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Doing what’ s right
From a rural corner of North Louisiana to a career in law, Darius Henderson has been shaped by the people who invested in him
When people picture Louisiana, the image that springs to mind tends to be the music, food and revelry of crowds celebrating Mardi Gras in New Orleans or Baton Rouge. Darius Henderson grew up somewhere completely different, in the rural, remote north of the state, in a small town where the path forward was anything but decided. What changed his trajectory was not a place, but a handful of people who invested in him.
As a strong student and athlete, Darius was welcomed by a community beyond his own.“ I was embraced in ways that perhaps not all kids, or kids who looked like me, always were,” he recalls.“ That was part of me understanding the impact of someone investing in a kid and how that can change the way they see the world. It helped transport me to a place that was unexpected.”
That early support not only shaped how Darius sees responsibility and access but also went on to shape his approach to mentorship later in his career. Before his professional life, it was sports and athletics that guided him.“ Football was my ticket; it was how I secured a place at a good school and helped me afford college.” After top class performances as an all-district player in high school and college, Darius then became the first lawyer in his family and inspired his younger brother, who later went on to earn his Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from Louisiana State University School of Dentistry.“ It’ s just the two of us, and we were once kids that maybe not everyone would have thought would do so well,” Darius reflects.
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