Last month Tyquavious (Ty) Noland made headlines as part of a feature by Good Morning America on an organization called Launch, Expose, Advise, Direct, or L.E.A.D., of which he is an alumnus. L.E.A.D.’s mission is to help young Black men in low-income households break out of the cycle of poverty and incarceration in their neighborhoods through baseball. Recently we reached out to Ty to learn more about his background and his Enterprise experience as a Management Trainee.

In the GMA article you said L.E.A.D. saved your life. Can you talk about that?

I come from one of the most dangerous communities in America. My parents were raised in poverty. I’ve seen people get killed. I’ve seen the worst of the worst. When I heard about L.E.A.D. my sixth-grade year, I joined the program. It was life changing. It saved my life because I could have easily gone the other way, because I was already in that environment. Through L.E.A.D. I have networking contacts in my phone, I received college scholarships and it showed me a different side of life. Being a young black man, growing up in poverty, you don’t see the other side of life. L.E.A.D. helped me realize I didn’t want to be a statistic.

What was the L.E.A.D. experience like?

It was a time commitment. I had to be there about 350 days a year. One of the organization’s goals was to make sure we had something to do every day. Some days I would meet someone for networking, others I would go to donor events, and most days I would play baseball.

What did your family think about L.E.A.D.?

My family loved it. They missed me when I was so busy, but they saw my success and appreciated everything L.E.A.D. instilled in me. I am the only one in the community with a biological mom and dad. As a young black man, I was very fortunate to have my mom and dad at home, along with two brothers and an older sister. I’m lucky that my family has always been there. Without family a lot of things can happen.

In 2015 I lost my dad. But L.E.A.D. has been my family since sixth grade. Then my fraternity at LeMoyne-Owen College was another family. In 2019 I was the first one to graduate college in my community in four years.

What was it like to be featured on GMA?  

It’s been pretty surreal, but it wasn’t my first national profile. Through L.E.A.D. I had the opportunity to do a commercial with Mercedes-Benz USA, a commercial with Walt Disney, and other interviews.

How did you first learn about Enterprise as an employer? Why did you decide to apply?

I’m originally from Atlanta, but I moved to Memphis for college and graduated in May 2019 with a degree in finance. I had heard about Enterprise through connections at L.E.A.D., and when I had my first interview everyone was smiling and joyful. It just felt right. I had job offers from four marketing companies and Enterprise. And I chose Enterprise.

In the office, everyone is friendly, hardworking and driven. Everyone wants their next promotion, and it’s a fun and friendly place to work.

Tell us about your college athletics experience.

I was captain of the LeMoyne-Owen baseball team all four years in college. I attended LeMoyne on a baseball scholarship and even had two offers on the table to go pro. But I had to be realistic. I knew I hadn’t put in enough work to go to that stage and I didn’t want to disappoint myself and my organization. So I went the other way.

How would you describe the culture at Enterprise?

It’s an amazing environment to be in. The customers and your team keep you going every day. The thing I really love about Enterprise is that I know everyone is going to work hard every day with a smile on their face. I see the whole team come together every day.

Describe a typical day in your role, which may be different than previous Management Trainees due to COVID-19.

I wake up every day at 6 a.m. I get into the office around 7 a.m. and we have a quick team huddle. We talk about what we need to do for the day to be successful and improve our numbers. At 7:30 we “open the doors,” even though we are currently just doing curbside service, and I don’t look at the clock again until lunch. Everything is fast; selling, making conversation with customers, building connections. If there is a long wait, we work hard to make our customers know their service will be great, fast and efficient.

There are three to four of us in the branch at any time, all wearing masks because of COVID-19. Our chairs are 10 feet apart, and our manager sits 20 feet behind us. One thing I can say, is that with masks on it can be hard to talk to customers.

Anything we forgot to ask, or any advice you’d like to give to future candidates, or current employees?

I would tell future candidates, don’t stop when things get hard. Just overcome, learn, and motivate yourself.

Click here to read the original Good Morning America article.