Andrew L. Strong Jr.

I grew up in Bossier City, Louisiana, raised on the strength of a family that came from very little and gave everything. My grandmother, Elvira, was born to sharecroppers on the Oakland Plantation's Quarters Community in Natchitoches. She raised 14 children and later moved the family to Shreveport, building a legacy through sheer will and faith. She lived to be 110 years old, one of the oldest living people in the United States before she passed in 2025. Her strength shaped how I see purpose, family, and what it means to carry a legacy forward.

I'm a U.S. Navy veteran, former public servant, and coach. I served nine years as a Hospital Corpsman, completing multiple deployments including Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom — carrying on the legacy of my father, a 20-year Air Force veteran who served in Vietnam, and my mother, who devoted her career to public service as a public school teacher in Caddo Parish, Louisiana.

After the Navy, I started as a non-paid student worker with the County of San Diego and spent nearly two decades building a career in public service, rising to Deputy Chief Administrative Officer for the Public Safety Group — overseeing nine departments, over 6,000 employees, and a $2.6 billion budget. Along the way, I was honored to receive the inaugural Partners for Justice Champion Award, a national recognition for advancing equity in the justice system.

My father's first cousin was Medgar Evers — the civil rights leader and NAACP organizer whose work shaped our family's understanding of purpose and legacy. The San Diego Union-Tribune featured my family's story when I was appointed the first Director of the County's Office of Equity and Racial Justice, a role created to identify systemic bias and build a more equitable government.

Throughout my life, one truth has stayed with me: my ancestors never left me. The question I kept coming back to wasn't "What do I want to accomplish?" It was "What did I inherit, and what am I going to do with it?"

In 2024, I founded A. Strong Legacy LLC on that conviction — a personal, professional, and organizational advisory, development, and coaching firm. My mission is simple: to help you be driven by your purpose, build your legacy, and overcome any challenge — through coaching, mentorship, and real-world equipping.