Joseph Whaley II, was born to Juanita and Joseph Whaley in Austin, Texas. He moved to North Carolina in the middle of his fourth grade year. After graduating high school, he attended Winston Salem State University, pursuing a bachelors degree in Physical Education. While at WSSU he joined Air Force ROTC and became the first student at WSSU to contract in the Air Force at A&T University ROTC program. While serving, he learned the value of being a good follower to become a great leader. In 2006 after receiving a honorable discharge from Air Force, Joseph went to continuing to pursue his life as an entrepreneur. While putting together events weekly and monthly for over a decade, that brought out hundreds, to thousands across NC. He continued to enjoy and pursue leading others, marketing, event planning, consulting for major venues, all while creating systems that proved to be successful in business and nightlife for over a decade. While working in the field for several different mental health companies, in 2006 Bottom Up Outreach Center was founded by Joseph. It started out as just assisting others in the community who were less fortunate. It grew to be a fully licensed mental behavioral health company in North Carolina. Today Bottom Up Outreach offers many different innovative programs to those with intellectual and developmental disabilities, mental illness, and youth populations… Joseph says it has been many different valuable learning experiences since the beginning, but credits the present successes to the hard working and awesome team of staff and volunteers that have made BUOC a staple in the business of serving those with Disabilities today. BUOC provides services for children, adults, and is heavily involved in giving back to the community, to those in need. “We have a long road in minimizing the stigma against individuals with disabilities, but will continue to be the voice for them, while serving our community to many of the other vulnerable and underserved populations.”