6397 has a longstanding friendship with Alex Martinez – a beautiful soul and social worker who works tirelessly toward keeping New York City’s inner city kids off the streets. Alex is also Founder of D.A.A.D (Developing Adolescents, Attitudes and Destinies), an urban youth mentoring program that aims to inspire kids to choose a positive pathway in life, outside of drugs and gangs. In addition to his mentorship activities, Alex is Head Coach of the John V. Lindsay Wildcat High School Basketball Program in Manhattan, where he coaches both girls and boys basketball teams. It is through his own life experiences, overcoming insurmountable odds, that has led to his life’s work as a mentor and advocate of youth empowerment.
To showcase the relaunch of our Barack Obama t-shirts, we asked Alex to enlist his JVL Wildcats girl’s basketball team to model the t-shirts as part of our first ever photographic storytelling series. What better way to honor Barack Obama and his legacy than to have our tees worn proudly by those representing the next generation that he so inspired, as well as simultaneously show support for our friend’s philanthropic endeavors? We are deeply inspired by Alex’s work and believe that it so echoes what Barack Obama stands for: hope, positivity, integrity, progress. Just like the graphic on the back of our t-shirt – we extend a heartfelt ‘Thanks’ to Obama…and to our good friend, Alex Martinez.
Photographer Chris Shonting captured the girls as they warmed up for a game…