Melvin Powell

Growing up outside of Philadelphia, Melvin’s first memories were going to Sixers and Eagles games with his dad and brother. He proudly reps the “City of Brotherly Love” and has a picture with Allen Iverson during his rookie season to prove it. His family moved to Columbia, MD in 1999, where he had an active childhood around sports, church and boy scouts.
Based on his love of sports and desire to return to Philadelphia, he chose to attend the School of Sport, Tourism and Hospitality Management at Temple University. As an outgoing and natural speaker, he began his sales career holding internship and sales positions with the Philadelphia Eagles, 76ers, Union and Temple University. Upon graduation he took a corporate partnerships manager position with Comcast-Spectacor, one of the industry’s premier sports, entertainment and venue management agencies. Under the mentorship of seasoned sales executives, he spent a year managing the ownership transition of the NHL‘s Arizona Coyotes and prospecting commercial partners for the launch of new bike share systems in Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Phoenix. In 2014, he became the first full-time sales member for Snider Hockey, a non-profit organization started by Philadelphia Flyer’s founder Ed Snider. Melvin generated over $175K in total new business revenue by aligning sponsors with new educational and recreational programming. Following the unfortunate death of Ed Snider and reflecting on his impact working in the non-profit space, Melvin decided to transition out of the corporate sales space.
He accepted a marketing manager position with his alma mater at the Liacouras Center, where he found success combining his previous sales experience with event promotion. Taping back into his entrepreneurial spirit, he taught himself Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop and website coding and began doing freelance work for start-ups. He helped launched an entertainment collective and became the co-founder of the All Love Block Party, a free summer festival held in North Philadelphia. He later served as the Executive Director for Sunflower Philly, a non-profit 501c3 focused on providing access to art, music and sustainability resources through events.
He now runs Sync Production Group with his freshaman year roommate and business partner Saleem Taaj Sabree and helped launch Black Soul Summer in 2022.