Jomo Gamal Thomas is an American businessman, attorney, and author based in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Early life

Thomas was born in the

Bronx, New York The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

on January 31, 1974. He grew up in

Roosevelt Roosevelt most often refers to two American presidents: * Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919, president 1901–1909), 26th president of the United States * Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945, president 1933–death), 32nd president of the United State ...

and Uniondale. During his teenage years, he was active as a motivational speaker, community organizer, and activist with the Economic Opportunity Commission of Nassau County and its satellite community organization, Operation Outreach. Thomas received an

American Economic Association The American Economic Association (AEA) is a learned society in the field of economics, with approximately 23,000 members. It publishes several peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Review, an ...

fellowship to study in their summer training and minority scholarship program at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

. He graduated with honors in economics from

Brandeis University Brandeis University () is a Private university, private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. It is located within the Greater Boston area. Founded in 1948 as a nonsectarian, non-sectarian, coeducational university, Bra ...

in 1996 and received his J.D. degree from the

George Washington University Law School The George Washington University Law School (GW Law) is the law school of George Washington University, a Private university, private research university in Washington, D.C. Established in 1865, GW Law is the oldest law school in Washington, D. ...

in 2000.

Business

Thomas is co-founder of CBD Ventures, a

venture capital Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to start-up company, startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in ...

company. He also founded Niche Lab Capital Group, a private venture capital group that funded the personal finance publications of '' Latinos Money Magazine'' and ''Black Wealth and Fortune Magazine''. ''Latinos Money Magazine'' is noted for annually publishing the ''Latino Money Magazine'' 100 richest Hispanic Americans. ''Black Wealth and Fortune Magazine'' is noted for publishing the ''Black Wealth and Fortune'' 100 Richest Black People in America. Thomas, along with Monifa Thomas, published ''The Black Millionaire Next Door: Black Wealth'' in 2003. That year, he was featured on the '' Tavis Smiley Show'' on

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

, discussing the ''Black Wealth and Fortunes Magazine'' special report "The Black Millionaire Next Door: Black Wealth 2003". The report explored the myth that most wealthy African Americans made their money in sports and entertainment. Thomas is managing director of Niche Lab Capital Group, and Monifa Thomas is editor of ''Black Wealth and Fortunes''. Thomas is the founder and chairman of J.G. Thomas & Associates, a New York law firm that concentrates on business law,

asset protection Asset protection (sometimes also referred to as ''debtor-creditor law'') is a set of legal techniques and a body of statutory and common law dealing with protecting assets of individuals and business entities from civil money judgments. The goal o ...

estate planning Estate planning is the process of anticipating and arranging for the management and disposal of a person's Estate (law), estate during the person's life in preparation for future incapacity or death. The planning includes the bequest of assets to ...

entertainment law Entertainment law, also known as media law, encompasses legal services provided to the entertainment industry. These services often overlap with intellectual property law, which includes key components such as trademarks, copyright, and the right ...

intellectual property law Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, ...

, and

immigration law Immigration law includes the national statutes, Primary and secondary legislation, regulations, and Precedent, legal precedents governing immigration into and deportation from a country. Strictly speaking, it is distinct from other matters such as ...

Media, popular culture, and lectures

Thomas has been at the forefront of uncovering multimillion-dollar real estate mortgage scams in New York City. He was featured in the ''Brooklyn Brief'' article "Real Estate Fraud Ring Gleaning Illicit Rents from Scores of Properties", by Matthew Taub, and in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' piece "Real Estate Shell Companies Scheme to Defraud Homeowners Out of Their Homes", an article by Stepanie Saul. In 2015, Brooklyn Borough president,

Eric Adams Eric Leroy Adams (born September 1, 1960) is an American politician and former police officer who has served as the 110th mayor of New York City since 2022. Adams was an officer in the New York City Transit Police and then the New York City P ...

, gave special thanks to Thomas for bringing the issue to his attention. Thomas has been a passionate advocate for military families seeking to recover life insurance survivor benefits via the

Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance (SGLI) is a life insurance program available to all active duty and reserve members of the uniformed services of the United States. Supervised by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, the program ...

plan for families of military veterans, working with attorney Cristobal Bonifaz. Thomas is a motivational radio speaker who has regularly appeared on the stations

WLIB WLIB (1190 kHz, "La Exitosa 98.7 y 1190 AM") is a commercial AM radio station in New York City. Owned by Emmis Corporation, it is an AM simulcast of sister FM station 98.7 WEPN-FM. By day, WLIB is powered at 10,000 watts, using a direction ...

and on

WVIP WVIP may refer to: * WVIP (FM), a radio station (100.5 FM) licensed to Susquehanna, Pennsylvania, United States * WNVU (FM), a radio station (93.5 FM) licensed to New Rochelle, New York, which used the WVIP-FM call sign in 2006, and the WVIP call ...

. He has lectured at high schools, colleges, conferences, community centers, and religious institutions on the topics of copyright, trademark infringement, intellectual property licensing, wealth management, and estates. He is the founder of the organization Don't Procrastinate, whose mission is to increase productivity and provide educational information.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Jomo African-American radio personalities 21st-century American businesspeople American finance and investment writers American motivational speakers American talk radio hosts Brandeis University alumni George Washington University Law School alumni New York (state) lawyers People from the Bronx Writers from New York (state) 1974 births Living people People from Roosevelt, New York People from Uniondale, New York Activists from New York (state)