Yusuf was raised in a community in Milwaukee where black male incarceration exceeds 50%. At 18, following the footsteps of his older brother and father, he was sentenced to prison for 10 and a half years for operating a network of drug houses.
This is where his transformation began. Behind bars Yusuf taught himself computer programming and began to re-imagine how the liabilities of his past could be leveraged as assets for his future.
Since his release at 23 years old, he has enjoyed a successful career as a software developer, built an award-winning affordable housing company, earned coveted fellowships with Google and Tata Consulting Services, graduated from Princeton, and became an endowed director of innovation and entrepreneurship at a top-ranked liberal arts college.
His latest entrepreneurship endeavor is the Real Estate Lab in Allentown, PA. A social enterprise driven by the belief that aligning self-interest with positive neighborhood outcomes is the most powerful form of community development.
