Exploring Life & Business with Markel Leonard of Find A Way Foundation

Today we’d like to introduce you to Markel Leonard

Hi Markel, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I’m originally from Richmond, CA in the Bay Area where I played basketball, football, baseball my entire life. Sports have been a major part of my life since I could remember. My family made sure that I was always staying active, busy and focused on achieving my dreams and removing myself from the harsh environments that I grew up around in the Richmond neighborhoods. I ended up going to Salesian High School to play high school basketball where I played Varsity basketball for 4 years and being very successful in my four years there (he helped the Pride win 4 League titles, 3 North Coast Section Titles, 2 Northern California Championships, and 1 California State Championship. In 2012, Leonard was a key piece in Salesian’s national ranking as they were the #10 team in the country during their State Championship winning season in 2012.)

From Salesian I went onto play Division I basketball at Cal Poly SLO in Central California, where things didn’t work out as well I thought they would. After one tough season at Cal Poly, I transferred to Lewis & Clark College and finished my playing career in Portland, Oregon. After my college career ended I decided not to go play professional basketball overseas, to pursue a career in Sports Management/Sports Administration to show people who come from tough environments like I did that they can achieve more than what society likes to put on minority kids when it comes to living great lives mentally, physically and financially. Often times society tells you that the only way people of color or people of the minority descent can make money and be happy is by being an athlete or recording artist; I wanted to break that stigma for those who come from the Bay Area, so I decided to get my masters degree in Sports Law & Business from Arizona State in 2019.

From ASU, I went on to work at the NCAA, NFL (with the LA Rams,) and the Pac-12 Conference. After working those stints and my position being terminated at the Pac-12 due to conference realignment, I took a hard look in the mirror on what my purpose is and what I wanted it to be. I’ve always wanted to have my own AAU program and my own gym facility to be able to pour all of my knowledge and information back into the youth so they are equipped with the skills and knowledge to be successful on and off of the floor. I started thinking about my journey and what was a reoccurring theme not just in my athletic life but in my personal life as well and resilience, curiosity, empathy and perseverance came to my mind when I was reflecting on my journey. Then I remembered a conversation my girlfriend at the time but now my wife and I had back in college. The conversation stemmed from the meaning of your names and what your first name and last name mean and she asked me what it means to be Leonard (my last name). And technically if you google it means Lion Strength or Lion hearted, but to me being a Leonard means that if you have this last name you always find a way to be successful and never let life knock you out; you always get back up off the canvas and keep going. Since that conversation when times got hard, I always reminded myself of who I am and what I stand for. That’s how I came up with the name Find A Way because I believe it resonates with people of all walks of life. No matter where you are today or what you’re doing professionally, you’ve had to find a way to get to where you are today. That’s how Find A Way Athletics and Find A Way Foundation was born.

So in January of 2024, I launched Find A Way Foundation; which is a 501c3 Non Profit whose purpose or mission is to foster the holistic development of young individuals and their parents, nurturing their growth both on and off the basketball court. We instill a mindset centered on perseverance and achievement, encouraging our players to continuously seek avenues for success in sports and life. Through a blend of education, mentorship, and community engagement, we provide resources and support systems aimed at empowering our youth and their families. Our commitment extends beyond the game of basketball, as we strive to make meaningful contributions to our communities, enriching lives and forging lasting connections.

The reason I launched Find A Way Foundation (501c3 Non Profit) and Find A Way Athletics (LLC entity) was because I saw a need for guidance at the grassroots level, not just for the kids but for the parents of the kids. Often times if a childs parents didn’t play sports at a high level, their kids don’t have the proper guidance or mentorship because Mom or Dad didn’t reach the heights that their child has reached. So at Find A Way, we have a team of people who have been where the kids of Arizona want to go, who care about giving back and pouring into the kids but more importantly pouring into our parents so our parents are educated and well equipped to help their child achieve their goals and dreams. From Brand Management, teaching kids and parents the importance of topics like film analysis and nutrition, to financial literacy and skill development programs, the Find A Way Family is the next big program to come out of Arizona that not only invests in the children on the court, we invest in our kids and parents off the court and in all other avenues of their lives and journeys.

Going into year 2 in January, we’ve been successful in the Tucson, AZ area as we ran our first successful basketball camp partnering with NIKE that surpassed more than 80 campers in year one.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I’d say that it’s been a little bit of smooth and rough. Obviously you will have your highs and lows as the head of a small business looking to kind of disrupt a space that needs attention. I’d say the main struggle is creating familiarity in your area and building a reputation for yourself; especially since I am not from Arizona. Arizona in general is a basketball state in my opinion so you have a lot of people in the basketball space who have been here way longer than I have been, and although I have an impressive resume on the court and off of the court, it has been a little tough getting school districts to give me access to their gyms over the summer for camps or getting people to listen to different ideas or pitches just due to the lack of familiarity they have with me and my business. So my 3 year plan is to essentially establish myself in the area and once I’ve established myself, I feel like the sky is the limit because the products and services will speak for themselves. It’s about getting in front of the right people and creating some buzz and positive momentum at this point. Once people see what you’re doing on a larger scale, everything falls into place.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Find A Way Foundation?
At Find A Way Foundation, our mission is to foster the holistic development of young individuals, nurturing their growth both on and off the basketball court. We instill a mindset centered on perseverance and achievement, encouraging our players to continuously seek avenues for success in sports and life. Through a blend of education, mentorship, and community engagement, we provide resources and support systems aimed at empowering our youth and their families. Our commitment extends beyond the game of basketball, as we strive to make meaningful contributions to our communities, enriching lives and forging lasting connections. Our vision at Find a Way Foundation is to empower children and their parents to use basketball as a vehicle for personal growth and success. We are dedicated to instilling the fundamentals of the game of Basketball while offering educational resources that support both athletic and academic development. By emphasizing the importance of basketball as a tool for enhancing life, we aspire to cultivate confident, well-rounded individuals who become productive members of society. Our vision is to ensure that basketball never uses our children, but rather, they use basketball to create a fulfilling and prosperous future.

We specialize in helping not only kids of AZ, but parents as well navigate all court and off court endeavors that this version of the modern student athlete and the parents of the modern student athletes will face together throughout their journeys.

Brand wise, I’m the most proud of the fact that everyone that works or helps out with Find A Way are people that are close to me. This is a family ran, family made business with people who have all either played, coached or experienced basketball at a high level. I come from a family full of basketball players and athletes and we are all invested in helping the youth and parents of Arizona achieve their goals and dreams as a student athlete and parents of student athletes. This business was created by me but the people who align with Find A Way all stand for what I stand for; which is Accountability, Perseverance, Resilience, Family, Mentorship, Collaboration, and Empathy. When people look at the Find A Way family I hope the brand of family first and always showing love and support to one another can resonate with others and want kids and parents want to be apart of what we have going on.

I believe what sets Find A Way apart from others is the investment in the parents. Often times, lots of basketball organizations invest in only the kids because the kid has a chance to be something special and the organization can hang their hat on the kid and use the kid as a claim to fame to attract other talented kids in the area. I believe that’s backwards, because the parent is a major if not the most important factor in a childs success early on, when it comes to off the court endeavors. If a parent can educate their child on the difference between official or unofficial visits, the importance of diet and nutrition, NIL, how to create a resume or the importance of his or her appearance and how they carry or present themselves early on, the child will be successful when he or she goes off to college in my opinion. If you create habits good habits early, it will stick with the child when they go off to be alone when that time comes. I think a educated parent has a high chance of creating an educated child when it comes to these topics. So at Find A Way we put as much time into our parents as we do with our kids because parents need to have knowledge on all of the important topics to help their child be successful.

Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
Follow our social media platforms for more information on future basketball camps and events we have going on. We have a lot in store for the 2024-2025 year as NIKE US Sports Camps and Find A Way are working on bringing a few summer camps to Tucson and the Phoenix area this spring and summer, as well as getting starting on other events/seminars around the valley.

Follow @fawathletics and @faw_foundation for more info!
Our website is https://www.fawfoundation.com/

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.fawfoundation.com/
• Instagram: @faw_foundation
• Twitter: https://x.com/FAWAthletics