“While Katrina devastated the city, I
must say that, for me, there was a very
bright side to that tragedy,” Allen noted.
While in Houston, he enrolled in one
of the city’s most highly acclaimed high
schools, and blossomed there. “If it
weren’t for moving, I wouldn't have
had the opportunity to get an amazing
education from one of the best schools
in the country,” he said.
During his time in high school, Allen
became very involved in extracurricular
activities, one of which was the Business
Club. “Shortly after becoming a part of
the Business Club I became President,”
he recalled, “That experience led me to
pursue finance.”
In 2009, Allen began his journey back
to New Orleans. “I remember being
home for Mardi Gras 2007. I was on St.
Charles (Avenue) with family. Walking
around and it hit me. I missed the city.”
Allen‘s decision to come home was
COVER STORY
an easy one. “I said to myself, ‘I Love
Houston, and it is my second home, but
New Orleans is going to come back.’”
Knowing that the city needed people
like him to help bring it back, he
declared, “I wanted to be a part of the
rebuilding and rebirthing of the city.”
Allen always had a dream of working
in the financial world “At that time I had
a dream of being the ‘Wall Street type’…
You know, the guy in the suit walking
down a busy street.”
After interning at UBS, a major global
investment company, Allen moved on
to Republic Business Credit. “I was
very young but ambitious so they took a
chance on me,” he explained.
Determined to stay involved in the
city’s affairs, Allen learned that the
best way to stay involved was to join
networking organizations. “I joined YLC
as a volunteer,” he said.
YLC, The Young Leadership Council,
uses volunteer-created community
projects to recruit networking young
leaders in the city. That was the exact
reason for Allen’s decision to join
it. “I wanted to meet like-minded
professionals. Sixty percent of the people
I know in New Orleans, I met through
the YLC,” Allen said.
During his time with YLC, Allen went
from a volunteer, to board member, to
vice president of the organization. “I was
nominated multiple times, and then, it
just happened,” he recalled. He held his
position as vice president for two years.
By 2014, Allen was in his early 20s and
was already well-accomplished. He was
working his dream job and was networked
all around the city, but something was
missing. “I realized I had a little bit of
time on my hands and I wanted to do
more for the community,” he said.
One night, Allen went online to look
up mentoring programs in New Orleans
and Son of a Saint (SOS) was the first
organization to pop up.
“They had only been in business
about three years at the time,” said
Allen, adding, “I felt like it must have
been meant to be.” He contacted the
founder, Bivian “Sonny” Lee III, right
away and was invited to an event. “He
started talking about the company and
the amazing things that the organization
had already accomplished.”
Allen became a mentor, and he was
very passionate about working with SOS.
“I knew that I wanted to be a part of that
because of what I’d gone through,” he
PHOTO BY BIONCA FLOT SYKES
N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 8 breakthrumediamagazine.com | BREAKTHRU MEDIA | 7
/breakthrumediamagazine.com
