10-Year-Old Dubbed Brooklyn Hero By Borough President

FLATBUSH, BROOKLYN — A 10-year-old Flatbush boy earned hero status Wednesday for starting a business that helps low-income parents buy clothes for their kids.

Obocho Peters, founder of the thrift store I Am Obocho, was one of four Brooklynites named Hero of the Month by Borough President Eric Adams at a ceremony Wednesday afternoon at Brooklyn Borough Hall.

The young entrepreneur told the crowd who gathered to honor him that his store was always about heroes: Action heroes, that is.

That's because his idea for an online thrift store came to Obocho when he was just nine years old and asked his mom, Sasha Peters, to buy him action figures from the newly released, "Avengers: Infinity War."

“I really wanted all the toys," Obocho said. "My mom just couldn’t afford it."

It suddenly occurred to Obocho he might raise the money he needed by selling clothes that no longer fit him, and help some other struggling families in the process, he said.

So Obocho began taking business classes at CAMBA and, with help from his mom, launched I Am Obocho online in 2018.

“If it is a challenge for my mom to pay rent, to take care of me, to take care of herself at the same time I know it is a challenge for other families," said Obocho.

The thrift shop also helps families save up for their children to go to college, Obocho said, by offering free financial literacy seminars for children and adults.

"Obocho means I am love and that’s exactly what my son is," said Peters. "He is the embodiment of love and he wants to share the with the community."

The 10-year-old also opened up a pop-up shop inside BargainLand Discounts on Church and Utica avenues in Flatbush, and uses social media to advertise his wares.

Obocho's top model is, of course, himself.

Business thrived. The Flatbush entrepreneur was soon able to raise $10,000 — with help of a GoFundMe campaign launched in January — and he plans to soon open a brick-and-mortar location across the street from his school, P.S. 6 on Bedford and Snyder avenues.

The Brooklyn Borough President decided to honor Obocho as a hero because, “He just really personifies how you take your sad situation and help others," he said.

"It doesn’t matter old or young, people are hurting," said Adams. "What you are doing is honorably trying to heal that pain."

Other New Yorkers to earn the honor were State Trooper Joshua Kaye and Jacob Abraham, who both stopped a man from jumping off the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge in March, and Hopeton Kiffin, the MTA conductor who rescued a 13-year-old boy from Brooklyn subway tracks in April.

Meanwhile, Obocho said he hopes this is only the beginning of his career as a hero.

"I found my personal goal, he said. "[It] is to be in the cast of "Avengers" one day."

Patch editor Anna Quinn contributed to this report.