Luke Anthony Lawal Jr. (born June 15, 1989) is an American

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...

from

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

He is the founder and CEO of HBCU Buzz, a media outlet with a primary focus on

HBCU Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. Mo ...

s. In 2016 he was recognized at #96 on

The Root "The Root" is a song by American recording artist D'Angelo. It is the eighth track on his second studio album, '' Voodoo'', which was released on January 25, 2000, by Virgin Records. "The Root" was recorded and produced by D'Angelo at New York's ...

’s 100 Black Influencers List.

Early life

Born and raised in

, Lawal attended

Bladensburg High School Bladensburg High School is a public high school located in Bladensburg, Maryland, United States. The school, which serves grades 9 through 12, is a part of the Prince George's County Public Schools district. The school serves: the towns of Bla ...

. He attended

Bowie State University Bowie State University (Bowie State) is a Public university, public Historically black colleges and universities, historically black university in Prince George's County, Maryland, north of Bowie, Maryland, Bowie. It is part of the University Sys ...

where he became a member of

Omega Psi Phi Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. () is a historically African-American fraternity. The fraternity was founded on November 17, 1911, by three Howard University juniors Edgar Amos Love, Oscar James Cooper and Frank Coleman, and their faculty ad ...

fraternity and received a degree in biochemistry in 2012. His mother also attended an HBCU as a double alumnus of

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a Private university, private, University charter#Federal, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, classifie ...

Career

Lawal first began working on HBCU Buzz in 2009 after attending a Bowie State Student Government Association trip to Florida A&M. With a few of his colleagues, Lawal expanded HBCU Buzz to incorporate all HBCU campuses. Sometime after making an online blog, he created an HBCU store, HBCU Awards, and a print HBCU Buzz Magazine. Leading up to the

United States presidential election The election of the president and the vice president of the United States is an indirect election in which Citizenship of the United States, citizens of the United States who are Voter registration in the United States, registered to vote in o ...

, Luke launched HBCU Buzz's video content and brand extensions with the

Thurgood Marshall College Fund The Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) is an American non-profit organization that supports and represents nearly 300,000 students attending its 47 member-schools that include public historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), med ...

, HBCUs for

Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

, and political on-campus events across the nation. Following this campaign,

Al Sharpton Alfred Charles Sharpton Jr. (born October 3, 1954) is an American civil rights activist, Baptist minister, talk show host and politician. Sharpton is the founder of the National Action Network. In 2004, he was a candidate for the Democrat ...

recognized Luke at #29 on the Top 30 Under 30 for the DMV. In 2016 he partnered with

Black Enterprise ''Black Enterprise'' is a black-owned multimedia company. Since the 1970s, its flagship product ''Black Enterprise'' magazine has covered African-American businesses with a readership of 3.7 million. The company was founded in 1970 by Earl ...

to better serve the needs of the black community. Following that partnership, Lawal founded L & Company, an integrated marketing and consulting agency that oversees HBCU Buzz.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lawal, Luke, Jr 1989 births Living people African-American businesspeople American chief executives Bowie State University alumni People from Washington, D.C. 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people