David M. Walker on founding a nationally-known business

ORLANDO, Fla. – This week on “Black Men Sundays,” host Corie Murray interviews David M. Walker, an Atlanta-based business attorney and entrepreneur.

Walker founded Positivity Alkaline Water, a water brand available for purchase at retailers coast to coast. If that alone doesn’t evoke modern-day success in business, pray tell, what does?

It’s especially true of Walker given his rough past. He told Murray about growing up in Detroit, losing several family members to violence and drugs while still in his teen years, yet staying optimistic and coming across a lucky break or two all the same.

“I established some principles in my life called ‘T.R.E.E.,’ and I actually use this acronym ‘T.R.E.E.’ for kids so I can help explain to them that you don’t need money to survive in life. ‘T.R.E.E.’ stands for time, relationship, energy, and enthusiasm. Those are the four things that you need to get out the hood,” he said.

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Walker studied engineering before becoming a business attorney, citing his math skills as part of what got him into the first field, but he wasn’t in love with it. That’s when he was tipped off to the notion of becoming a corporate attorney instead, a job where he could use the skills he’d been learning while making more money than most other attorneys do.

“This is the part of law I want to be in, where people are happy closing deals, doing things that are exciting. I hated jail, hated courthouses, I hated going to litigation, I didn’t like any of it, and the life of Dave Walker as a corporate attorney took off from there,” he said.

So, that begs the question: How does one go from attorney to founder of a bottled water company?

“It comes back to my engineering. I have a client who sells bottling equipment to beverage companies. These are blow motors, chillers, compressors; they put the utilities in and I would do their contracts, you know, have to take a look at some things. One day, we had to actually visit a facility for a negotiation of a contract. We went to a bottled water company and, like anything else when you’re visiting these plants, they as a courtesy give you a tour,” he said. “Well, we walked through there man, my engineering kicked in and I fell in love. I was up and down the aisles with the engineers. My client’s like ‘Don’t worry, he’s my attorney, he’s fine.’ So I’m talking to them like ‘Hey, what is this? How do you do this?’ and it was just the most fascinating process ever, and then me being an engineer, I wasn’t intimidated by it. Super curious. And so I thought to myself, ‘This is interesting.’”

Hear the full interview in Season 3, Episode 17 of “Black Men Sundays.”

Black Men Sundays talks about building generational wealth. Check out every episode in the media player below.