Liles offers Blackburn students entrepreneurial advice

By Shanderia K. Posey

Editor

It’s never too early to learn about becoming an entrepreneur.

And Dec. 10, at Jackson State, Blackburn Middle School boys got advice from someone who made his first $1 million at age 17.

In partnership with Verizon’s Minority Male Makers Program, Kevin Liles, former president and CEO of Def Jam Recordings, offered tons of advice to the students on the importance of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) academics in order to be their own boss one day.

First he explained what entrepreneurship is.

“Somebody said I want to send a letter and get it there overnight, and they called it FedEx. That simple idea … I believe that’s entrepreneurship,” Liles said.

“When you get that idea, be relentless in being the best and then get people to believe in you. I was told no 100 times before I started my first company.”

The Verizon Minority Male Makers Program launched last summer at four historically black colleges and universities – JSU, Morgan State University, Kentucky State University, and North Carolina A&T. The two-year program provides minority, male middle school students hands-on-learning experiences with advanced technology and mentorship. The Verizon Foundation partnered with the four HBCUs to facilitate summer science intensive courses giving students exposure to the latest in technology including 3D design, app development, coding and more. The program also pairs middle school student participants with college students for mentoring throughout the school year.

After Liles delivered his “Entrepreneurship 101” lecture, the Blackburn students were tasked with developing creative, tech-focused business ideas and an “elevator pitch” to Liles. During the lecture, he emphasized why education is so important, particularly the sciences.

“Education for me was every day. I learned not only from my teacher. I learned from the store owner on the block,” he said. “Today I still learn.”

Liles also noted statistics that reveal 97 percent of STEM students are not minority males.

“The reason why Verizon started this program was to take that 3 percent and at least turn it into 50 percent. My mission in my life right now is to change that number,” he said.

Liles knows first hand how STEM academics can make a difference in a person’s life. Before becoming a music executive, he actually received a NASA engineering scholarship to attend Morgan State in Baltimore, Md., which is his hometown. He took a stab at a rap career until someone stole his music causing him to consider the business side of the industry.

One Blackburn seventh-grade student wanted to know if Liles could help him become a rapper. Liles answer was that yes he could, but that’s not where the focus should be because everybody can’t be rappers.

He’s worked with artists such as Jay Z, Kanye West, and Fetty Wap, but he stressed to the Blackburn students that all of these artists needed one thing to make it in the industry – a musical engineer. With that in mind, he impressed on the students to strive for careers beyond being a rapper but rather the person paying the rapper.

“So I’m telling you right now, if you want to be a rapper, God bless you. Work hard at it. Please work hard at it, but I want all you guys to be entrepreneurs and businessmen. That’s where I think we are going to change the world.”

As the Minority Male Makers program continues, the students will visit JSU once a month to learn different science skills.

“We are partnering with these HBCUs to reach the middle schoolers … so that they can be inspired to continue down the educational path to be in STEM careers,” said Jessica Thorpe, a Verizon Public Relations manager. “Minorities are grossly underrepresented in that field.”

Another benefit of the program is exposure middle school minority males get to a college atmosphere, which for some is completely new.

“We want them to be in this environment to inspire them to pursue college. We want to catch the kids early so they can really embrace education, embrace science,” Thorpe said.

Liles agrees that in order for the students to be successful, they need advice as soon as possible.

“The longer you go without having the entrepreneurship in you ignited, the fire lit, the harder it is to be an entrepreneur. So by starting at an early age, especially in middle school, you trump up the possibilities,” Liles said.

The music executive is committed to seeing minority males make their own mark in the world as well as offering advice along the way.

He initially partnered with Morgan State for a similar program a few years ago that offered mentoring two weeks of the year, but two weeks wasn’t enough for him.

When Verizon approached him about the Minority Male Makers program which actually mentors 700 students for two years, he was all in.

“They can’t get me to get away from this,” he said. “This is not about being a part of a program. It’s about changing somebody’s life.”

For more information about the Verizon Foundation, visit http://www.verizon.com/about/responsibility.