Where I grew up, the choice seemed simple: you were either dealing or doing. At an early age, much to my parents dismay, I was helping my extended family run what became one of the biggest cocaine operations in Tennessee. I didn’t understand it then, but every step I took in that life was leading me somewhere I didn’t want to go.

Prison forced me to sit with it all, and I knew I had to change. I made God a promise: if He protected me in there, then when I got out, I would help other young men in Memphis avoid the life that I couldn't.

I started with what I knew could bring people together: sports. In 2012, I founded PURE Youth Athletics Alliance and began coaching a little league team. It didn’t take long to see that no matter how good the coaching was, if a kid had to go back to chaos at night, it wasn’t enough. So my fiancée and I opened our apartment. One boy. Then another. Then more. Whoever needed a warm meal and a stable place to sleep was welcome.

But I still wasn’t satisfied. I knew I could do more.

So in 2016, I founded PURE Academy, an all-boys boarding school built to give young men the structure I lacked. Here, they live on campus. They train. They study. They learn agriculture, STEM, leadership, and build character. They get discipline and belonging in equal measure. Today, PURE is sending young men to college with confidence and scholarships - young men who might have been written off if someone didn’t step in early.