I am a 26-year old Oakland native, educator, and entrepreneur. Growing up, I was immersed in a city full of diversity, culture and rich history. With that being said, I acknowledge that my city is not immune to the poverty, violence and crime that plague many inner city communities across the United States. I believe that my life’s work lies in finding concrete ways to give back to the community that brought me up and made me into the person I am today. This is the central mission of Run The World, to: Look Back, Give Back to the World. Encouraging others to forge forward with their passions, while providing opportunities for those yet to come.
Growing up a child of my city, I had to learn early on to make important decisions. I made normal decisions, like brushing my teeth before I went to bed and doing my homework before I watched my favorite cartoon show. But I also made not so normal ones, like choosing not to fall into the trap of selling drugs to make fast money like many of my friends and family. With a high school graduation rate for black males at roughly 50% in Oakland, I had to chose whether I would fall into that statistic, or whether I would define my own reality despite what I was up against. In 2012, with the support of my family and community, I graduated from the number 1 public institution in the country, UC Berkeley and began the trajectory that you find me on today.
Graduating from college, I could have followed the more conventional employment route to success, but I made my most important decision to date in choosing to pursue my dream of building Run The World. After 3 years in the workplace, working alongside young people in a number of different capacities, I have seen the true impact of empowering and mentoring the next generation to live out their dreams on their own terms. RTW is by Oakland, for the World. As I leave full-time employment to grow out this company, and as the RTW team works on new apparel, partnerships and community-based events, I hope that you will support me on this next of this next step of the journey.