Christopher King
Christopher King | |
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| Born | May 26, 1986 |
| Nationality | American |
| Citizenship | American |
| Occupation |
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| Known for | CEO, Founder - We Are Marcus (WAM), Theo Advisors, Black Excellence Sale |
Christopher King (born 26 May 1986) is an American businessman, entrepreneur, investor, and professor who has gained recognization by teaching venture success sits on investment committees for startups seeking funding, and is an author for social entrepreneurs. He is the CEO and founder of We Are Marcus (WAM), Theo Advisors, and Black Excellence Sale. Christopher is a social entrepreneur and professor with the School of Business at Howard University. He teaches, "Business Problem Solving," to undergraduates among other growth initiatives. In his work, his ideas push reform and innovation to transform the world and uplift diverse communities. The noble cause behind each venture is what leads him to be an unparalleled social entrepreneur, and fulfill many other roles at the same time. With his ventures, he creates tools and services that push for measurable change for youth and adults alike.
King ventures, WAM (We Are Marcus), Theo Advisors (Theo), and Black Excellence Sale (BES) complement each other with impact-driven returns for community and reinvestment. We Are Marcus powers WAM Academy, an EdTech platform for youth to engage in virtual mentoring experiences and enhance writing skills. The Advisors is a consulting group of business and social impact experts serving startups and small businesses. They also provide market research and invest in early-stage startups. Black Excellence Sale is an online store inspired by black excellence.
Background
King is of Caribbean descent. Born in Charlotte, NC, his father Anthony L. King, Sr immigrated to the mainland states from St. Thomas, the Virgin Islands for high school in New Jersey. His occupation is Construction Entrepreneur. His mother, Wilberlee E. Range was born in Brooklyn, New York. Her early studies were in the medical field but later pursued work as a teacher, was promoted to principal, and retired from the Ministry of Education of the Cayman Islands as a Policy Advisor. Her father was a fisherman and sailor in the Cayman Islands, and her mother was born in Panama, and raised in Jamaica. By occupation, she was an educator and recently celebrated her 102nd birthday. Christopher has three brothers, Anthony, Lorenzo, and Skyler, and was mentored by Mark.
Career
Prior to We Are Marcus and his other ventures, King was a renowned teacher in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York before his startup life. He started his public interest career in the labor movement as an Organizer at Service Employees International Union leading house meetings with low-income food service workers, and later went on to teach kindergarten in the founding year of Teaching Firms of America now Ember Charter School through Urban Teaching Corps. From there, he went on to use his negotiations skill and relational approach as a Deputy Operations Director under the guidance of his close friend Marie Prentice as contract manager on behalf of Barack Obama's 2012 presidential campaign in Virginia. After this historic campaign, he went back to Brooklyn, where he worked for Bill Thompson’s mayoral campaign against forerunner Bill DeBlasio, followed by leading engagement strategy at Participatory Budgeting NYC. After formal campaign work and activism, he went back into education reform as an education consultant at Victory Education Partners leading outreach and growth strategy supporting HR and Finance reform at charter schools in 7 states.
Since then, after the horrific racially charged homicides in recent years, King has worked on teams to build data infrastructures to address inequities across the US. He worked with the Urban Policy Development (UPD) consulting group on a strategic equity plan in higher education in Illinois, facilitated over 150 focus groups with educators on their racial equity practices in schools in the pacific northwest, and did similar work advising a findings report for internal racial equity progress at the leading teacher preparation and placement nonprofit, Teach for America.
King’s work as a social innovation leader continues to be featured in national and global press including Black Enterprise, the London Daily Post, and Disrupt magazine. Although he prides himself much more on leading in his role as a brother, son, and role model for youth, Christopher has led many people towards motivation for pursuing their dreams with his ventures. His current ventures are aiming to revive the essential art of mentoring by leveraging customizable technology, and future-focused and equity-informed analytics while using his past experiences and current insight to spur connections between people.
King’s Ventures
King’s WAM (We Are Marcus), Christopher and his team aim to fulfill the lack of 16 million people in mentor tech. He wants to give the chance to the accomplished black people who have risen in spite of the lack of resources to pursue their dream.
We Are Marcus is launching WAM Academy this year to close the mentoring gap and revolutionize mentoring with edtech. Through market research and coordination with the My Brother’s Keeper Initiative, and the National Mentoring Project WAM has determined that youth need more diverse learning experiences, and culturally competent and scalable efforts while centering the student voice and the voices of black men both in and outside of school.
We Are Marcus (WAM) was founded in 2016, inspired by a mentoring relationship that changed Christopher’s life. His mentor went above and beyond his initial expectations by investing time and wisdom in his growth. Hence with WAM technologies, he wants to create a world where youth would not have to rely on ineffective matching processes or organizations limited by funding to experience the benefit of mentorship. Black Excellence Sale (BES) launched from the WAM brand inspiration story and supports the fundraising of WAM Impact Partners. Students, families, educators and allies use these sources to support the mission, vision and implementation.
Theo Advisors began in 2020 serving pre-incubator and post-accelerator diverse founders experiencing growing pains with their businesses. Rising startup leaders desire tailored advice from diverse investors and industry advisors without selling equity. The advisors offer founder advisory and leverage their expertise to primarily focus on education, healthcare and real estate. The Theo Investment Portfolio is designed to push the micro VC movement forward by investing in startups and creating the investment thesis for startups backing other startups in the growing entrepreneurial ecosystem. As entrepreneurs raise money, they should grow unallocated funds in their savings accounts by segmenting a portion of their funds to purchase assets and diversifying their investments by supporting other founders. This critical gap in the venture capital marketplace is growing due to the innovative approach started by Theo.
Recognition and Accolades
- Active role in uplifting and alleviating the Black community, and promoting the success of black youth.
- An avid investor
- A former teacher at Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn
- Joyful Impact Accelerator, Building Impact Cohort, 2021-2022
- WAM Academy Investment from Impact Assets, Bethesda, Maryland 2021
- Education Pioneers Impact Fellowship, Public Allies Data Team at the City Fund, 2020
- We Are Marcus invited to Village Capital, 1776, and Conscious Venture Labs, 2019-2020
- National Institute of Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Challenge Winner, 2019
- Appointed to Adjunct Professor at Howard University School of Business, 2019
- DC Mayor’s Office of Greater Economic Development Award for Innovation, 2019
- Appointed to Instructor at Inclusive Innovation Incubator, 2018
- Emerging Markets Regional Invitation Case Competition Winner, 2017
- Awarded Trustee Scholarship, Howard University School of Business, 2017
- Awarded Graduate Assistantship to Professor Carlos Buskey, Phd Information Systems Department
- National Black MBA, Scholarship Recipient, 2016
- Harvard Kennedy School Award for Democratic Governance & Innovation, 2015
- Graduate Capstone approved by faculty, The Achievement Gap & Policy Recommendations, 2015
- White House Special Guest Invitee for Reelection Swing State Staff, 2013
- Honors Distinguished Graduate, Washington Semester, Rockefeller School of Public Affairs and Policy, University at Albany
- Management Leadership for Tomorrow, Career Prep Cohort, 2006