We recently connected with Terrell Grier and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Terrell , appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
My resilience was born long before I ever had the language to describe it. Growing up in Detroit, life taught me how to stand up before I even understood why I kept falling. I learned early that survival wasn’t a choice, it was a muscle, and every experience strengthened it.
I come from neighborhoods where hustlers, gangsters, pimps, and real street figures shaped the soundtrack of everyday life. I watched the streets claim friends, futures, and innocence. At 15, I witnessed my best friend lose his life. As a teenager, I attended over 15 funerals. I grew up around violence, addiction, and circumstances that swallow most people whole. That was my foundation, not because I wanted it, but because that was what I had to rise from.
My resilience deepened the day I was biking to my best friend’s house on Hickory Street at 11 years old. A sudden darkness fell around me, I was unknowingly inside the eye of a tornado in Detroit. Terrified, I left my bike on the concrete and prayed as I ran home through the chaos. That experience taught me something I didn’t understand until adulthood: adversity doesn’t always show up with warning. Sometimes it just drops out of the sky, and you have to move fast, trust God, and keep going.
By 16, I had already been shot, gone through a windshield in a car accident outside Denby High School, and received 14 stitches on the right side of my head. I was caught between trying to survive the streets and trying to survive myself. I was taking risks, shooting dice to eat, skipping school but excelling when I showed up, stealing cars just to make it to tomorrow, carrying my pride like armor and my pain like a secret. I learned how to work on cars by taking the motor out of my first car, a cream Chevy Caprice. That car was my escape, my freedom, and my first taste of creating something with my own hands.
But my biggest test of resilience came later in life, when I became a father.
I cut all three of my children’s umbilical cords. I did my daughter’s hair every morning before school, took them to cheerleading practice, took my son to the park, and loved them with everything inside me. Then life hit me with something that felt worse than any bullet: the courts took my children away. Even with two cars, two bank accounts, full time employment building airplanes, and fully furnished bedrooms waiting for my babies, the answer was still no. They wouldn’t return them, wouldn’t even let Michigan family step in.
That type of pain either breaks you or builds you. God used it to build me.
I took that heartbreak and poured it into building a new path, not just for my children, but for every child who feels unseen, unheard, and unsupported. That’s how World of Music was born: a program that helps youth fight depression and anxiety, write their own songs, find their voice, and perform for their communities. I’ve been featured on WDIO three times, in 13 magazines, and I’ve seen firsthand how music can reshape futures. I’ve created a space where kids feel safe, powerful, and capable of greatness, something I needed when I was their age.
My resilience also comes from the people who raised me. My mother showed me toughness in its purest form. I’ll never forget the day when the 7 Mile Bloods came to our house 20 deep trying to force my big brother Lashawn to join their gang. My mom walked outside with an AK-47 and fired shots into the sky. She taught me that you protect what you love, you stand on business, and you never let fear dictate your future.
Resilience is in every part of my story collecting bottles for 10 cents to eat, surviving multiple shootings, growing my businesses from nothing, creating Mind Body Sole, Rell’s Mobile Detailing, and the clothing line Casino Cuz’O, traveling the country, fighting to break generational curses, and turning pain into purpose for the next generation.
Where do I get my resilience from?
From God.
From Detroit.
From every loss that should have killed me but didn’t.
From my kids the reason I breathe.
From the youth I serve the reason I keep going.
And from the promise I made to myself:
I will become everything I needed when I was young.
That’s the fire that keeps me standing, growing, building, and showing others that there is no straight line to greatness, only resilience, faith, and the courage to rewrite your story.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
What I do today is the direct result of everything I survived, everything I learned the hard way, and everything I refused to let break me. I’m the Founder of World of Music, an author, an artist, and a social entrepreneur, but at my core, I’m someone who believes deeply in transformation. Not just my own, but the transformation of every young person who crosses my path.
World of Music My Life’s Purpose
World of Music isn’t just a program. It’s a bridge.
I built it so youth especially those facing depression, anxiety, trauma, and environmental challenges could have a space to breathe, create, and heal.
Through World of Music, I go into schools, community centers, and youth programs and teach kids how to write their own songs from start to finish. They build hooks, verses, record in the studio, and perform in front of their families and community. For many of them, this is the first time someone tells them:
“You matter.”
“Your voice matters.”
“Your story deserves to be heard.”
We’ve partnered with powerful organizations like the Kako Foundation, the Duluth Community School Collaborative, the Sacred Heart Music Center, and the Family Freedom Center. These partnerships have allowed us to deliver life changing experiences to hundreds of youth across Minnesota.
One of my proudest moments was watching my students perform on stage at the DECC during the Martin Luther King Day Rally, youth who once felt invisible now standing proud, confident, and celebrated. Many made their own music videos, learned stage presence, and discovered talents they never knew they had.
This work is special because it’s more than music, it’s therapy disguised as creativity, it’s confidence building, it’s resiliency training, and it’s culture. It’s a chance to rewrite the story kids believe about themselves.
My Brand, My Art & My Mission
Beyond World of Music, I run several businesses rooted in creativity and community:
•Mind Body Sole – a shoe restoration and sneaker-care company teaching youth and adults the craft of restoring shoes while developing discipline and entrepreneurship skills.
•Rell’s Mobile Detailing – a mobile car detailing company built from hustle, consistency, and a desire to create opportunity when none was given.
•Casino Cuz’O – my artist identity and clothing line that represents resilience, expression, and raw authenticity.
•No Straight Line my memoir, which tells the deeper truth of my journey from Detroit’s toughest realities to becoming an award winning community leader.
Each brand tells a different chapter of my story, but they all connect through one message:
You can turn pain into passion, passion into purpose, and purpose into impact.
What Sets My Work Apart
There are many programs that entertain youth.
World of Music transforms them.
What makes my work special is that it comes from a place of real experience not theory, not textbooks, but lived truth. I lived the struggles these kids face. I lost friends. I battled depression. I fought to survive. I know the invisible weight they carry because I carried it too.
This allows me to meet them where they are with honesty, love, and authenticity. Kids can sense real. And because they feel safe with me, they open up, express themselves, and create their own forms of healing.
What’s New & What’s Coming
This is one of the most exciting seasons of my life. Here’s what’s happening:
• Expansion of World of Music
We’re preparing to expand the program to new schools and community sites across Minnesota and eventually back to Detroit. My vision is to reach thousands of youth annually.
• Large Scale Funding & Partnerships
I’ve been supported by organizations like ILT Academy, Northspan, the MN Cup, the ARAC Grant, MSAB, and more. I recently won first place in the Dawn Initiative Pitch Competition, which is helping accelerate our growth.
• My Book Website & National Push for “No Straight Line”
I’m launching a full professional website for my memoir, with audio chapters, purchasing options, and national marketing. My goal is to reach every person who needs to know that their story still has hope.
• Film & Media Opportunities
My music was recently featured in a film streaming on Tubi and we are developing a movie based on my life, with the same rawness and emotion as my memoir.
• New Courses for Youth
I’m building detailed curriculums for:
•Shoe restoration
•Mobile detailing
•Youth entrepreneurship
•Music recording & songwriting
Each program is designed to give kids skills that translate into real income and real opportunity.
• Clothing & Merch Drops
Casino Cuz’O and World of Music apparel lines are expanding so youth and supporters can wear the movement proudly.
What I Want People to Know
Everything I build is rooted in love, faith, resilience, and legacy. My mission is simple:
To give the next generation everything I wish I had guidance, opportunity, community, and hope.
I’m not just building brands.
I’m building futures.
I’m building leaders.
I’m building a movement.
And this is only the beginning.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
When I look back on my journey from Detroit to Duluth, from surviving the streets to building programs that change lives three qualities stand out as the most important in shaping who I am and what I do today. These qualities weren’t taught in classrooms. They were earned through life, pain, faith, and hustling for a future I couldn’t yet see.
1. Resilience – The Strength to Stand Back Up
Resilience has been the foundation of everything I’ve ever built. I learned it growing up in Detroit, surviving situations most people never walk away from being shot at multiple times, losing close friends, witnessing trauma at a young age, and navigating environments where danger felt normal. My resilience wasn’t a choice; it was survival.
Later in life, when the courts took my children away despite me having stable work, housing, and resources, that was the test that could’ve broken me. But instead of giving up, I channeled my pain into purpose. I built World of Music, I wrote my book No Straight Line, and I poured everything into becoming the man my kids deserved.
Advice:
Resilience grows every time you refuse to quit. Don’t wait for perfect conditions. Keep moving. Keep praying. Keep fighting for the version of yourself that your future depends on.
2. Creativity – Turning Pain Into Purpose
Creativity saved my life.
As a kid, music was my outlet. It gave me a way to express things I didn’t know how to talk about. Today, creativity is the backbone of everything I do, from songwriting, performing, and teaching, to restoring shoes, building programs, designing curricula, and running multiple businesses.
Creativity is what allowed me to create something out of nothing, to turn my lived experience into healing for others. It’s why World of Music works so well. It’s why youth connect with me. It’s why I’ve been featured on WDIO, in 13 magazines, and across Minnesota communities. Creativity is a leadership skill when you learn how to use it with purpose.
Advice:
Don’t limit your creativity to one lane. Explore it. Protect it. Use it as a tool for expression, healing, and opportunity. Creativity becomes powerful when you let it speak your truth.
3. Empathy & Connection – Reaching People Where They Are
One of the biggest reasons I’m able to connect with youth, families, and communities is because I genuinely care about people. I’ve lived the struggles these kids face poverty, trauma, depression, violence, loneliness, and feeling misunderstood. When I walk into a classroom or community center, the youth feel that. They know I’m not there to judge them. I’m there to listen, guide, and uplift them.
Empathy is what transforms a program into a movement.
It’s what makes a kid open up and write their first song about the pain they never had the words for.
It’s what makes parents trust me.
It’s what makes a community rally around me.
Advice:
To build real impact, you must lead with heart.
Be authentic.
Be present.
Care about people even when you don’t have to.
Empathy will take you further than talent ever could.
Final Message for Those Early in Their Journey
The three qualities that changed my life, resilience, creativity, and empathy weren’t things I studied. They were things I lived. But the most important thing is this:
Don’t be afraid of your story. Your past is not your prison, it’s your power.
If you stay true to who you are, put God first, show love, stay at peace, work on your mind, body, and soul, and never stop learning, the world will make room for your gift.
And remember:
There is no straight line to success, just strength, growth, and the courage to keep going.
Who has been most helpful in helping you overcome challenges or build and develop the essential skills, qualities or knowledge you needed to be successful?
When I look at my journey, there isn’t just one person who shaped my growth, it’s a combination of people, experiences, and divine guidance that built me into the man I am today. But the truth is this: the people who helped me the most were the ones who showed me strength, believed in me when I had nothing, or walked with me through the storms that could have destroyed me.
1. God My Foundation and My Guidance
Above everything, God has been my anchor.
There were moments in my life where the streets were louder than hope, where bullets flew, where friends died, where depression crept in, and where losing my children crushed me deeper than anything else ever could. In those moments, it wasn’t willpower it was God who carried me.
Every time I fell, God put purpose in my pain.
Every time I broke, God rebuilt me stronger.
Every time I was lost, God redirected me.
Without that spiritual guidance, none of what I’ve built World of Music, my businesses, my book, my healing would exist.
2. My Mother The Definition of Strength & Protection
My mother shaped my resilience.
She showed me what real courage looked like the kind that comes from protecting your family by any means. I’ll never forget the day the 7 Mile Bloods came to our house, 20 deep, trying to recruit my brother LaShawn. My mom walked outside with an AK-47, fired shots into the air, and stood between danger and her children without flinching.
That moment taught me:
You protect what you love.
You stand up for yourself.
And you never let fear decide your future.
Her strength is in my DNA.
3. My Children My Motivation & My Why
No one has inspired my growth more than my three children.
Being there to cut each of their umbilical cords, doing my daughters’ hair every morning for school, taking them to cheer practice, taking my son to the park those were the moments that shaped my purpose.
And when the courts removed them from my home despite me having two cars, a stable job building airplanes, two bank accounts, and furnished bedrooms waiting for them the pain nearly ended me. But instead of falling apart, I built a new legacy in their honor.
Everything I’ve created, World of Music, my businesses, my book, my mission is rooted in my love for them. They fuel my drive to change generational cycles and create a better path for the youth who look up to me.
4. Community Leaders, Mentors & Partner Organizations
People along the way poured into me, believed in my vision, and helped me refine my purpose:
•ILT Academy – helping me develop my entrepreneurial and leadership skills.
• (Elissa Hansen, Paige) – providing guidance, mentorship, and opportunities for growth.
•The Kako Foundation & Duluth Community School Collaborative – empowering our partnerships that amplify youth voice.
•Sacred Heart Music Center & Family Freedom Center – giving me platforms to uplift young people through music.
•Dawn Initiative – awarding me first place in a pitch competition that helped accelerate World of Music.
•MN Cup & MSAB – pushing my vision further with feedback, funding, and visibility.
These leaders helped sharpen my ideas, strengthen my programs, and take my vision to a statewide level.
5. The Youth I Serve My Inspiration Every Day
I can honestly say the kids I work with have taught me just as much as I’ve taught them.
Their courage, their honesty, their creativity, and their resilience remind me why this work matters. Watching them create their first song, record their first music video, or perform at the DECC during the MLK Rally, that’s what fuels me.
They teach me new ways to lead, new ways to listen, and new ways to love.
In the End
My success isn’t just mine.
It’s God’s grace, my mother’s strength, my children’s love, my mentors’ guidance, and the youth’s inspiration all woven together.
These people and experiences didn’t just help me overcome challenges
they shaped the man I became, the leader I am today, and the legacy I’m building for tomorrow.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://worldofmusicmn.com/
- Instagram: https://linktr.ee/Casinocuzo
- Facebook: https://linktr.ee/Casinocuzo
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/terrell-grier-977963318?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@casinocuzo1856?si=fnVV7OEvRg0XXYE1
- Other: https://blinq.me/Eqzt7Chm6OMxgg5wrXDB
