Founder Lou Cole, whose parents immigrated from Sierra Leone, Africa was born and raised in New York.  Cole’s parents struggled to live in the big city, raising him and his brother. Their philosophy was simply that they would go through the hardships to give him and his brother the best possible situation so that we could make something of ourselves. Cole was sent to Sierra Leone to live with his uncle for two years before returning back to New York. 

It wasn’t until the seventh grade when he picked up a ball and started playing with the Riverside Hawks and Gauchos, Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) programs in New York City.  Afterwards, he attended Archbishop Stepinac High School in White Plains and furthered his education at Maine Central Institute, where he was coached by Max Good, who currently is the head coach at Loyola Marymount University’s men’s basketball team.  Cole attributes his hard work and dedication to his mother, who didn’t know much about sports, but realized what great role they would play and pushed him to work even harder.

Cole continued his education at Providence College (PC), in Rhode Island, where he received a full basketball scholarship. Here his teammates would give him his nickname “Louminati”. He graduated from PC with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Elementary Special Education.  After college, Cole traveled overseas to play professional basketball, where he assisted his team to win the division championships.  He played in leagues in Portugal, Mexico, Switzerland, China and Luxembourg.  Cole’s aspirations were as all young men, to make it to the NBA, but this wasn’t in his future.  During his journey he longed for a greater purpose. He left the game of basketball to search for his purpose.  During this time, Cole was married and became the proud father of two daughters.  

As time passed he reflected on his basketball career and awakened with a vision…the new hope would help him find his passion and help youth’s find theirs as well.  In 2007, he formed the Louminati Youth Leadership Foundation.

Cole also serves a member of the board of directors of the Mal Brown Club and is his spare time has appeared in a role in the movie “The Emperor’s Wife”, while playing in Luxembourg and appearing in commercials for Verizon Fios, Nike,and New Balance alongside Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen .