The best thing that happened to Steven Bradley was getting cut from his ninth-grade basketball team, writes Joseph N. DiStefano for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Bradley grew up in the majority Black community of Darby Township and still lives there today.

Deprived of basketball, he put all his energy into his classes and he became class president.

Today, he’s figuring out what legacy he can leave as a successful business leader and about the people who helped him build it.

Bradley founded an insurance agency 22 years ago, Bradley & Bradley Associates, Inc. He sold the firm in January to OneDigital out of Atlanta. He plans to stay on as head of the Philadelphia office.

He’s also chaired the region’s African American Chamber of Commerce of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware from 2009 to 2022. He sits on the board of the Philadelphia Foundation, among others.

A friend to former mayor Michael Nutter, he tries to be a good role model and sees entrepreneurship opportunities as one way to cope with youth violence.

“We don’t just want to be successful as executives. We want to be successful in all of life. To build a legacy that others can do this as well.”

Read the full interview with Steven Bradley in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Steven Bradley served as a panelist on a 2020 program about expanding Black and minority business development in Philadelphia.