David Michael Castain II (born August 5, 1988), is an American businessman. He is perhaps best known for leaving a life of crime to later found a marketing firm worth over $5 million by November 2016 and $8.5 million by 2020.

Early life

David was born in

Pomona Valley The Pomona Valley is located in the Greater Los Angeles Area between the San Gabriel Valley and San Bernardino Valley in Southern California. The valley is approximately east of downtown Los Angeles. History On March 1, 1893 the California ...

Hospital in Pomona, California to Debra Ross and David Castain Sr.. He joined a gang when he was in the 8th grade for protection within his community. David was kicked out of multiple high schools before attending Valley View High School, a secondary school for students who have behavioral issues or are at risk of not graduating. He ultimately graduated from

Alta Loma High School Alta Loma High School is a public high school located in Rancho Cucamonga, California, United States, and is part of the Chaffey Joint Union High School District. History With funding received from state bonds, expansion work was done between 1998 ...

. In 2006 Castain was charged with armed robbery. He decided to attend

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a Private university, private, University charter#Federal, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, classifie ...

when he was serving an 8-month house arrest term following the two years he had already served behind bars.

Career

Castain began promoting parties while attending Howard University in

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

. He gained national attention after he organized events with

Sean Combs Sean Combs (born Sean John Combs; November 4, 1969), also known by his stage names Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, Puffy, or Diddy, is an American rapper, actor, record producer, and record executive. Born in New York City, he worked as a talent directo ...

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals * A male duck People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family name * Drake (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * ...

LeBron James LeBron Raymone James Sr. (; born December 30, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "King James", he is widely considered one of the greatest p ...

and other celebrities. In 2012 David was hired by Grey Goose where he served as their Director of Social Marketing. Following his seventh year of leaving a life of crime, he founded a

nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

, the David Castain Foundation. In May 2013 David graduated from Howard University with a Bachelors in Speech and Applied Communication and a minor in

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation an ...

. He was the commencement speaker at his graduation ceremony Upon graduating, he founded a marketing firm dubbed David Castain & Associates. The company obtained clients in various disciplines from

Chipotle A chipotle (, ; ), or ''chilpotle'', is a smoke-dried ripe jalapeño chili pepper used for seasoning. It is a chili used primarily in Mexican and Mexican-inspired cuisines, such as Tex-Mex and Southwestern United States dishes. It comes in dif ...

and

Uber Uber Technologies, Inc. (Uber), based in San Francisco, provides mobility as a service, ride-hailing (allowing users to book a car and driver to transport them in a way similar to a taxi), food delivery (Uber Eats and Postmates), packa ...

to a

Berkshire Hathaway Berkshire Hathaway Inc. () is an American multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. Its main business and source of capital is insurance, from which it invests the float (the retained premiu ...

subsidiary, Cort Furniture. In 2014 he graduated from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

, where he was the recipient of the Golden Bulldog Award for being the 'Most Creative' student in the program, with a Master's in public relations and corporate communications. Castain returned to his alma mater, Howard University in August of that same year to pursue his Ph.D. in sociology, with a concentration in

medical sociology Medical sociology is the sociological analysis of medical organizations and institutions; the production of knowledge and selection of methods, the actions and interactions of healthcare professionals, and the social or cultural (rather than cl ...

and

social inequality Social inequality occurs when resources in a given society are distributed unevenly, typically through norms of allocation, that engender specific patterns along lines of socially defined categories of persons. It posses and creates gender c ...

. Castain is a member of the

Kappa Alpha Psi Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. () is a historically African American fraternity. Since the fraternity's founding on January 5, 1911 at Indiana University Bloomington, the fraternity has never restricted membership on the basis of color, creed ...

Greek fraternal organization. In 2021, Forbes named him to their Next 1000 list.

Filmography

References

External links

David Castain’s Official WebsiteRank Today - David Castain’s Company
{{DEFAULTSORT:Castain, David Howard University alumni Georgetown University alumni 21st-century African-American businesspeople 21st-century American businesspeople Living people 1988 births People from Pomona, California American marketing people 20th-century African-American people Alta Loma High School alumni