Shooting to Score
Big Game Goal to Inspire Success in Others
Take one look at Brian Anderson’s resume, and you’ll feel like you’re talking to a celebrity.
Upon graduation from Salisbury University, Anderson was selected for a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Bosserman Fellowship in Paris. He has played basketball with some of the UN’s top delegates, photographed the Special Olympics International Games at Berlin Olympic Stadium, taken selfies with Pope Francis and even worked the Royal Windsor Triathlon in London, at the residence of the Queen of England.
It’s no surprise he was honored with the SU Alumni Association’s Young Alumni Achievement Award. But he has another story to tell.
His journey isn’t just one of success – but one of failure, too.
“I actually got fired from my first job at SU,” he said.
SU was my training ground. It was where I was allowed to try and fail. What was important to me was having the space to learn and make mistakes.
Brian Anderson ’18, M’`19
A rebound only comes after a missed shot. Anderson later won an award for his dedication to Multicultural Student Services and started Be the Mogul, which has helped many student entrepreneurs establish their own businesses. Eventually, he was hired as a graduate assistant with events planning for the Center for Student Involvement and Leadership – the same position he had been fired from as an undergraduate.
While not every experience was “successful,” each one was valuable.
“SU was my training ground,” he said. “It was where I was allowed to try and fail. What was important to me was having the space to learn and make mistakes.”
Anderson now works as the associate manager of development and programs at DC SCORES, a nonprofit that builds soccer programs at neighborhood schools, serving more than 3,000 children in the Washington, DC, area. Eventually, he wants to take the experiences he’s gained and bring them back to his hometown of Baltimore.
The goal is to not just be in the game, but ahead of the game. Working in soccer on the international level allows him to bring his perspective as a Black American to the sport, so he can set the ball up for others to score.
“Representation matters,” Anderson said. “I want to set a precedent for other Black kids to have a voice in this space – so one day, they can take over the game, too.”
