How one local man’s love of basketball + the outdoors merged in his career

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Growing up in Ensley and West End, Brian Holley loved basketball. For the past decade, he’s been applying lessons he learned on the court in his role at PRADCO Outdoor Brands, while mentoring young people in Birmingham City Schools. Here is his story.

Meet Brian Holley

Brian Holley grew up in Ensley and West End and then graduated from Ramsay High School. His mom’s main goal was for him to get an education and better himself, and he wanted to make his family proud. 

After Ramsay, Holley went to Auburn University, where he studied Management Information Systems. From there, he embarked on a career as an IT consultant.

In 2014, he was offered a Project Manager position at EBSCO and within a year became Director of Project Management at PRADCO Outdoor Brands. 

When he’s not working, he’s teaching his daughter everything he knows about their favorite sport and mentoring high school students through PNC Bank’s PartnerUp Program.

Lessons learned on the basketball court

Brian Holley + his daughter Lauryn (Brian Holley)

Holley has always been an avid basketball fan and player. Now he pours all he knows into his daughter who shares his love of the game. She plays basketball at her high school and on an Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) travel team. 

“For me, basketball is grace, power, athleticism and poetry.

The game has always been a centerpiece for our family—it binds us; it strengthens us and it helps us get through adversity. We absolutely love that sport.”

Holley said basketball has taught him how to deal with adversity. As you can imagine, this helps him in both business and in personal settings. 

“Basketball helps you have a mindset of being able to handle frustrations, setbacks or things that might not have gone your way, vs. being frustrated or angry in the moment:

‘It’s going to be okay; let’s refocus, recenter and go ahead and get done what we need to get done regardless of what has happened and regardless of what we’re going through at this time.’”

Helping young people thrive

Since he graduated from Auburn, Holley has been mentoring African American teenagers and young men in an effort to pay forward all that was given to him while he was growing up. 

PNC Bank’s PartnerUP Program was a natural fit, allowing him to mentor and help young people within the Birmingham City Schools. 

The program provides young people an opportunity to learn and enhance their skill sets for two key reasons: 

• Help them become more attractive to the marketplace
• Enhance their chances of becoming successful right out of high school

Leading projects at PRADCO

Brian Holley checking a deer feeder (l) + fishing (r) (Brian Holley)

According to Wide Open Spaces, “PRADCO Outdoor Brands is the largest parent organization of major hunting and fishing products in the world.”

When I asked Holley how he would describe where he works to one of his daughter’s friends, he said:

“It’s a great company that makes hunting and fishing equipment.”

At PRADCO, Holley leads projects that help the company grow and said that it’s one of the most innovative and fun places he’s ever worked.

If one of his mentees were to ask him about working at PRADCO, he’d tell them that it would be a great opportunity to grow while the company invests in them.

“I would say ‘you’re going to make mistakes—we don’t expect you to know everything we do. We’ll help you grow and learn so you can become better. Then we’ll give you other opportunities.”

PRADCO Outdoor Brands is hiring. Check out open positions today.

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