A shark is due to enter the Swamp.
The Accent Speaker’s Bureau and Black Student Union will host entrepreneur and “Shark Tank” co-star Daymond John at 8 p.m. Monday in the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts.
John is also the author of two entrepreneurial books and the founder of fashion business For Us By Us, known as FUBU — a company with average annual sales of about $350 million.
Corey Flayman, Accent chairman, said the decision to host John originated during a meeting with the directors of Black Student Union, who were planning events to celebrate Black History Month.
“Daymond John is a really interesting public figure,” he said. “He’s got so many different elements to him that would draw interest from students.”
Students are already getting excited for the event.
Erick Rodriguez, the UF Entrepreneurship Club president, wrote in an email that John’s visit serves to expose students to careers they may not have deemed possible.
The Entrepreneurship Club’s executive board is even getting first-row seating during the event, he said.
“I look up to Daymond,” said Rodriguez, a 20-year-old business management junior. “He grew up in Queens, worked hard in his early life.”
Students can pick up tickets for the free event at the Phillips Center Box Office beginning at noon Monday.
[A version of this story ran on page 6 on 2/5/2015 under the headline “FUBU founder to speak at UF"]
