Lanny Smith is the founder of Actively Black, a PREMIUM athleisure wear brand that he launched in 2020 as a vehicle to uplift and re-invest back into the Black community. In 3 years Actively Black has grown exponentially and been recognized as 1 of the fastest growing athleisure brands and black owned brands in America. As a former professional basketball player, a career ending knee injury cut short his NBA career in his rookie season and led Lanny to begin his journey into entrepreneurship. Actively Black has been recognized by Ad Age as Breakout Brand Leader,, Inc. Magazine’s Best in Business, and has been featured in Fast Company, Forbes, LA Times, NY Times, Business Insider, Essence and more. Actively Black has collaboration partnerships with Disney, Marvel, the Muhammad Ali Estate, Bob Marley Estate, Tupac Shakur Estate, FUBU, and others. Most recently Actively Black outfitted Team Nigeria in the Summer Olympics in Paris. Lanny’s vision is to create a global brand that connects and uplifts the entire Diaspora through Actively Black. His mentality towards this goal is that “It is time to stop asking for a seat at the table and to build our own table.”