Hi,
My
Sirius XM Wealthy Ways Show guest this weekend is Eddie Brown.
Eddie
is the founder of Brown Capital Management – one of the largest African American
money management firms in America.
Yet,
he was born into challenging circumstances. His mother was only 13 years old
when he was born. And Eddie was raised by his uncle and grandparents.
Eddie
Brown's uncle was a moonshiner who taught young Eddie that business. At the age
of 12 years, Brown was driving hot rods for his uncle and distributing his
moonshine all over central Florida.
With
the death of his grandmother, Brown's uncle became the dominant adult in his
life. Eddie’s mom (who had moved to Pennsylvania) got wind of what her son was
doing with his uncle, moved him with her to Pennsylvania.
While
money was tight, he was a good student and helped his mother with odd jobs in
the neighborhood. Brown's excellence in school was the key to a wealthy female
benefactor hearing about him. That benefactor, anonymous to this day, known only
as "Lady B," paid his tuition to Howard University for all four years!
After
graduating from Howard University and marrying the love of his life, Sylvia
(also a Howard Alum), Eddie Brown began his career in corporate America at IBM,
as an engineer. He left IBM to get an MBA, believing he had an even brighter
future ahead. This required leaving the comfortable life he had built with his
wife and two young children. But his wife believed in him and supported his
vision.
After
earning his MBA, Brown landed a position with the investment firm, T. Rowe
Price. He was the first African American to be hired at the firm! After a decade
of helping T. Rowe Price generate millions of dollars for their clients, he
decided to start his own firm, Brown Capital
Management.