A Career Path Defined by Perseverance

Former URI student-athlete Lorenzo Bryant is used to tackling the odds—and coming out on top. His work ethic and determination, combined with wisdom gained on the football field and in the classroom, are proving to be a formula for success in his work life.

As an athlete, Lorenzo Bryant ’19, M.P.A. ’21, was a bit of a late bloomer. But he had a strong work ethic that helped him excel as a college athlete.

“I wasn’t athletically gifted from the womb,” says Bryant. “But I wanted to be great. When I start something, I keep working hard until I succeed.” That drive took Bryant from his hometown in central New Jersey to a football scholarship at the University of Rhode Island, where he captained the team and became one of its top performers.

It has since led him, serendipitously, to Ralph Lauren, where he now serves as associate project manager for social partnerships and philanthropy—translating the same discipline, leadership, and vision that propelled him on the field into his career in fashion and philanthropy.

“Football showed me I could do anything if I put my mind to it,” says Bryant, who majored in sociology and criminology as an undergraduate and completed his master’s degree in public administration at URI. Even today, he keeps in mind something his defensive coordinator told him early on: “Great players aren’t just great at football—they are great at everything they do. It’s a way of life, not just a one-time thing.”

Bryant grew up in a sports-loving household, where his first passion was basketball, but at 6 feet tall, he realized his future was better suited to the gridiron. He took his academics seriously, but, diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder as a child, succeeding at school was not easy for Bryant; it demanded serious energy and intensity. Exercise and competition provided a release and an antidote. “Football just let me be free. It was the one place I didn’t feel controlled by a ‘disability,’” he says. “On the field, I knew I was home.”

Although his family faced financial challenges, Bryant and his older brother and sister inherited a love of fashion from their father. “He loves to buy nice clothes, because growing up, he didn’t have the money to buy those nice things,” Bryant says. “He instilled in us a desire to look good and be presentable.”

Bryant also learned the importance of education from his mother, who worked with adults with special needs, and from his grandmother, who was a teacher. When Bryant earned a full ride to URI on a football scholarship, the moment brought his mother to tears: “She just started crying with joy.”

---

Bryant’s college football career was defined by perseverance. After a season-ending injury just two games into his first year, he returned the next season with a vengeance, posting a career-high 8 tackles and a pass breakup against Elon University. After transitioning from linebacker to running back, he led the Rams in rushing yards in 2018, when he had a team-high 81 rushing yards, helping URI defeat the University of Delaware, and scored two touchdowns against Maine in a game that Rhody fought hard in, but lost 38-36. The following year, he scored a touchdown in a close victory, 31-28, over rival Brown University in Providence. “I love those moments when you come to somebody else’s field and defeat them,” he says.

As a team captain, Bryant often applied lessons from his academic work in sociology to better motivate his teammates. “Whether consciously or unconsciously, I was using all the cues I learned in the classroom to get things across to them,” he says. “We had kids from beautiful places and some from inner cities. I felt like I could empathize with everyone in some way.”

When Bryant occasionally felt overwhelmed by the combined demands of sports and academics, or struggled with injuries, he turned to retail therapy. “I had an outlet in fashion,” he says, “creating vision and mood boards and putting together different outfits.”

That outlet became an opportunity after graduation when a chance encounter with a Ralph Lauren executive led to a monthlong contract in 2022. He impressed his bosses so much that he landed a full-time role on the social partnership and philanthropy team, where he helps coordinate events and philanthropic initiatives that give Ralph Lauren employees, as well as other community members, a chance to volunteer in a variety of impactful ways—from serving meals in underserved communities to distributing clean water and repurposing clothing—stateside and globally. “It’s a lot of work,” says Bryant, “but the smiles on people’s faces—when you can account for someone getting clean drinking water or someone’s family can eat on Thanksgiving—make it so worth it.”

When faced with excess product, his team finds ways to upcycle the brand’s shoes into playground material and get clothing to people in need around the world. “I think I’ve made a huge difference in our ecological footprint, making sure our products get properly distributed,” he says.

Bryant is considering his future, thinking about branching out into new fields—maybe technology or real estate. Whatever he chooses, it’s clear he’ll do it with the same approach that turned him into a winning Division I athlete: Study the game, work hard, and keep going; success will follow.

—Michael Blanding

PHOTOS: JEFFREY A. SALTER