Being the first isn’t something new for André Swanston.

“Being one of the youngest and only Black is kind of what I have done in everything for pretty much 20 years straight,” Swanston Organization Chairman and CEO André Swanston said.

Swanston was born in the Bronx and grew up in a diverse and working-class neighborhood.

“The Bronx is something I am very proud to be born and raised in, and kind of always a part of me,” Swanston said. 

When he was 15 years old, Swanston moved to Connecticut to attend The Hotchkiss School. He later attended UConn, where he was a Division 1 track athlete.

“UConn was one of the power houses in track in the Big East and one of the best in the northeast, also a great academic school,” Swanston said.

While at the university and in his fraternity Alpha Phi Alpha, Swanston remembers getting the entrepreneurial bug.

“One of the things I did for the fraternity was I coordinated all the fundraising events, many of the events were parties, with over a thousand people,” Swanston said.

Swanston took the skills he learned and with his wife Michelle, they opened two restaurants and one of New England’s largest nightclubs, all by their mid-20s.

“Looking back, it was ridiculous,” Swanston said.

The business owner eventually moved on to private wealth management at JPMorgan Chase and was one of the youngest vice presidents, but he kept dreaming of something more.

“I remember coming to tell Michelle, we have a two-and-a-half-year-old and a newborn, I was quitting my job, I am starting a tech startup so that was an interesting conversation,” Swanston said.

At 31 years old, Swanston invested a great deal of his own money and co-founded Tru Optik, a data company for streaming media advertising which was later acquired by TransUnion for more than $100 million.

“As you are building that tech company, and you are doing those all-nighters, you are dealing with the stress, you just have to gravitate to things that can help motivate you,” Swanston said.

Swanston’s motivation was to one day own a sports team.

“The reason for soccer, even though I didn’t play soccer, was because I was a big soccer fan,” Swanston said.

Swanston is now the president of Connecticut Sports Group which owns Connecticut United Football Club. In January, CT United FC was announced as the newest team to join MLS Next Pro, a professional men’s soccer league that operates under Major League Soccer.

The team will play in a brand-new stadium in Bridgeport by 2025.

“More than 70% of the population of Connecticut can get to Bridgeport through the highway, or by public transportation so that makes it really accessible,” Swanston said.

The stadium will also be accessible to children.

“So, we will have the only free youth academy in the state of Connecticut which is really exciting,” Swanston said. 

Swanston is breaking barriers as one of only a few black principal owners in U.S. sports history. His advice to anyone chasing a dream is to "rush patiently."

“Just start now, not tomorrow, today, but know it can take years for anything. Nothing worth anything happens overnight,” Swanston said.