Today we’d like to introduce you to Ethan Brisby.
Hi Ethan, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I am an 80s baby; one of the millennials who will celebrate 40 years of life in 2022. I was born and raised on the East Side of Bryan, Texas in a neighborhood some locals call “Kurrupt City.” As a youth, I was never hugging the block though, I was an A/B Honor Roll student. From an early age, I was forced into taking great pride in winning and academic excellence. Moreover, my first loves were baseball and journalism. If there is anything I credit for being a dominant element to my success it is my faith.
Growing up my mother, I received a heavy dose of Sunday school, morning service, evening service, bible study, choir rehearsal, and Baptist Training Unit. With this in mind, I developed a deep reverence for my personal relationship with God. All the lectures combined with life lessons led me to truly believe God lives inside of me, and if He would be with me, who can be against me.
However, as is life, I faced my fair share of adversity and defeat to balance things out. By 2002, at the age of 20 years old, I was a college dropout and an unwed father with a criminal record after being arrested on campus for possession of marijuana. During the fall of 2001, I failed every class in my one semester at the University of Houston. For the next three years, I worked as an Assistant Store Manager at Pizza Hut and Finish Line. Then I worked for a Citibank before finding my way into community college in 2007.
During my five years away from college, I always found ways to exercise my love for writing and public speaking. I covered Texas A&M sports for Maroon Weekly Magazine and had a three-year run hosting my own radio show, “Word on the Street” at a community radio station. I discussed racial issues of the day, sports, and other current events. It was my love for journalism that helped me stay on track for breaking many of the generational curses I’ve broken in my maternal and paternal family.
I am the first and only of my maternal grandparents’ children (7) or grandchildren (19) to graduate from a four-year college. My father is a victim of the crack era. He became a user and has been in jail the majority of my life. His father was murdered before I ever met him. So I made myself a promise to change the trajectory of the family that would come from me, beginning with my son.
Prior to enrolling at Morehouse in 2008, a turning point in my life was during the time I was working at Citibank. My manager, Miss Payton, one of the many African American women who have helped me along the way wanted me to study for my Series 7 Securities License. About a week after she and I had that conversation, I attended the National Association of Black Journalists National Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana. At this four-day event, I saw countless people that were like cousins in charge, wearing suits, confident, and educated.
As an example, I remember meeting Roland Martin; he was working for the Chicago Defender at time. He and a lady named Brenda Wade were on a panel discussing freelancing and entrepreneurship, words I really did not know much about at the time. To this point, all I knew was to “get a job, save, and do as you’re told.” I was so inspired after this panel I waited in line to shake Roland’s hand and I bought Brenda’s book, “Power Choices.” When I got back to Bryan a few days later, I put in my two weeks’ notice at the bank. Sixteen months later, my mother and step-father were dropping me off in Atlanta with my 1996 Nissan Altima and $250; I chose my path.
In 2010, I graduated Cum Laude from Morehouse with a Bachelor’s of Art in Urban Studies. Texas A&M University recruited me to their Master’s in Land & Property Development program and awarded me the Board of Regent’s Scholarship in August 2010. In 2012, I published my first book, “5 Proven Strategies on How to Pay for College: A 21st Century Success Story About Faith.” I wrote the book after earning nearly $50,000 in scholarships while at Morehouse including the last $3,000 I needed from the Atlanta Association of Black Journalist in the spring of 2010. I remember Errin Haines, then Scholarship Chair of AABJ advising me to remain in Atlanta to begin the next phase of my career, but I had to get back to Texas where my young son was waiting for me.
While at Texas A&M University, I entered an idea into the 2011 Mays Business School, “Ideas Challenge.” My idea was “Team SHIFT,” a five part interactive lecture series designed to identify young leaders and help them develop the mindset of an entrepreneur for the purpose of solving problems in their community. My idea and business plan made it to the Finals of the competition, which allowed me to pitch in front of some of Texas A&M’s alumni and affiliates. One of my panelists was Roy G. Perry, namesake of Prairie View A&M University College of Engineering. While I did not win the competition, Mr. Perry took a liking to me and gave me $500 in seed money to start Team SHIFT while in graduate school.
Since that day Team SHIFT has evolved into SHIFT Enterprise Academy, Inc a 501c3 nonprofit organization. We’ve completed 18 lecture series introducing youth and young adults to the pillars of SHIFT, Save your money, Help your family, Imagine your goals, Follow Directions, and Think Accurately. We’ve partnered with the Boys & Girls Club, local governments, school districts, and church groups all across the south and as far East as Connecticut and Brooklyn.
After spending two and a half years in a high school classroom teaching Interpersonal Studies and Professional Communications, I relaunched SHIFT Enterprise Academy, Inc under the theme “Launching into E-Commerce.” This came after a six-week trip to Kenya and Uganda in the summer of 2021, ten years after SHIFT’s inception. The trip was supposed to be for me to teach the teachers at a vocational school in rural Uganda how to deliver the original SHIFT curriculum. However, days before my arrival, the country was placed on lockdown due to Covid. All schools were closed as a result. After discussing the SHIFT pillars during a radio interview in Eastern Uganda I couldn’t keep up with the interest in the SHIFT program. It was at this point I knew God was showing me a new fertile ground to bring my life’s work.
I spent eight more weeks in East Africa December 2021-January 2022. Now my team and I operate a virtual school targeting young adults in between the ages of 18-30. We take our Enterprisers on a five weeks journey to help them get from where they are now to where they want to be using the SHIFT Approach. Our fall 2021 pilot program featured 15 Enterprisers from five different African nations. Four of them advanced to our pitch competition in November 2021, and one won $500 in seed money, the same amount Mr. Perry gave me to start Team SHIFT. We are developing an ecosystem of creators, so once you go through the program, you continue receiving advisory services and remain eligible for funding as you develop your idea more. In February 2022, we completed our winter cohort. We will host four SHIFT Enterprise Academies this year and launch 60 new e-commerce businesses.
In addition to my books and SHIFT, I am also a real estate broker; this is how I have always funded the non-profit work. I am still writing my story. As for my son, he will be 20 later this year. I believe I was successful in building the solid foundation he and I need to change the trajectory of the Brisby name. So help us God.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
The child support system was my toughest challenge in life so far. I faced seemingly nonstop adversity from the courts during my time in college for failing to keep up with my child support payments. I can remember during my Junior year at Morehouse, I was interning for the Congressional Black Caucus at the Georgia General Assembly while having a warrant for my arrest from the Texas Attorney General’s Office for missing a child support court date.
Not fatherhood, but child support remained a black cloud over my head until my son’s 18th birthday. I spent many months and sometimes years with warrants for my arrest even as I worked and cared for and supported my son. As I was going through this, I began thinking of myself as a father’s rights advocate. Children need care, but each situation is unique when co-parenting is the choice.
Juggling my freedom with a desire to build a legacy, uncertainty, and an ever-changing world put me in a dark place for a time. In hindsight, I realized I was dealing with depression during that season. It was that silent depression many of us face, but we somehow rid ourselves of it when we walk out of our front door.
I hid my pain behind service to others. Between 2014-2018, I ran unsuccessfully for city council in my hometown, I served on committees and commissions including Planning and Zoning, closed dozens of business deals, and managed political campaigns for progressive young minds all while dealing with imposter syndrome, anxiety, and depression.
It wasn’t until 2018 when I spent three months on sabbatical in Los Angeles with a Morehouse Brother that I found the clarity I needed to overcome the ongoing adversity and defeat haunting me ever since I got dropped off in Atlanta in 2008. I returned from LA in 2019 and began teaching 9th grade Career Technology Education in order to find some balance and clarity in life. Exactly one year to the date of me beginning sabbatical, I purchased my first home in Houston, and my son graduated from the high school I was teaching at in June 2021.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I always tell my team we are not a perfect organization. We are a get stuff done organization. This is what sets us apart from youth programs that may have red tape to cut through or find it hard to truly serve the needs of their target audience due to data, analytics, or measurable that do not always lean heavy enough on the human element… Additionally, we go the extra mile. Since we expanded our program to East Africa, we have recognized a completely different set of issues Enterprisers face on the continent than here in the U.S. For example, many students in less urban areas are unable to be part of the program because they do not have access to a stable and reliable internet connection. Internet data in Kenya and Uganda is roughly $15 a month on a mobile device, so we created a data fund for students who otherwise would not have data.
As we go into our second cohort of 2022, I want to add more advisers to help manage the growth and demand we are seeing. We need mentors for the Enterprisers, donors to ensure we are funding the ideas that have real potential to solve major problems, and volunteers to help with day to day operations. I balance my time between SHIFT and my real estate business, so the more hands on deck, the deeper the impact we can have. I encourage you to visit our website and follow up on social media and reach out if you have questions or want to get more involved. There is a “Get Involved” survey on the home page of our website.
What does success mean to you?
The ultimate success in this next season of life is to retire my mother and set my son up for the start of his adult life. On a personal level, I consider success having direction and clarity of thought about how to reach checkpoints I set for myself. The icing on the cake is enjoying the ride to each checkpoint.
Contact Info:
- Email: shiftenterpriseacademy@gmail.com
- Website: www.shiftenterpriseacademy.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ethanbrisby/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shiftenterpriseacademy
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ethanbrisby
