Why Kwame Owusu-Kesse chose passion over high net worth

Kwame Owusu-Kesse beat the odds to achieve an almost unimaginable dream. As a kid, he got noticed and breaks at the right time, and made the most of them. He gets into Harvard and is later recruited by a Big Five Wall Street bank. TIME puts him on its list of the next 100 most influential people in the world.

The young man whose mother worked two housekeeping jobs just to make ends meet was on track to create generational wealth.

It was fine, even great for a while, but eventually not enough. Something was missing. Enter serendipity again: A chance encounter with Geoffrey Canada, founder of the Harlem Children's Zone , who gained international fame when he was featured in the Academy-Award-winning documentary, Waiting for Superman. 

A 20-minute interview set up by his employer stretched to 90 in a "probably one-sided love fest," Owusu-Kesse recalls for Catalyst. The connection was made possible through a Morgan Stanley program that also allowed Owusu-Kesse to spend a year at HCZ.

The experience sparked the start of him questioning his priorities. Owusu-Kesse gives himself some space to think things through by pursuing two graduate degrees at Harvard — An MBA and a Master of Public Policy.

Fast forward: Owusu-Kesse Is nearly done at Harvard. It's the height of corporate recruiting season. Out of nowhere, Canada calls: "Listen, brother, we want you to come back. I know your skills. I know your heart." 

And that was that. Goodbye Wall Street.

Owusu-Kesse, now the CEO of the Harlem Children's Zone, knows he made the right call going where he could "create prosperity for young people that look like me and are raised in difficult circumstances similar to ones that I was raised in," he said. "In many ways, it was the perfect job." 

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