Professional
DeShawn graduated from North Carolina A&T State University with his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Electrical Engineering. Ultimately, he settled on moving to Austin, Tx, where he joined forces with Motorola.
The business world had changed; you could no longer retire with a company that you had worked with for 30 years with a pension and a gold watch. Companies had downsized and restructured. There was no longer the stability in the corporate world.
So he went back to the basics: “What is my purpose in life? Am I really using my gifts and passion to impact the world at large?”
In 2010, DeShawn officially became a Financial Representative at The Virginia Group of Northwestern Mutual.
When asked about his favorite part of working with Northwestern, he refers to the “Three I’s”:
Independence: You become your own boss, make your own schedule, develop your own individual marketing plan, and it is a self-directed business where you are able to push yourself as an individual.
Income: What you get, is what you put into it. As with pretty much any sales job, your income potential is virtually unlimited.
Impact: The impact you have on peoples’ lives can last for generations. You are helping put peoples’ children through college, preserving their hard-earned assets, and ensuring that families can continue after tragedy or perhaps the loss of a loved one.
When asked about advice that he would give to people thinking about changing careers, he says: “Be open-minded; even though there may not appear to be a link to what you currently do, there are sure to be similar skills that you can utilize."
DeShawn’s Personal Achievements while at Northwestern Mutual:
- Pacesetter 40 (Produce 40 lives within the first 6 months)
- Pacesetter 2nd60 (Produce 60 lives within the second 6 months)
- 100 Lives Club (Produced over 100 lives within the first year) = Varsity Club Qualification
- 2011 Challenger of the Year
- The Bronze Award
Personal
DeShawn and his family moved to back to Arizona in the summer of 2024 after living in Richmond, Texas, and North Carolina. They are a basketball family with DeShawn and his wife retiring from coaching after coaching together for over 10 years. They enjoyed developing and mentoring girls through the game of basketball. His oldest is a graduate from University of Richmond and now at the University of Arizona for med school. His youngest attended Longwood University and transferred to University of Phoenix for her psychology major. DeShawn enjoys networking, golfing, and relaxing on the beach.
Lending a hand in my community.
As part of Northwestern Mutual, I'm proud to help accelerate the search for better childhood cancer treatments while supporting families undergoing treatment, and survivors from late effects. Here are some of the organizations we partner with:
Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation for Childhood Cancer (ALSF)
ALSF funds cancer research, raises awareness, and supports the families of children with cancer. Since 2012, Northwestern Mutual, its employees, and financial professionals like me have donated more than $20 million to support ALSF and fund over 400,000 research hours.
Beads of Courage
Beads of Courage is an art-in-medicine program that helps kids with cancer tell their unique treatment story through colorful beads that are symbols of their courage.
Here are my areas of expertise
Financial Planning
Insurance Protection Strategies
Life Insurance Strategies
Retirement Planning & Income Strategies
Education Planning & Funding
Disability Planning
Multigenerational Planning
Estate Planning
How Northwestern Mutual helps you live the life you want.
When people feel better about their money, good things happen—they become more confident and feel more secure. For more than 160 years, Northwestern Mutual has helped people achieve the financial flexibility they need to live more and worry less.
Being a mutual company means Northwestern Mutual reports to its clients, not Wall Street. They don't believe in chasing fads or taking undue risk for short-term gains. Instead, they take a long-term approach—both in the way we help people plan to reach their goals, and in the way they do business. This has served their clients (and mine) well through all kinds of economic ups and downs, including wars, recessions, even the recent pandemic.
It's why I'm happy to be part of a company that's in it for the long-haul and prioritizes clients over profit.
