From inmate to CEO: The incredible story of Jamal Tate

At 18 years old, Jamal Tate had already been arrested three times.

He moved to Charlotte from the West Coast in 2006 and struggled to find his identity in this Southern town. He had won a state track championship as a freshman, was a good student in the IB program at Myers Park High, but he fell in with the wrong crowd, he said. That’s how he ended up in jail.

Now Tate, 24, is a recent graduate of Queens University of Charlotte, has started his own youth coaching business called Generation Y Life Coaching and has given back to the program that helped him find his way — Communities in Schools.

Tate joined us on this week’s CharlotteFive Podcast to tell his story, talk about his new business and how he took some of the negative things in his past and turned them into positives.

Tate is so well spoken for a 24-year-old right out of college, and he’s so open and honest in sharing his story and has a passion for using his experience to help others. And he’s done so much in such a short time — I can’t wait to see what he accomplishes in the future.

He may not be a household name in Charlotte, but he’s definitely someone you should know.

Other things we talked about on the podcast:

– The CharlotteFive Awards, which launch this week with the Breweries category. Sarah and I run through a few of the categories and name our favorites.

– Sarah went to the Carolina Panthers game Sunday and … actually kinda liked it!

– And, of course, what you should be doing this weekend.

The CharlotteFive Podcast — presented by The Charlotte Observer and powered by OrthoCarolina — is a weekly podcast that aims to get you Charlotte Smart, Fast with fun, interesting and useful news about the city. It’s hosted by Corey Inscoe and Sarah Crosland.

You can find The CharlotteFive Podcast on Soundcloud, iTunes and Stitcher. You can follow us on Twitter @Charlotte_Five, on Instagram @cltfive, and on Facebook, and you can shoot us an email to charlottefive@charlottefive.com.

Photo: Richard Brooke

This story was originally published September 20, 2016 at 11:47 PM with the headline "From inmate to CEO: The incredible story of Jamal Tate."