Aimmee Kodachian

The Power of Hope

BY JOAN S. PECK

In our lifetime, we meet many people who we find interesting, and, once in a while, we happen onto a person who awakens in us the awareness that we’ve met someone special. It is a person who inspires us and humbles us as we learn how they’ve maneuvered through life and what they’ve accomplished. For me, and many others, Aimmee Kodachian is that person.

As a young girl, with undiagnosed severe dyslexia, she was ridiculed and bullied, never making it beyond a 4th grade level in school. One beautiful, sunny day, she was talking to her older brother about her desire to become a teacher. In spite of that seeming unlikely, he encouraged her to aim for that. As she left him to pour him a cup of tea, a bomb came into their Beirut home, killing him and destroying their house. They were left with nothing, and that bomb was the first to announce the beginning of the 1975 war in Lebanon.

To save 12-year-old Aimmee, and her six-year-old brother, her parents sent them to a school high in the mountains. It was crowded with children who were there also to escape the war, and most of the time, the only food they had to eat was a piece of bread. It was when she saw her little brother hunting through the garbage for food that her heart broke, and she realized it was up to her to protect him. Often, she gave up her food and passed it onto him. As she accepted responsibility for her brother and needed to survive for him, she felt a sense of self-worth that had been missing, and it gave her a cause to live…a need to exist.

Aimmee Kodachian – 12 Years Old

As a young girl, frightened, confused, and alone, Aimmee had her upsets. One day, she was leaning against a tree, crying, wondering what was going to happen, and if she would ever see her parents again. She looked up and beseeched the heavens to please help her. When Aimmee talks about this moment, it is possible to sense the peace that overcame her as she connected to her higher power (God, Buddha, the Universe – whatever your name for it) to begin to let her inner being guide her and give her hope. That is something that has remained with her to this day. She has always trusted her inner knowing.

In time, Aimmee and her brother returned home to Beirut, where they stayed with various families and friends since their family was homeless. Unable to support her, her mother persuaded Aimmee to marry at the age of 14 so that she could have a better chance in life, and would be taken care of and safe. At the age of 15, Aimmee was driven to the hospital amid bombs dropping and gave birth to her daughter, Silva. The marriage was not a happy one with Aimmee becoming a single mom, left with no money, no education, and skills. It was only the beginning of her long, harsh journey.

Once again, as she had done for her brother, she became responsible for another life. Aimmee fell in love with her daughter, and with her need to protect her, she found ways for them to survive during wartime.

Aimmee lived 13 years through the Lebanese Civil War.

In 1988, Aimmee had the opportunity to come to the United States. She had less than $200 in her pocket and a 10-year-old daughter to raise. She couldn’t read, write, or speak English. Now she found herself faced with many different obstacles and challenges than she had during the war. As reality sank in, everyone started telling her, “How are you going to make it? You don’t have money, education, or skills, and you don’t speak English.” However, Aimmee was determined to make something of her life.

Aimmee’s idea of HOPE is not the common definition that it’s a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen. Aimmee looks at it in a much broader sense, which allows a person to become more aware of the choices they have to create their life. In other words, for us to take advantage of the possibilities that are presented every day and do something with them.

Aimmee with her husband Tom Riley.

Arriving in Las Vegas in 1990 with a two-year permit to work, Aimmee could barely speak English, had severe dyslexia, a 4th-grade education, and a 12-year-old child. What was she going to do? At one of her lowest points, she gave in to her friend’s badgering and agreed to attend the Christmas party that her friend was attending. It is there that she met Tom Riley, who Aimmee refers to as her “soul mate.” She says, “When I met him, I knew that we were going to be together for life. I believe he was given to me by God.”

They married in 1993, and together they set up several businesses. It soon became apparent that Aimmee was a true entrepreneur and was successful in setting up several businesses. They were the first business in Las Vegas to sell and outsource pre-paid telephone cards that were especially popular with people who worked here to support their families back home in their prospective countries. Aimmee and Tom opened the Quick Mail store on Paradise Road. “I felt like flying!” After several years, technology came into play, and they lost nearly everything when the pre-paid card business ended because the cards were no longer valid.

By then, Aimmee had already started another career. In 1995, Aimmee was coming back from an executive meeting and found herself crying over the fact that here she was now a successful entrepreneur in the United States despite being that girl back in Lebanon who had struggled. “I pulled over to the side of the road, and that is when I heard my inner voice telling me, you need to write a book. My response was, No way am I going to write a book. I do everything to hide the fact of my lack of education, and now you want me to tell the world I only have a fourth-grade education? Then my inner voice said, this is not about you. You are to share your story so they will know anything is possible. They will listen to what you say and know they will find a way too.”

“I became DRIVEN to write it. I researched all about writing a book and what it took to complete it. In 1995, I began to write it with a ghostwriter recording my words, and in 1996, I handed my husband my completed book, “Tears of Hope.”

Tears of Hope by Aimmee Kodachian

Aimmee was asked to be on a podcast to talk about her book. She said, “I froze. It was very difficult for me to be talking to others about my personal experience – it brought up so many sad memories. Afterward, my daughter called me. ‘Mom, you did not do good. How are you going to promote your book? It was uncomfortable to listen to you.’”

“Well, I said. I’m going to become a motivational speaker now.”

I laughed. It seems that anything Aimmee sets her mind to do, she says, “Let me find out how to do it,” and she does it. She researches it and succeeds in phenomenal ways.

Today, she is the inspirational keynote speaker she wanted to be, talking about her experience to live in darkness with no hope or opportunities and her belief that she is here to empower humanity to see light where there is darkness.

She has created, produced, and directed her television show Empowering Humanity, which can be seen on EZWAY Network Channel available on Amazon Fire TV, Roku TV, Hulu, and Apple TV.

Aimmee’s mission is to empower and elevate humanity’s consciousness through education and inspiration worldwide. She believes that Empowering Humanity through Education and Inspiration is vital for our business and life’s success. Her goal is to help them ignite their creativity and inspire them to develop and share ideas that will impact their Lives and Community.

Essentially, she wants to expand the TV Show Networking Live Audience transformational event program to different cities in the United States, and eventually, to different countries.

Aimmee has served as a keynote speaker for many groups across the country. If you are interested in her as a speaker, you can contact her below:

What is the most valuable thing you learned from your experience in Lebanon?

AK: What keeps us going is the love and relationship we have with other people. I don’t need to have money or anything to survive—all I need is harmony in my heart and to keep serving.”

Any last words?

AK: “I don’t believe we have a choice when we leave this earth, but I believe we have a choice of what we leave behind.”

I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Aimmee since I moved here in 2003. She is a marvel, and it’s a joy to step into the power of her spiritual energy. She’s had a partnership with God since she was a child, and it is that inner peace that resonates with her when you are near. But then again, it is many other aspects of Aimmee that make her such a delight.

Contact information:
EmpoweringHumanityTV.com