Jackson Free Press

Charles Tate's favorite quote to live by is, "Whenever you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you will become successful," from motivational speaker Eric Thomas.

Tate, who is originally from Jackson, moved to Byram when he was in eighth grade, and began attending Byram Middle School.

After graduating from Terry High School in 2010, Tate attended Hinds Community College for a year and a half, but decided that wasn't the route he was ready to take. Two years later, Tate found out his girlfriend was pregnant with his first child, Madilynn Tate. It was in that moment that he decided to join the military, with hopes of finding both guidance and himself.

"I joined the military because as a troubled child, I didn't know where I was going in life," he says. "At the time, I had a terrible relationship with my parents because I was disobedient and rebellious. I can honestly say I was a wreck, and I didn't really care about the path 
I was headed down."

Before enlisting in the military, Tate became interested in fitness.

"The more and more I researched and studied fitness, the more I realized that it was something that I was passionate about and wanted to do," Tate says.

"When I came back from the military, I was a lot more humble, and I was ready to hit the ground running. I knew what I wanted to do. I started to set primary and secondary goals for myself that I could actually reach because my mind was so different."

His passion for fitness helped him channel all negativity into positive energy, he says. For him, the gym became a happy place.

In 2011, he joined the Snap Fitness gym, and in 2014, after coming back from basic training, he became a certified personal trainer through a 
six-week online program.

Tate attends Jackson State University, where he is obtaining his Bachelor's of Science and Technology in civil engineering.

"The army allowed me to be broken down and accept discipline and become more of a man so my daughter could have someone to look up to," Tate says. "It also opened up an unlimited amount of career opportunities. In all honesty, I doubt I would be the person I am if I didn't go. I'm not where I want to be overall, but I'm pretty close, so I can't complain."

Tate's primary goal is to someday own his own gym and have fitness apparel that he can sale online.