Akil Alvin grew up in infamous Detroit neighborhood, became a top ad exec in North America

Detroiter Akil Alvin knows struggle. He grew up inside the hardscrabble Martin Luther King Apartments, an infamous neighborhood of low-income housing where police runs can be as frequent as the city bus.

Yet, in spite of his circumstances, Alvin has prevailed, becoming a successful entrepreneur in advertising and marketing in 2013 at the young age of 18.

And now he wants to help other motivated young people who may have trouble seeing their own dreams through the fog of life's circumstances.

“I started my company fresh out of high school,” said Alvin, founder of Digital Detroit Media.

Now 28, Alvin, is taking his company to new heights with the launch of his nonprofit organization, The Culture Academy, with hopes of bringing major corporations together with other young creatives who are interested in pursuing a career in graphic design, marketing and arts.

“If I can be in this seat and be at these corporate tables, we're going to make sure that other young Black creators and more creators of color can go in and go crazy too in this field,” Alvin says.

The Culture Academy launched its official grand opening this past weekend with an inaugural ball held at the Motor City Casino Sound Board serving as the organization's signature fundraiser and a Culture Empowerment Day for the youths on Sunday.

The organization met 20% of its $250,000 goal at the inaugural ball, raking in a total of $50,000. The money, Alvin said, will be used to help kids who look like him feel empowered to follow their dreams, too.

The Culture Academy, powered by Digital Detroit Media, can be found inside of schools and nonprofit organizations in Detroit, Chicago and New Orleans. The organization hosts four signature programs: Mogul-in-Residence, Black by Design, Hip to the Culture/the Art of Hip Hop and the Authentically Impact Culture Project. The organization plans to roll out the same programming in Botswana and Kenya later this year. All classes are taught by certified teachers, program managers or peer educators.

Currently, the academy is being held inside The Detroit School of Arts and Communication and Media Arts High School for a full semester.

“Growing up, I always knew I wanted to follow my dreams” Alvin said. “… But coming from where I came from, following your dreams wasn’t always easy.”

As a child, Alvin says he grew up witnessing what struggle really looked like. He said he was 12 when he lost his best friend, Demetrius Lewis, who was killed in a car accident while riding with his father.

“Losing Demetrius made me realize death can come at any age,” Alvin said. “His death made me decide to follow my dreams as I grew up and not when.”

Following those dreams for Alvin meant he had to give up on some of the dreams others had for him.

“I was on the (Detroit PAL) East Side Raiders, when I was like 7 or 8,” he said. “But I hated football. Well, not necessarily the football aspect, it was the exercise and all that other crap.”

That experience, Alvin said, pushed him to explore other things. He found his passion in advertising and marketing after he contacted his local library, the Elmwood Park Branch of the Detroit Public Libraries, and started getting involved in the programming.

“I fell in love with the programs they had there,” he said.

However, the programming at the library was not enough for Alvin and he also thought there should be more people taking part in the programs after realizing he was one of the few people participating. So, pushing to his passion, he asked the librarians whether he could develop his own marketing program. And, to his surprise, they said yes.

“At 7 years old, I was developing my own marketing program,” Alvin proudly said.

That program, he said, helped get the attention of the “higher-ups” and made the library one of the top libraries in the region.

From there, Alvin continued to hustle. His mind was made up that he was going to follow his dream in design and he was willing to support it.

At the age of 10, Alvin says he went to the UniverSoul Circus and randomly asked if he could have a job. Again, to his surprise, someone was once again willing to take a chance on him and they took Alvin under their wing, he said.

“I started working for them and doing marketing media for them,” he said. “Then I got hired on (at the circus) and started helping with pre-shows and stuff.”

When Alvin graduated from the Detroit School for the Fine and Performing Arts, he was offered a full ride scholarship. But, instead, he decided to take a risk on himself — and his dream.

“I told my high school teacher, 'This is what I want to do, and what do you think?' ” said Alvin. “Not only did they say go after your dreams, they told me they were going to support me in my dreams by taking a leave of absence to help me.”

That same teacher, Alvin said, was his first employee and still works for him to this day.

Today, Alvin has expanded his company and he is listed in Forbes as one of the top advertising executives in North America. But he credits all of his success to being encouraged at a young age to go after his dreams. And now he wants to give that same love and support to other young kids who don’t know that it is OK have a dream.

“I just want to make sure that I am intentional about saying yes to other young people's dreams, just like someone was with me.”

For more information on The Culture Academy

Any school or organization interested in having The Culture Academy teach their students or youths can reach out to the academy directly at info@cultureacademy.org. The programming can be done as pop-up or semester-long classes.

Jasmin Barmore is born and raised in the city of Detroit. She covers the city's neighborhoods and communities using her passion as her drive to give the voiceless a voice. You can reach her at jmbarmore@freepress.com or by sending her a message on Instagram or Twitter at @bjasminmare.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Entrepreneur, advertising executive Akil Alvin grew up in Detroit