Gerald Meggett Jr

Gerald Meggett Jr. is the CEO and Co-Founder of CircleIn, a virtual student community platform. His journey to founding CircleIn is both inspiring and purpose-driven.

Professional Background

Before founding CircleIn, Gerald was a successful corporate leader in a Fortune 500 company.1 He worked long hours, often 80+ per week, and achieved significant financial success, making six figures while still in college.1 As a Black man in America, he was considered part of the "1% who made it".1

Motivation for Founding CircleIn

Despite his professional success, Gerald felt a void in his life. He realized he wasn't mentoring his own community, particularly young Black Americans.1 This realization led him to carve out time for giving back.

A pivotal moment came during a meeting near Washington D.C., where he learned about the low college completion rates for African American males and minorities across the country.1 This information deeply affected him and sparked the idea for CircleIn.

Founding CircleIn

Gerald started CircleIn as a personal research project, driven by his disappointment in the educational disparities he discovered.1 He invested $30,000 of his own money, which he had been saving for a house down payment, to start the organization.1

Mission and Vision

CircleIn's mission is to address educational inequalities and improve college completion rates for underserved communities. Gerald is particularly focused on helping students from low-income backgrounds, noting that only 9% of students from the lowest income quartile finish college compared to 77% for the wealthy.1

While CircleIn began in the United States, Gerald envisions it becoming a global platform, accessible to students in every village, slum, and region where there's a shortage of teachers and resources.1

Personal Interests

Outside of his professional life, Gerald enjoys serving and growing young people. He also mentions playing for the Nike Junior Wizards, though he humorously notes that he earned very little playing time.2

Gerald Meggett Jr.'s LinkedIn username is indeed geraldmeggett, as mentioned in the query.2