About Our Founder & CEO

Sterling Brown was born and raised in Maywood, Illinois. Coming up, he was always good with numbers, sports, and technology. History was also very intriguing to Sterling. He attended Emerson Elementary and Lexington Elementary School in Maywood. Sterling matriculated at Proviso Math and Science Academy while playing basketball and football at Proviso East.

Sterling said in the past that he didn’t necessarily grow up wanting to be an activist. However, he had the impetus for his own advocacy violently set upon him in his rookie year in an unprovoked attack by Milwaukee police officers that was caught on body camera footage.

 “I still have to live both lives. I’m still a professional athlete, and I’m still a man, and at the end of the day it was something that I had to just keep dealing with. I always deal with something accordingly. I deal with it based on what’s going to make results and what’s going to make sense. I’m not one to sit around on things and ponder too long, I’m one to just move on to the next step. How can I put something in place, what can I do about it? That’s my mentality.” - Sterling Brown

Sterling's response was the forming of The Sterking Brown S.A.L.U.T.E. Foundation. Located in Maywood, Illinois. He started with basketball camps for kids, but is gradually expanding the resources offered to extend to adolescent and adult programs ranging from skills clinics to Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math (STEAM) and Financial Literacy programs, plus specific programs for Women, and programs that address Violence Prevention and Mental health. Sterling is also an inaugural member of the National Basketball Social Justice Coalition with Carmelo Anthony, Avery Bradley, Donovan Mitchell, and Karl Anthony-Towns.

Amateur & Professional Basketball Highlights

In 2013, Sterling was drafted by Hall of Fame Coach, Larry Brown, to play college basketball for Southern Methodist University (SMU) as a guard. In his senior year, Sterling earned second-team all-conference honors in the American Athletic Conference.

In 2017, Sterling was drafted into the NBA by the Milwaukee Bucks. Within his first two seasons, Sterling positioned himself to play for many years through hard work and unremitting dedication to his craft.

· 2008 District 89 Champion (Lexington Lions)

· 2012 IHSA Basketball State Runner Up (Proviso East)

· 2013 IHSA Basketball State Finalist (Proviso East)

· 2015 & 2017 AAC Conference Champion (SMU)

· 2015 & 2017 AAC Conference Tournament Champion (SMU)

· 46th pick in the 2017 NBA draft to the Milwaukee Bucks