Morris Brown was born into the fire.
Growing up in Brooklyn, New York, in the 1950s, Morris learned early what it meant to be Black in America. Raised in a household where Nubian pharaohs, A. Philip Randolph, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Marcus Garvey were part of daily conversation, he developed an unshakeable pride in his heritage.
In fifth grade, when he was bused to a predominantly white school, he experienced a moment that would shape his life: a group of students rubbed his skin, as if testing whether his color would come off. That day, innocence gave way to awareness—and awareness, eventually, to purpose.
Morris went on to break barriers throughout his life. He earned his degree from Cornell University—where Black students comprised only 1% of the student body—and built a distinguished 30-year career in telecommunications and business development. He trained at Xerox Corporation, co-founded ibm/SEIMless Technologies, Inc., and excelled at Verizon Communications and SBC Telecom, consistently ranked in the top ten nationally.
Yet for all his professional accomplishments, Morris struggled with deep, unspoken pain. Unresolved trauma manifested in periods of substance abuse and multiple divorces. It was in confronting that pain—not avoiding it—that Morris found his true purpose.
Now in his seventies, Morris has dedicated himself to the work that matters most: helping Black men understand that seeking healing is not weakness, but survival. That vulnerability is not fragility, but strength. That self-love is not selfishness, but the foundation upon which meaningful lives are built.
