Bryan grew up in Detroit and was known at Renaissance High School for his motivation to excel academically. His solution to overcoming the poverty and violence that surrounded him was to strive for good grades. Though he says it made him an outcast among many of his peers, to teachers and parents he was a go-getter with a distinct voice, shining personality and spirited nature.

Bryan excelled as both a leader and a team player as a member of his high school’s swimming and tennis teams, as student government vice president, a tutor in his community, and a champion and captain of teams in Academic Games Leagues of America. He won both the Gates Millennium and Coca Cola Scholarships when he applied to college.

LEDA provided Bryan with the opportunity to develop the confidence to forge his own identity and join an extraordinary group of emerging leaders. “[To me,] LEDA means being part of a community comprised of some of the most brilliant minds of our generation – all of whom deserve to live visibly.”

During his undergraduate career at Brown University, Bryan participated in several social justice programs supporting underrepresented populations in the local Providence community and on the Brown campus. He also completed summer internships at the Urban Justice Center and in the office of the mayor of Providence. Upon graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Urban Studies and Africana Studies, Bryan accepted a position as a paralegal at Federal Defenders of New York with plans to attend Harvard Law School.