What Is "Journey Began" About? The Story Behind the Brown Paper Bag and the Borrowed Shoes

Eddrick Javon Trumpler

Eddrick Javon Trumpler is an author and entrepreneur who built a business from nothing while working a full-time job — no investors, no inheritance, just the hours around his shifts and a refusal to quit. His debut memoir, Journey Began: Carrying a Brown Paper Bag and a Borrowed Pair of Shoes, is available now. The family historian, Eddrick dedicated the book to his late grandmother, Dorothy Bell Hunt, whose 1957 bus ride — a borrowed pair of shoes, a brown paper bag, and three children she refused to let be separated — anchors the story and the promise behind it. He writes about building without a safety net, the failures that taught him the most, and the grit that gets passed down through generations. More books are on the way, including a companion journal for entrepreneurs and the full story of Dorothy's life. Eddrick lives in South Florida, where the journey continues.