Businessman

After twelve years in a fulltime professional career with Boys' Clubs of America, January 2nd, 1975, Herb Lowrey entered the world of business as a real estate salesperson in Tempe, Arizona. At that time, the real estate market was in a deep recession, and most sales agents were fleeing for salaried employment. At the time, Herb had two pre-school children, and was in a divorce process. To leave a salaried position on the hope of earning commissions in a down market was considered foolish or gutsy.

At his first sales meeting, Herb was one of twenty-five salespersons. A year later he was the only sales agent left. To pay bills, and keep his family going, on Fridays he called weekend garage sale ads in search of tools and fishing equipment to sell at Park & Swap from which he would average a profit of two to three hundred dollars. He also mowed yards, did janitorial work, and maintenance on apartment complexes. In the lowest times, he gave blood for money.

Summer, 1978, Herb decided became a sales agent for a startup real estate investment firm specializing in the brokerage of apartment complexes. At the time, he was managing a small apartment complex for a place to live, and doing finish carpenter work at a Scottsdale housing sub-division. Within nine months, he grossed over $100,000 in commissions, and by summer, 1986, had a $3,500,000 net worth. He owned apartments, land, a five bedroom home on a 2/3 acre lot, a fifty foot sailing yacht in San Diego, and had few debts. He was top sales agent, and sales manager of the largest independent commercial real estate firm in Arizona.

In 1988, changing Federal banking and tax regulations brought on a saving and loan failures across the country, followed by a major devaluation of real estate market coast to coast. Herb had personally guaranteed $3,500,000 to pay off a construction bank loan guaranteed by his broker, which ultimately forced him to file bankruptcy in 1988. Herb ended up living in a storeroom of a small apartment complex on a street in Phoenix known as crack alley. It was during this time he began to write.

He built a new business in his name, Lowrey & Associates, and continued to specialize in the brokerage, rehab, and management of apartment complexes in the Phoenix area. In his final year of apartment brokerage, he personally closed over $110,000,000 in transactions. Over 28 years in the apartment brokerage business, he closed approximately a half billion dollars in transactions.

In May, 2006, Herb retired to pursue his passion to write.

Poet / Writer

When Herb was desperate to find a way to live another minute, another hour, another night, he wrote his first poem. That day in a client's reception room, he read a Wall Street Journal article about poetry being used for therapy with prison inmates. He thought if it helped them, poetry may also help him. That night, Herb wrote his first poem titled The Other Reality, and later published his first poetry book chapbook by the same name.

After years of being a closet poet, he decided to take creative writing classes at Phoenix College, where he completed 25 credits hours, and published two additional poetry chapbooks. After PC, he took additional poetry classes at Arizona State University, and became a frequent open mike reader in the Arizona poetry scene. In 2003, he was the featured reader for the Poetry Series at the Creative Life Center in Sedona.

In summer of 2006, Herb went to Madrid, Spain to study advance poetry writing with the University of New Orleans. Since then, some of his Individual poems have been published in journals, and June, 2008, Nuyorican Poets Café Press published his first full book of poetry, titled, Heart River Undertow.

Herb has settled in Washington, DC to be closer to his family, and Europe. In the last eighteen months, he has participated in tours, writing seminars, and documentary filming with Jimmy Sanitago Baca. In February, 2008, he co-produced with Baca the filming of the Nicaragua International Poetry Festival from which Baca and he plan to publish a bilingual book of interviews with several renowned Latin American poets. A DVD is planned for released December, 2008.

Herb is becoming a frequent reader at open mikes venues from DC to New York City, is on reading tours from coast to coast. He is currently working on a long poem about his Great Grandmother, Blackfoot Woman Runs Fast, and a concert performance poem for three poet performers. The working title is National Fear. Both will probably be his next published books of poetry.

Speaker / Trainer

Herb was born left handed, was, and is still dyslexic. In the world according to Herb, baseball gloves and words never fit. In kindergarten, he couldn't read like others. His first grade class had 82 students with one elder teacher. It was easy for him to stay lost in the crowd, until the fourth grade, when he was tested, and failed every test. Faking his way through high school, he never read a book until he was twenty-three.

As a young boy, he loved to spend time with his story-teller grandparents, and listened to the tall tales told at the local barber shop and general store. In high school, he organized a band, The Four Knights, which performed in many of the high schools in Kentucky. They almost became famous, but their first tenor was killed at a train crossing.

In and after college, Herb became a public speaker inspiring hundreds to give their time and money to the Boys' Club. He was a speaker at the Boys' Clubs of America National conventions, and conducted many training programs for other clubs.

As a real estate agent, he has trained hundreds of agents in the field of Investment Real Estate, and has taught Investment Real Estate in the Bud Crawley School of Real Estate in Phoenix, Arizona.

As a poet, Herb has participated in or conducted poetry and writing seminars with at-risk youth, prison inmates, and other adult and youth groups.

He is a motivating speaker, teaching others how to be more effective in living a better life.