Lottery Winner Becomes One of LA's Biggest Philanthropists

Like many people, Cynthia Stafford dreamed of winning the lottery.

Unlike the others, Stafford's dreams came true.

In May 2007, Stafford won $112 million playing Lotto, but what is most amazing is that she'd been planning the big win for a while and even had a written strategy.

As a firm believer in the power of visualization and meditation techniques, Stafford had been envisioning that she'd win $112 million. She had been visualizing this goal for four months.

"I had been planning ahead by looking at the house I was going to move into, the cars I was going to drive and the charities I was going to donate to," Stafford told AOL News. "I wrote everything down, like a businessman writes a business plan, and I'd look at the list and focus on it."

Stafford first became interested in the idea of visualization around 2002.

"Growing up, I was always reading," she said. "I love books that deal with the mind and utilizing the mind. I wanted to see what I could do to connect with the parts that are underutilized."

Of course, thinking about winning oodles and oodles of money is something everyone does, but Stafford believes the key to her big win was that she had a plan for what to do after the win.

"You do have to have a plan for the aftermath -- unless you're Kreskin the magician and can predict the future," she said. "Otherwise, I try to live life as it comes."

Stafford's take-it-as-it-comes attitude is especially extraordinary, considering the difficult life she faced before her ship came in growing up in an underprivileged East L.A. neighborhood.

"Actually, it wasn't that bad," she corrected. "We were rich in the things that matter. We had love."

Still, in the late 1990s, Stafford had to deal with tumultuous change when her brother died in a tragic car accident, leaving his five young children in foster care.

Stafford quit her job and adopted his children, but she didn't have the means to support them. She became embroiled with court cases and hearings as she battled to regain custody of her brother's children for over a year.

Once Stafford won her big prize, she started figuring out how she could give a lot of it away.

"We were raised with the sense of philanthropy," she said. "Growing up, I was the person who saw the UNICEF commercials and would send my allowance. Being generous is just who I am. It's like it says in the Bible: As you give, so shall you receive."

Well, she's good at it.

In just a few years, Stafford has quickly become one of the biggest philanthropists in Los Angeles, donating $1 million to the Geffen Playhouse to fund a program that exposes children to the arts.

"It's important that we not lose a sense of culture," she said. "If we do that, people lose a sense of themselves. The arts help stimulate the brain and help people learn math and science. Plus, some children learn better in an artistic environment."

Stafford now sits on the board at Geffen and is also working on a new Internet portal that generates large resources for global philanthropic causes such as poverty, health care, the environment and education.

When Stafford isn't giving some of her fortune away, she works on expanding it in other ways. She is investing in new cancer drugs that show promise and has a production company, Queen Nefertari, that makes films with a message.

"I would love to find the next great speaker or artist," she said. "I am a seeker."

Stafford continues to visualize new goals for the future and admits that some of the things she focuses on are, well, personal.

"I am currently working on health goals, but there are challenges -- like if I see a cookie I want!" she said with a laugh.