I grew up as the son of an incarcerated father.

My father was in and out of prison throughout my childhood. I had no consistent male role model. The streets weren’t just a temptation—they were my reality.

By 19, I was following in my father’s footsteps.

I was shackled in a courtroom, facing felony charges for assault and battery on a police officer with intent to maim. As I stood there, facing the weight of my choices, I turned and saw my mother in tears—her face holding both pain and hope. That moment broke me… and rebuilt me.

I realized: I was becoming my father. I was continuing the cycle.

I made a silent vow to myself right then:

“I will never be the cause of her hurt again. I will break this generational cycle.”

That promise became my fuel. My mission. My purpose. I served time for my choices. But when I got out, I made a decision—to become something my father never became.

I enlisted in the United States Navy and served 7 years as a Logistics Specialist with 3 deployments. I learned discipline, leadership, and what it means to serve something bigger than myself.

When I left the Navy, I used my GI Bill to do something no one in my family had ever done: go to college.

I became a first-generation college student—with no family roadmap, no one to call when things got hard, navigating financial aid and registration alone, while raising my children as a single father.

I know what it feels like to sit in class wondering if you belong. To battle imposter syndrome. To feel the isolation. The guilt of succeeding beyond your family’s experience.

But I refused to repeat my father’s path. I kept going.

I earned my Bachelor’s degree in Business Management from the University of Phoenix.

Then I earned my Master’s degree in Strategic Intelligence from the National Intelligence University—one of the most elite graduate programs in the nation.

With my advanced degrees and Top Secret/SCI clearance, I was selected for one of the most prestigious positions in the intelligence community:

Chief of Staff for the President’s Daily Brief.

For 3 years, I coordinated daily intelligence briefings for the President of the United States—ensuring the most critical intelligence from across our government reached the Oval Office.

From son of an incarcerated father to a courtroom at 19 to briefing materials that reached the President.

I didn’t just break the cycle. I shattered it.

Now I speak to TRIO programs and first-generation college students because I want to be the voice I wish I had when I was lost and didn’t know if I could finish.

Every time I share my story, I honor that courtroom promise.

Every time I help a first-gen student push through doubt, I’m proving that breaking cycles is possible.

I don’t just speak to motivate. I speak to prove.

Because I Am The Message.