College Possible Philadelphia is pleased to welcome a new member to our site board.
Tony Lopes is Philadelphia native who holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration and legal studies from Temple University, a juris doctor from Rutgers University-Camden, and a master of law degree in tax law from Temple University. Currently, Tony works in the greater Philadelphia region as an attorney for his own firm, Lopes Law LLC, counseling individuals and business owners with a concentration on entrepreneurial growth strategies. In addition to being a practicing attorney, he is the host of Self Made Strategies, a resource-sharing podcast targeted toward the entrepreneurial community.
As a first-generation student growing up in the Olney section of Philadelphia, Tony wanted to find an organization that provided opportunities to students in the community he grew up in.
“[Olney] is a low-income neighborhood. A lot of my classmates did not finish high school or go on to college, and I saw first-hand what college disparity looked like. [As a first-generation student], I consider myself a lucky one and I want to give back to my community.”
Given his focus on supporting entrepreneurship at his firm and on his podcast, Tony hopes his experience in this arena will positively impact his contributions to the College Possible Philadelphia Board. He hopes to bring innovation and open mindedness to the college discussion.
“The system is archaic and needs to be changed and innovated. As we’ve seen in the news with the Varsity Blues scandal, [higher education] has been this ivory tower but the time of change is upon us. Right now, people of all different socioeconomic statuses have the ability to empower themselves, and I hope to help others feel empowered and achieve the goals that may have seemed impossible initially.”
