Garry Gilliam Jr.(he/him)

Garry Gilliam Jr. is a former NFL offensive lineman who played for the Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers — but his story is way bigger than football. He grew up leaving home at eight years old to attend Milton Hershey School, a boarding school in Pennsylvania, where he leaned on academics and athletics to build a foundation. He earned a full scholarship to Penn State, where he triple-majored in business development, PR & advertising, and industrial psychology. When his NFL career wrapped up after six years, he didn't slow down — he pivoted into commercial real estate development, founding The Bridge Eco-Village, which builds mixed-use communities where people can live, work, eat, learn, and play all in one place. As a commercial real estate developer, Garry describes himself as the quarterback of a team that includes architects, engineers, grant writers, and city officials. He takes on the most financial risk — signing on the dotted line with banks and investors — but also stands to earn the most when a project succeeds. His developments focus on 'adaptive reuse,' which means taking old or underused buildings and transforming them into vibrant community spaces. He's passionate about creating eco-villages that are sustainable, accessible, and built for the people who actually need them most. Garry's advice for students interested in real estate development is practical and real: get an internship with a development firm, learn the financial language (terms like debt service coverage ratio and IRR), and don't be afraid to partner with someone who has experience you don't yet have. He paid to play early on, giving up equity to learn from developers who'd already done what he wanted to do — and he says that trade-off was worth it. He also emphasizes that skills from sports, like teamwork, film study, and consistency, translate directly into business. What makes Garry's story especially powerful for students of color is how openly he talks about imposter syndrome, discrimination (being told 'you're just a football player'), and the inspiration he drew from Nipsey Hussle — a rapper and developer who was investing in his own community. Garry was moved to ask himself: 'What am I doing with my resources?' That question became the engine behind his work. He's building in communities that need it, not just chasing profit. Whether you're interested in real estate, entrepreneurship, public speaking, or just figuring out how to bet on yourself when the world isn't sure about you, Garry's story is a blueprint. He's proof that your degrees, your background, your hustle, and your heart can all work together — and that the road to impact doesn't have to look like anyone else's.