Successful Virgin Islanders stepped up to the microphone on the first day of the VIDOL 2013 Motivational Empowerment and Employment Connection, the Labor Department’s employment symposium on St. Croix.

Keynote speaker Devin Robinson spoke just before lunch to an attentive and entertained audience. Raised on St. Thomas, Robinson admitted he was a troublemaker in high school and faced several felony charges before a judge, at 17, ordered him to join the U.S. Army. After his service, Robinson said he realized “gangsters don’t retire. It’s rest in peace or rest in prison.” Since then he has transformed himself into an author, a Pulitzer prize-winning newspaper columnist and the successful owner of a chain of beauty supply stores.

He is also a motivational speaker. Robinson has appeared on national television and radio and lectures around the world on a variety of subjects. On Wednesday, he spoke at the University of the Virgin Islands about achieving personal success to an audience of more than 200, many of them unemployed.

During his empowering and often humorous presentation, Robinson talked plainly about accepting responsibility and blame. People can change at any age and should learn to take control of their life mission, he said. They should not depend on others to do it for them.

“A defeated man is a danger to a woman. A defeated woman is a danger to children and defeated children are a danger to the community,” was the first thing Robinson said.

Robinson’s presentation was inspiring and he offered practical guidelines for people looking for employment and those want to be entrepreneurs. He advised them all to “be loyal to where you want to Steps to success included first embracing humility, responsibility and being truthful, Robinson advised. He talked about personally practicing endurance, letting go of past accomplishments, delivering what he promised and not making excuses. Success is never guaranteed but is available to anyone, but success “looks for no one,” Robinson cautioned