Home

David Prince, a senior at Moshe Aaron Yeshiva High School and a resident of Highland Park, recently received a $40,000 college scholarship from the McKelvey Foundation for his business Prince Management, which he started a year ago.

The McKelvey Foundation is a nationwide college scholarship foundation that awards students with business and entrepreneurial based scholarships. In order to qualify for the scholarship, one must own and operate a business for at least a year, have at least one paid employee, have sales revenue, and complete the application process.

"What I started was a company called Prince Management, and what we do is a number of things," he said. "We're a full service management and consulting firm. We provide individuals and companies with an array of public relations marketing administrative and programming and consulting services."

Prior to starting his business, Prince worked for the clothing company Ecko Unlimited, he said. Two years ago he interned there during the summer doing marketing and public relations, which then led to a job throughout the year, he said.

"Thanks to Ecko I got set up with a great job," he said. "I was the assistant to the guy who did pretty much all of the PR, and I learned an incredible amount from there. We also did marketing and PR for Tikvah children's home, which is their non-profit charity located in Odessa, Ukraine."

Ecko would hold an annual golf charity event entitled the Tikvah Drive for Life, he said. Many people would attend, donate money, and support a good cause, and one way the event would raise the majority of its money is when celebrities attended, he said.

"We contacted agencies and different people who represent celebrities and would extend invitations for them to come," he said.

While in the process of reaching out to celebrities, Prince developed a relationship with professional basketball player Al Harrington, originally from Elizabeth, who currently plays for the New York Knicks. After discussing business over lunch and getting to know each other, Prince said Harrington was eager to take part in charity events.

Prince recalled the exchange: "[Harrington] said, 'sure no problem. I love charity, I'm more than happy to give back.' He called me about up about two days later, and said 'you know Dave, I really think there's some stuff that we can do together.' I'm trying to work on my charity and the marketing and PR and I think we should get in contact and set up another meeting'."

However, their next meeting wasn't in New York, but at Harrington's off-season home in Las Vegas, he said. After spending time with him in Vegas, they began to work together and created a non-profit charity, the Al Harrington Foundation, which is directed by Prince with the assistance of several volunteers.

"From there, I realized not only is this something I enjoy, but something I am able to do," he said. "It's not necessarily so much of a dream, but I'm actually there."

Prince said because of his relationship with Harrington he was able to network and meet many other celebrities, which included other NBA players, recording artists, professional football players, and actors. One of the primary things that Prince Management does is get endorsement deals for their clients, he said. They have worked with Vitamin Water, ESPN, MTV Cribs, and local radio stations, he said.

Prince said he created Prince Management because being a businessman is in his blood and it is simply who he is. He has excelled in marketing, public relations, and overall business his entire life, so there's nothing else he could see himself doing, he said.

"Ecko really got my feet wet into the whole world of marketing and PR and I just learned so much," Prince said. "Now it's kind of all on me and I'm doing it myself."

In his first year of running his own business, Prince said he really hasn't faced many challenges. The only obstacle was being so young and new to the business world that gaining his clients' trust was difficult at first, he said.

"I think the way this business works is, it's all about personality," Prince said. "I think you have to be friends with your clients first before you are actually business partners with them. That was the way I was able to overcome one of my biggest issues."

Prince said he has never been turned down or rejected by a client, but if the client doesn't feel he is the best fit to represent him or he doesn't feel he would be the best fit for the client, them he would simply pass on the opportunity, he said.

Prince, who is 18 years old and graduates in June, said balancing school, work, religion, and a social life is a tough task. Ultimately, it comes down to realizing there are some things that can be done and some that can't.

"For instance, going to school, my social life, my company, all balance out and it's a matter of sacrificing different times for different particular needs," Prince said. "When I have to travel for business, I make sure to get the work done that I need to get done for school."

One aspect of his life that never gets put aside when balancing the many things in his life is his religion, he said. Whether he is on television or simply with a client he always wears his yarmulke.

"My parents raised me that way," he said. "We live in a world where a lot of people work with Jews; they know Jews, its very important to me to always remember who I am, wherever I am."

Because of Shabbat and holidays, Prince has missed events, but, he said, he misses them for a very important reason and his clients understand. All of his clients respect that he doesn't work on those days and never call him or ask him to work on those days, he said.

"It's just a matter of what's important to you," he said.

Prince said this is his dream job and he couldn't picture himself doing anything else. Being able to work in the business world, but at the same time meet famous people is amazing, he said.

"Like is not the appropriate word; I love it," he said. "It's incredible. As long as I keep up what I do, I guess my job is going to remain pretty awesome."

Prince, who will be attending Reishit Yeshiva in Israel next year, said he plans to continue running his company while studying abroad.