Tony Brown

About Tony

• I was raised in Sierra Madre, CA, a small, predominantly white town, where my family was one of only two black families.
• My father was a public health doctor and my mother a teacher—I grew up seeing them constantly give back to their community, which served as an example for me to follow for the rest of my life.
• Attended Loyola Marymount University (LMU), where I graduated with my bachelor’s degree in communications.
• Was heavily influenced by seeing the 1984 Olympics held in Los Angeles, CA—this inspired me to pursue a career in event planning in order to bring everyone together for a common goal.
• After a while, I realized I disliked the culture around event planning and decided to start my own company running several successful summer camp programs.
• Meanwhile, during the school year, I started teaching across the country and working at Heart of Los Angeles (HOLA) to help create athletic and academic enrichment programs for underserved youth.
• Decided to attend the University of Tennessee, where I received my master’s degree in sports management/marketing, then began working at Fox Sports Radio and Clear Channel.
• Ten years later, I decided to follow my heart back into community service and once again started working for HOLA—I am now the organization’s executive director.