Jonathan Allen and Derrick Young Jr.: Empowering the Next Generation Through Hope

Jonathan Allen and Derrick Young Jr., co-founders of Leadership Brainery, believe some people are, in their words, “natural-born leaders.” They also believe those leaders have an inherent obligation to use that ability in service of others. The pair has devoted their lives to nurturing and empowering the next generation by providing resources, mentorship, and—above all else—hope.

“As a leader, you do have a responsibility to not only maintain your hope, but to bring hope to other people,” Young said. “That’s our mission, and it drives everything we do.”

That mission makes the duo worthy recipients of the BBA’s 2025 Empowerment Award, given each year to powerful advocates working to create systemic change in the wider community by amplifying the voices of underrepresented groups.

“I’m glad they’re here, doing this work,” said BBA President Matt McTygue, who also serves on the Leadership Brainery Board. “They could do this anywhere, and I’m grateful for the fact that they have decided to make Boston their home. The work that they do is very challenging, but also transformative, and the city of Boston and its residents are lucky to have them.”

Allen and Young Jr. have been serving as leaders within their community for years, going back to their college days. As first-generation college students at Grambling State University, Allen became freshman and sophomore class president, junior senator, and Student Body President; Young Jr. was Director of SGA Student Relations. The pair quickly gravitated toward each other (and, in the process, fell in love; they’re now happily married) and worked together to spearhead transformative initiatives to increase student engagement around critical issues, including a voter registration campaign that registered over 900 students. By the time they graduated, they had collaborated with Student Affairs Offices and student organizations at a variety of institutions – including HBCUs, public and private universities, and community colleges – on strategic planning, team building, constitution revisions, and organizational transitions.

It was their graduate school experiences, however, that provided the inspiration for how to best channel their natural leadership instincts. While Allen earned his Master of Theological Studies from Southern Methodist University | Perkins School of Theology and eventually his JD from Boston University School of Law, and Young Jr. earned his Master of Public Health degree from Tufts University, both men were among the very few Black students enrolled in their graduate programs. The racial inequality was so pronounced that Young Jr. ultimately chose to self-eliminate from law school after being one of just two Black men in his 250-student class.

“As someone who considers himself an empowered leader, I saw this imbalance and thought, ‘Okay, we have to do something about this, we have to create a solution to increase access for underrepresented students,’” Young Jr. said.

The result: Leadership Brainery was established as a certified Massachusetts non-profit organization in 2018, with a goal of shaping the next generation of leaders and opening the pipeline to occupations requiring postgraduate education—lawyers, doctors, professors, etc. As Allen notes, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the fastest growing segment of the workforce is jobs that require Masters and Doctoral degrees at entry level.

“When we think about the way that our workforce is being calibrated, we’re really up against the clock,” he said. “There’s an urgency to it, to make sure these positions are available to everyone, and not only a select group that already has the resources required to pursue them.”

Leadership Brainery works to both encourage and support underrepresented students in their pursuit of a postgraduate education, including financial assistance for test and application preparations, which can often run into the tens of thousands of dollars. The organization also works directly with local graduate schools to promote mutual exposure between the schools and its clients.

Marielis Rosa, a current JD candidate at Northeastern School of Law, first reached out to Leadership Brainery during her second year of undergraduate studies at Boston University. She says the program helped to demystify the law school application process and navigate the convoluted financial aid system. Through Leadership Brainery’s academic and career networking events, Rosa gained insight into the admissions criteria of various graduate schools and connected with professionals in her field.

“Leadership Brainery is a special non-profit because Jonathan and Derrick stay connected to the students that they serve,” Rosa said. “They have a warm, welcoming presence and energy and a motivating spirit; to me, they are the epitome of community engagement and support.”

“The more that we can help forge the relationships between underrepresented communities and these competitive graduate schools, the easier it becomes to showcase the value these students are bringing to the table and for the schools to see them beyond the application,” Allen said.

Allen and Young Jr. also recognize the importance of beginning these processes early, which led to the creation of Leadership Brainery’s Department of Strategic Alliances, a partnership with about two dozen K-through-12 schools and programs.

“Younger kids, grade-school kids, you ask them what they want to be when they grow up and they’ll tell you they want to be an astronaut, or a doctor,” said Young Jr. “They’re really ambitious, even if they don’t know what’s required of them to reach those goals. We want them to hold on to that ambition, and the way you do that is knowing the pathway.”

That strategy, they say, allows students to identify their path, understand what schools or majors are most beneficial, and what they need to do during undergraduate studies to put themselves in position to obtain the necessary degrees or take the necessary courses to live out those dreams.

Of course, like many others working to improve diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging—whether in the workforce, in schools, or anywhere else—Allen and Young Jr. say recent court decisions and policy changes have necessitated an evolving strategy. But despite those challenges—such as changes in terminology and hesitancy from outside partners to openly promote them—Allen and Young Jr. say they will continue to provide support for all communities who need it.

“Whoever is underrepresented, that’s who Leadership Brainery is going to serve and support,” Young Jr. said. “That’s our model and that’s how you build equity.”

“They open doors for people,” McTygue said, “that, unless you’re connected to the community, you wouldn’t really know are even available. They’re helping to eliminate the information disparities, the financial disparities, and that work is always going to be vital to the strength of the overall community.”

“You don’t know what you don’t know, until you meet someone who does know,” said Rosa. “As a student who had career dreams but was first-generation and didn’t have access to people who are lawyers or were knowledgeable about the field, it was difficult for me to see and pave a pathway there. Jonathan and Derrick helped me do that and more. Their work has converted my dream into a tangible goal that I’m already on my way toward achieving.”

No matter the obstacles, Allen and Young Jr. draw strength from the leaders who came before them.

“I anchor myself in knowing what our ancestors went through, all the work that they put in,” Young Jr. said. “We can’t just give up when all these people worked so hard; I think that’s what keeps my hope.”

“At the end of the day, people have to be aware of what it is they’ve been put on this earth to do,” Allen agreed. “Our biggest adversary is division and disconnectedness. If anything, when we’re up against hard times, that’s when we’ve got to figure out how to come together even more, across our backgrounds and differences, because that’s where the strength is going to always be.

By all accounts, Allen and Young Jr. were born not only to lead, but to empower—to provide the guidance, mentorship, and hope needed to close the gap between talent and opportunity.

“We don’t have the luxury to give up, to throw in the towel, to be hopeless,” they said. “Change can’t wait, and neither can we.”