Where were you born?
I was born in Boston, Massachusetts.

What did you want to be when you grew up?
A Jedi.

Who’s been an inspiration in your life? And why?
My mother is definitely my largest inspiration because she did what the best parents do and try and make it so that I could fulfill my potential rather than somehow in a lateral way fulfilling her missed opportunities. She was an incredibly wise woman. Probably the best way I can describe it is to say that my mother could make you feel like you were the only person in a room, the only person in the world that mattered without alienating anyone else. She was like sunshine.

How long did you play basketball?
From the age of 17ish to 34 maybe.

The one thing I read about you is you said you felt like you were an outsider. How much did that play in your decision to start Amaechi Performance?
I think a lot of my life is driven by the idea that I empathize deeply with people who don’t quite fit in. Frankly, although it sounds glib, the reason I wanted to be a Jedi was because I used to watch my mother—she used to do house visits as a doctor—and I would never see her do the medical stuff because that would always be in the room with whoever was sick but I would see the way she talked to the families and …I’d watch her use her voice to make them feel better and that’s what made me think she was a Jedi which is why I wanted to be like her. And I think my empathy combined with my experience of watching my mother work which is what made me want to do a job like I’m doing with Amaechi Performance.

So in the back of your mind you’re still a Jedi.
In a way. I mean I know it’s ridiculous. But at the same time if you can harness the power of your voice and your authenticity to try and make yourself resonate with somebody else, I think it’s incredibly powerful. Perhaps not magic, but powerful.

I’m sure it lends to what you’re trying to do. Tell me a little bit about your company.
Essentially Amaechi Performance is the vehicle for myself and there’s a couple of trainers and also another psychologist, we go out and we try to do a lot of different kinds of work, actually. We do a lot of work with diversity and inclusion. Especially being kind of the Beneton ad of a lot of different identities in one package, I try and go out and help people harness the power of real inclusion in a real embracing environment for performance purposes. Although I like the kumbaya-everyone-getting-along type of aspect, I really think the way we forge change in society is by making people see that inclusion and diversity is about increasing performance in an increasingly competitive market. But I also do individually a lot of work with people on trying to find their authentic voice,

How long have you been doing this?
Probably about three and a half years on one side of the Atlantic or the other. On my street when I grew up (in the UK) we had a Pakistani family next door to me and on the other side there was an Indian family and white Irish Catholic family across the street, it was just an incredibly diverse atmosphere to grow up and the smells and sounds of different cultures was what I felt was British. Sadly I think America doesn’t necessarily have the benefit of that. There’s ghettoization in Europe definitely and I don’t want people to think there isn’t but in fact there are some people in America who will never come across someone who are not almost identical to them until the point that they get to college. And I think that is a real disadvantage.

Diversity is the big thing right now in terms of where we have to go to get to where we need to be.
I believe that thoroughly. I really do. And again as I said, as much as I like the ‘oh, why can’t we all just get along’ type of thing, I really think that companies who embrace this idea in the global marketplace, who embrace the idea of having an atmosphere at work that helps people bring their whole selves to work, these are the companies that will come up with the unique solutions to today’s problems. These are the companies who will become the companies of choice. These are the companies that will flourish.

You came out after you left the NBA. How difficult would it have been for you to come out while you were still playing?
I think it would have been incredibly difficult. And not because of my teammates, per se. But more because, certainly when I was in Utah, I had an owner who made it clear he didn’t like gay people. And also the fact that people forget there are still those 30 states where you can get fired for being gay and all the places I played were those states. I think it’s really ironic and wrong that a person can be fired for being who they are. I’ve always thought in a work environment people should be at risk in their jobs when they are not authentic. What I hope is that people really see the authenticity in what I’m trying to do. And that it’s not lip service. And that indeed I interview the companies that wish to be my clients as much as they interview me. If I think they just want to bring me in so that they can say, ‘Look, we had a black and a gay and at the same time, aren’t we good?’ I’m not interested in that. I’m interested in companies that really want to try and make a difference.