Sports + Entrepreneurship Give Youth-Owned Businesses a Dynamic Model for Success

Disrupt Your Day Podcast

Tune in today for the First Episode of our Special Edition: Champagne & French Fries when Petula Sankarsingh, VisionReady CEO and Disrupt Your Day Host, chats with LaVonte Stewart, Executive Director of Lost Boyz Inc, providing sports-based youth development to help boys and girls in Chicago’s under-resourced neighborhoods develop confidence, resilience, and life skills.
"I never had any intention of starting a nonprofit organization," says Stewart. "I was a volunteer coach for a youth baseball league, and I was inspired by my experience as a kid playing in our little league. As a dad, I wanted to coach my own kids and hopefully make an impact on someone else’s kids.”
Having been raised in a middle-class family, Stewart did not experience poverty. According to him, the negative experiences in his life came out of some of the choices he had made, but also helped to shape who he is today.
“In retrospect, I understand how this path also gave me credibility to carry out what would eventually become my mission,” adds Stewart. “I was able to gather all the resilience I’ve developed through the years to overcome challenges and to pave a similar path for younger people.”
“Sports is a powerful catalyst for mental and emotional healing because it involves multiple aspects that support positive transformation for the mind and body,” Stewart reminds us. “Giving our youth the opportunity to learn how to be an entrepreneur, to own a business, act responsibly as a business owner, and have the resources to contribute to positive change will go a long way in setting up this next generation to rebuild their community.”
"We’re developing youth-owned micro-enterprises and we’re grateful for VisionReady sponsoring our kids to participate in the Young Emerging Successors (YES) program to help them realize their vision as young entrepreneurs driving the change they want to see in their community," says Stewart.
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~Petula Sankarsingh

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