slept there a couple of days; my money finished.
And weeks later, I became homeless. To be homeless is, I mean, I was not homeless, but still, you know, like in this country or any other country, to be homeless is harder than anything, harder than a virus. You know, like, to not have a place to stay, to not take a shower, and to not eat, and if you don’t have any friends, it’s just, you’re lost. I met one guy, his name was Ronnie; he’s from Senegal.
Finding Hope and Employment
He helped me, he took me to Bowery Mission as a homeless shelter. I stayed there for 96 days, and homeless shelters, they helped me a lot. They gave me a place to sleep, take a shower, and share food with other homeless people. I’ll be honest, if I said it was easy, it was not, it was hard, but still, you know, no choice.
And one lady, she helped me to find a job for me in Hoboken. She expected me to get to Hoboken in 30 seconds, but it took me 10 hours to get there. As I got to Hoboken, I went re-hawking, and I got lost. When you don’t know things, it’s for other people so easy, but when you don’t know, it’s so hard for me.
I took a bus, another bus, another bus, and I went to Hoboken, and I met a guy, his name was Jumali. He’s from [Al-Raheer], I think. So, he’s a very mean guy, but I’m going to talk; no really, he doesn’t smile. And actually, he never smiles; I never saw his teeth. “Could you take your mask off, please, let people see your teeth?” Okay, he does have teeth, okay. So, I met him, and he asked me, “What do you know?” I said, “I’m a pizza man.” He said, “Okay, now wash your hands, make one pie, put it in the oven.” I messed it up.
I asked, “Can I make another one?” “Go ahead.” And I made another one, that pie stuck, and it didn’t come out. He said, “Take that out, get angry.” And I took it out, so, I thought he fired me. He said, “You know what, I’m giving you a job as a dishwasher.” I worked over there, and I couldn’t come to New York. He didn’t know that I was sleeping in a park, crushed.
And two weeks later, he paid me; when I got my first paycheck, I went to the bathroom, and I cried for hours. I cried like a little baby, “Please, God, forgive me, okay?” When you go through things, it’s just too emotional in life. So, the guy caught me crying in the bathroom, he came to me, he said, “What happened?”
Overcoming Obstacles and Achieving Success
I told him my situation, and he went, told Jumali, he said, “You know, like, do you know this guy is homeless, he doesn’t have a place to stay?” And then he came to me, he said, “Is it true?” I said, “Yes.” So he took me to his house, I slept at his house for like, I don’t know, like three weeks or months.
One day he made a joke, he said, “Hey, this is not a homeless shelter, okay?
We got to find a place for you to live.” But I was working seven days, but he paid me for six days, he still owes me one day, I believe, yeah, and right now it’s overtime. Yeah, so I was, now I have a place, I have a job, I’m so blessed.
I met one chef, I’m not going to say his name, we became best friends, and we decided to open a pizza shop. We saved money for four years, found a peaceful location in Upper East Side. We went there, we were so excited. Two days before signing a contract, my best friend stole all our savings, he ran away.
I mean, I cried again, nothing else, and I called him, he said, “Okay, don’t worry about it, you know, life is beautiful, work again, save money again, and if you open the store, I’m going to help you.” But actually, I worked so hard, five more years, and I opened my first store in Lower East Side, Manhattan. Thank you. When I opened the first store, I thought I knew everything about pizza.
Yes, I do, but I knew nothing about running a business, and it was so hard for me. I couldn’t pay my rent the beginning second month, third month, fourth month, and then he came, knocked, like, kicked the door, saying, ‘This is the last month, if you pay, pay, if you don’t pay, I take you to court, okay?’ So I didn’t know what to do, I was lost again, but giving up was not an option for me.
What saved me and what helped my store survive? It was a pizza competition. In 2005, I competed at the International Pizza Championship, and there were 93 people, and I got 87th place. I was so bad, all I knew was just like one trick, not really, I thought I was a pizza master, but all I knew was just one trick, but right now, I can do like two, three pizzas at the same time, under my leg, whatever, okay? With blindfolds, with handcuffs, with flaming, I’m not going to do this today, okay guys? No pizza, but after here, we can go to my pizza shop, have a pizza.
So, when I became like the, and I won first place, in 2010, there was a pizza competition again, and I won the first place. Yeah, there was, and when I came in first place, and they told me like, “Hakki, you are the world champion,” of course, there was money involved, they gave me money as well, and I went forward, and I cried a lot, because that money meant a lot to me, I could pay my rent, and they put me on the full-page cover of PMQ magazine, a front page, and they sent me like two boxes of magazines.
And I was giving magazines to a lot of kids and neighbors, and TV, newspapers, they came to my store, they were interviewing me, from a homeless guy to becoming a celebrity pizza guy, and a neighbor, everybody, “Hey, what’s up buddy, how you doing, my friend?” so, and I was so blessed, I made money, first store, second store, third store, opened and opened, okay?
Giving Back and Inspiring Others
I was so blessed, I named my pizza chain the Champion Pizza, to always remember the hard work and struggle behind the company name. So, I’m not success, I thought be, have money, to have a house, to have a family, I thought that’s everything, but I realized, you know, like, when you be, you know, when you get, when you achieve your goal, and what’s your purpose in life, it was not money. I thought to chase money, it was everything, but it was not money, and I was searching, what is Bowery Mission, the place, I was staying over there for 96 days, they made me who I am today.
And I went over there, there’s a red door, I opened the door, and I saw friends like Isaac, James, Kiki; Kiki passed away two years ago, God bless him. I saw them, I gave them hugs, we chatted quickly. I told them about my story, I’m successful, I own a business now, and I go to Bowery Mission often. I go, break bread, sit and leave, and we have a program like Sunday night, anybody who wants to come join us is more than welcome, and we have a one-day giving back program on 34th Street, 8th Avenue, again, more than welcome.
So, we always do those kinds of events for homeless people on the street. During that time, I met a lot of stories, so I would love to share just a couple of stories with you guys. I met Eddie, Eddie was a veteran from the Iraq war, he fought for this country, and Eddie had a really serious trauma issue, he couldn’t focus on things that we do. I talked to him, and I said, “You know, like, if I offer you a job, would you want to work for me?” He said yes with a big smile, and I took him, Eddie, to my store’s old location, I introduced him to my manager, and my manager came in the front, he said, “You know, like, Hakki, boss, are you sure you want to give him a job?”
Transforming Lives
I asked him why. He said he smelled very bad, and he was so dirty. Well, someone told me exactly that before as well, I feel the pain. I took Eddie, took him to a barber shop to give him a nice haircut, and I took him to a gym with like 20 bucks you pay, you take a shower, you take a nice shower every day, and I took him to a clothing store, dressed him up very nicely.
Eddie, he’s like six feet tall, he looked like a model that day. I took him back to my pizza shop, my manager didn’t recognize he was the same person a couple of hours ago. It took just a couple of hours to transform from a homeless person to a regular person, and Eddie, he worked for me for like three, four years. Eddie now has a wife, and he has a beautiful daughter, her name is Layla, and he always says, “Hakki, please don’t talk to the public about me, okay?” I don’t know, is it public today? I don’t know, but he’s happy.
Alex, he was a TV producer, one day on set, he gets a phone call that his daughter, she got hit by a car, and the accident sent Alex from heaven to hell. Alex lost his daughter, and Alex started drinking, and to deal with depression, okay?
It’s not easy when you lose something in your life. Alex drank and became an alcoholic, and it was too late for him to quit, and the film production, they fired him, and Alex, he was making $120,000 a year, it’s not like normal. And then his wife, like a couple of months later, she kicked him out from his own house, and Alex became homeless. When I met him, he was coughing so badly, and I said, “What do you need?”
He said, “I need like medicine for coughing, I feel so bad, I’m not, you know, feeling well.” I took him to a CDMV, it’s like, you know, a medical center, so the doctor checked him, he gave him a cup of medicine, that’s right, we went to a pharmacy, bought him medicine, and I didn’t sleep through this process, I took him like to a barbershop, showers, and clothing, dressed him up. Alex, he said, “Today I’m not feeling good, can I come tomorrow?” You know what, Alex, he came, yes, next day at 11 a.m. at my Essex pizza shop location, and Alex worked for us for almost two years.
Alex, he got a new girlfriend, he has a new life, and he found a job in a film production company. He was so happy, and one day, like in the Christmas, he called me, we had nice dinners, and in 2020, in June, we lost him during COVID. So, I mean, we all deserve a second chance in life, okay?
A Call for Compassion and Action
We’re all human, and how can we create a job for people who really need it? A little bit is a lot for a lot of people, and I think we have signs that say like, “Wanted” or “Now Hiring,” you know, like we can go to the street and talk to them, listen to them, get their story, know them very well, open your heart, and they will tell everything they’ve been through.
Usually, they don’t like to talk because, you know, they’re so shy, they think they’re not part of this society, because we pass by them, and we don’t say hello to them, we just, we don’t see them, like I said, I mentioned earlier. And if business owners, I’m sure, you know, like some of you have supermarkets, maybe they have construction companies, law firms, everybody has different businesses. I know about the restaurant business, I try to do my best to help them, and to give them a job in my business, but please, if you guys have different businesses, like I actually have a gas station, so you could help them, like, you know, hire them at a gas station.
So if you help them, if they work for you, there will be fewer homeless people on the street, and I promise you, if they work for you, they will work so hard, because they have struggled so much, and they don’t want to go back to the street.
Success and Giving Back
We’re all human, and we all have a life story. We’ve all been going through so much struggle in life, and we all need sometimes someone to help us. How I started with nothing, but like, you know, multiple locations, Champion Pizza, and today I sell my highest frozen pizza at over 700 supermarkets. They can achieve their life goals as well, and let’s just be kind, because kindness is free, kindness is the key to success.
Kindness is an international language, actually, and let’s just be kind for no reason. Thank you so much for having me here.