About Us

Incorporated in late 2016, Gentlemen Expeditionists International (GE) was founded by three visionaries at Johnson C. Smith University who shared a powerful conviction—to transform the lives of teenage African American and Latino males in Charlotte’s Northwest Corridor. What began as an idea sketched out over pizza near campus evolved into a bold commitment to reimagine how young men of color are educated, mentored, and empowered. The founders envisioned using research in intercultural contexts as both a leadership catalyst and a framework for positive masculine development, preparing youth not only to achieve academically but to lead with integrity, confidence, and purpose.

Though the founding team’s higher education and professional pursuits temporarily scattered them across states and institutions, their shared mission endured. Reunited in late 2018, they reignited their strategy to build a leadership and mentoring model grounded in scholarship, cultural intelligence, and community uplift. Yet, as with many emerging organizations, unforeseen challenges, including the COVID 19 pandemic and major life transitions, tested their resilience and delayed implementation.

Throughout this period, GE’s leadership quietly strengthened its foundation. Each member deepened his expertise through professional and educational endeavors that directly aligned with GE’s long-term goals. Collectively, they developed mentoring programs, guided high school students through college admissions, and coached undergraduates into competitive career and graduate pathways. Professionally, they engaged in institutional planning and assessment, supported accreditation processes, designed and evaluated academic programs, and analyzed workforce trends to align education with emerging employment opportunities. These experiences honed the team’s ability to construct data-informed, results-oriented programming that bridges education and workforce pipelines—skills now central to GE’s approach.

By 2024, renewed momentum and a growing network of supporters breathed new life into the organization. Energized by a shared vision and joined by dedicated volunteers, the founders committed to formally launch programming by Fall 2025. Strategic planning in early 2025 focused on two parallel recruitment efforts: engaging college students as mentors and identifying local secondary youth as program participants.

The vision came to life in September 2025, when GE hosted its first Mentor Orientation and Training, preparing three university mentors to guide youth participants in the Traditional Treks: Kings Abroad initiative through a structured, research-based curriculum emphasizing leadership, identity, and life-design. The inaugural Participant and Parent Orientation followed on October 11, 2025, introducing three students to the program’s transformational journey. Within weeks, enthusiasm spread. By the second parent orientation, each mentor was managing a full participant load, marking the beginning of a movement greater than any one individual.

Today, Gentleman Expeditionists International stands as a testament to perseverance, purpose, and community. Built on years of preparation and professional growth, GE merges academic rigor with mentorship and cultural awareness to empower young men to navigate life’s challenges with dignity, discipline, and vision. From that first meeting at a Pizza Hut to its first cohort of youth participants, GE’s story is one of unwavering belief in the potential of young men of color, and a relentless drive to equip them for leadership, scholarship, and service.

Thus, the movement continues—transforming potential into purpose, and purpose into power. 

To advance the intellectual, spiritual, and masculine development of adolescent males of color. 

To inspire and train new generations of community innovators, researchers, and global male leaders of color at all levels of government and industry, and in every societal sphere.

To send:

• agents of change (at home).
• ambassadors of hope (to the world).

To expose young expeditioners to the global classroom.