Khary Lazarre-White

New York, New York

Executive Director & Co-Founder
The Brotherhood Sister Sol

While still a senior at Brown University in 1995, Khary Lazarre-White joined forces with childhood friend Jason Warwin to launch a mentoring program for underserved Black and brown boys. Within four years, the pair extended the support to young girls.

And in nearly 30 years, the Harlem-based Brotherhood Sister Sol (also known as BroSis) has blossomed into a comprehensive social justice youth development organization. The mission and focus are on the intersectional work of educating, organizing for justice and structural change, and training educators nationwide on its model.

BroSis empowers young people to explore their roots and identity and build the future they envision through a wide variety of programming. That includes a four- to six-year rites of passage course, arts and enrichment-based after-school care, summer camps, job training, college preparation and study abroad programs to Africa, the Caribbean and South America.

By the numbers: BroSis estimates that it has developed more than 5,000 young “agents of change” and has trained nearly 3,000 educators from over 250 community-based organizations and schools worldwide. Moreover, the majority of its alums (over 95%) have graduated from high school or earned their GED certificate, and have moved on to either working full-time or pursuing a college degree.

Lazarre-White, 49, currently BroSis executive director, has worn many hats since co-founding the organization. A civil rights attorney, he considers himself a social entrepreneur and educator. He’s been a much sought-after guest speaker nationwide and has penned editorial features and personal essays for numerous publications including Huffington Post, Essence Magazine and MSNBC.

In 2017, he debuted his novel, “Passage,” which tells the story of a young Black teen questioning his place in the world in 1993. The Wall Street Journal ranked his book among the “Best New Fiction.”

Lazarre-White hails from a family of activists, fueling his passion for social justice and making change. “My family served as organizers and activists from within the government and from the outside,” he told Black Enterprise. “They made changes as artists as well as everyday people who stood up.”  — Monée Fields-White