by Wilma Goldstein
The Southwest Neighborhood Assembly (SWNA) Education and Scholarship Task Force (ESTF) has supported young people in the Southwest DC community for more than 45 years. All together, more than 530 scholarships totaling $444,000 have been awarded to 230 young people who have gone on to great educational, cultural and business success.
In our “Where Are They Now” series, we catch up with some of our scholarship winners to see where their talent and hard work has taken them.
Sergio Rozelle was a three-time ESTF Scholar, earning scholarships in 1988, 1989 and 1990. His journey to Southwest DC began in the early 1970’s, when his mother Margaret Rozelle’s career as an architectural engineer for the U.S. Navy brought her to the DC area. At age 7, Sergio Rozelle moved to the neighborhood and began what would be a distinguished educational career at the elementary school that is now known as Amidon-Bowen. Margaret Rozelle retired as a project manager at the Navy Yard, and her and Sergio are both still proud Southwest residents to this day.
After Sergio Rozelle graduated high school, he was accepted at the nation’s first degree-granting Historically Black College & University, (HBCU) Lincoln University, located near Oxford, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1854, Lincoln’s famous alumni include the first Black Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, Thurgood Marshall, and the poet, author, playwright and activist Langston Hughes. Rozelle majored in political science at Lincoln, then went on to Clark University in Atlanta, also an HBCU, where he received a Masters of Science in International Affairs and Development/International Business Marketing. He also earned a Doctorate in Divinity (Community Service Studies) and the title Dr. Sergio Rozelle.
His ambitious nature first set him on a path toward politics and later he became interested in economics, gravitating toward wealth management. Knowing that either profession takes some independent funds, he chose to continue his education and gain experience in the corporate and government worlds while building his work as a strategic consultant in international wealth acquisition.
He spent his first five years after graduating from Clark at Delta Airlines in the Executive Training program at their Atlanta headquarters, which he enjoyed immensely. It was during his time at Delta he also began pursuing his future as a wealth acquisition entrepreneur. He then joined the Fulton County, Georgia government where he spent the next five years as the Senior Grants Manager. His portfolio included timely issues from workforce development, homeless and transitional housing, children and youth services, HIV/AIDS, seniors and aging services and compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Following his work with the Fulton County government, Rozelle also gained experience working for the federal government, with stints at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. Department of Labor.
He continued building his entrepreneurial effort to attract people who could use his experience and talents as a consultant in building businesses, acquiring wealth and successfully managing it. Working from Georgia and then DC, he co-founded a $200 million debt-free holding company and became an internet marketing consultant, mentor, coach, trainer, speaker and community volunteer.
Rozelle has been featured on news and financial programs on most national network and cable television stations, as well as in financial publications such as Fortune, Business Week, and Entrepreneur. He has served on the board of several 501(c)3 organizations, including the United Way. He has built teams of thousands for direct sales companies. He also co-authored a book, The Art and Science of Success, Volume 5, that spent time on Amazon’s #1 Best Sellers List in three separate categories: Global Marketing, Work-Life Balance and Business & Investing.
Rozelle has a desire to help people in every area of their lives. He thinks of his three scholarships from ESTF as one of the lights of his life, along with his daughter Jessie, now 24, and continues to drive toward his dreams in asset management, real estate and as a volunteer working in community service.