People who make a difference: Tyrone Powell | The Business News

Mentor, advisory board member, volunteer, business owner – Junior Achievement, Shoreline Credit Union, Kimberly School District, UNext

GREEN BAY – Born and raised in France under the guidance of his professional basketball player father, Tyrone Powell – the founder of UNext – said he always thought his life would follow a similar path as his dad’s – playing ball.
“I played basketball my whole life,” he said.

Even when his family relocated from France to the Wauwatosa area – where his dad was from – and even into college, basketball, Powell said, was still a large part of his life.

“Growing up in a basketball atmosphere, that’s all I wanted to do,” he said. “So I moved to Wauwatosa West in high school and I played basketball for them. Then I came to the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay (UWGB) in September of 2017, and I was a walk-on for the basketball team at UWGB as well.”

Like many kids, Powell said he had dreams of playing in the NBA.

However, after realizing his love of basketball wasn’t enough to send him to the next level, Powell said he began reevaluating what was next.

And with that, he said, came an increased focus on his studies.

Though starting college as a computer science major, Powell said he wasn’t completely sure if it was the career he wanted to pursue.

“When I was a computer science major, I wanted to get connected to professionals, but outside of an internship or employment, because coming in as a freshman, it is hard to get an internship or an employment, especially in computer sciences,” he said.

Powell said it took him seven months to get connected with a shadowing opportunity.

“(During that time), that’s when I realized computer science was not for me,” he said. “I didn’t think it was as isolated as it actually was. I then switched my major to marketing first and then added entrepreneurship.”

Read Tyrone’s full story via the link below.

Source: People who make a difference: Tyrone Powell | The Business News