Suresh Madhavan was born to a single mother who immigrated to the US. Didn’t speak the language. Grew up on food stamps and free lunches in school. A latchkey kid who had to raise himself from an early age. Mom was working 3 jobs as a registered nurse just to pay the bills. He lived in an all-white neighborhood (Staten Island, NY) and dealt with relentless bullying and racism.

At age 6, people from the neighborhood threw a brick followed by a 1/4 stick of dynamite through the living room window. The explosive went off just a few feet from his head where he was asleep on the couch.

Police responded but did nothing. Told us we should probably move. The police were tied into the mob who ran the neighborhood at the time.

Moved to a small town in central NJ at age 7 called Spotswood. An all-white, blue-collar town with one traffic light and about a 1 square mile.

Endured more racism from local police, parents and teachers as the only black kid in town. But rose above with hard work and determination and a “not a victim” attitude and ultimately became an Eagle Scout and senior class president. Graduated near the top of his class and got a scholarship to enter a pre-med program. Was on track to become a surgeon. Going to school in NYC.

9/11 happened and decided to sign up for the Navy and fight for our country. Wanted to become a Navy SEAL like his childhood friend. But mom forbade this.

Finished school and worked in research for some time; did not want to go into medical practice. Decided if mom wasn’t going to let him join the Navy, he’d become a police officer like his childhood best friend. Applied to be a police officer at one of the top police agencies in NJ (Wall Township Police). They had never hired a minority officer EVER in the history of their department.

After many in the town tried to block his hiring, he was hired in 2003 as the first officer of color in the agency’s history. Came out #1 on the police test but was passed over for 18 months.

Many called him the Jackie Robinson of that town as it was the last remaining police agency in the state that had no minority officer and many felt that agency would NEVER hire a black officer. Suresh was the first!

His work ethic quickly made him one of the top-performing officers at the department. Heavily involved in community policing and events involving the schools and children.  However, was never promoted despite outperforming his white counterparts. Repeatedly passed over for promotions.  

10 years into his career, noticed a concern that many officers were facing and saw there was no solution for it. Decided to take matters into his own hands and invent a solution. With no money and no experience in creating products or product development, Suresh was able to get a sewing machine from a yard sale, and in his dimly kit garage with no heat, was able to create and develop a product that is now used around the world by police officers and soldiers. The prototypes actually had duct tape because of Suresh his limited sewing skills.

Utilizing his networks, Suresh was able to find a source to manufacture his invention and ultimately market it on Facebook to make it a global phenomenon. The result was the birth of 221B Tactical; a now multi-million dollar global corporation.

Capital One Spark voted Suresh one of the top CEOs under 40 and 221B Tactical one of the nation's fastest growing companies. Shopify named 221B Tactical as one of their top 1% companies for its explosive growth over just 36 months.

Suresh was wrongfully terminated from his job as a police officer in 2016 after he failed to cover for one of his supervisors. He was ultimately awarded a significant settlement by the township and the police department for their actions. However, the township succeeded in getting rid of their black officer.

Suresh began building his real estate portfolio by buying homes in a city called Camden, NJ. At the time he purchased his first rental property there, Camden was #1 in the country for murder. But Suresh knew the waterfront city across from Philadelphia had great potential and jumped in despite everyone around him saying he was crazy.

Suresh built a large portfolio of homes in the Camden area which catapulted his real estate empire. Late nights and early mornings putting down laminate floors and changing toilets and painting walls was his life for nearly a decade. And he did it on his own without any help and with little knowledge of construction and renovation. YouTube was not even popular at the time so he resorted to “How To” books at the checkout of Home Depot to learn how to do most of the projects with tools he borrowed from friends. During this time he was robbed, dealt with evictions, and even had an adjoining property burned to the ground. But he never gave up.

Suresh has since entered the commercial real estate world and has built a multimillion-dollar portfolio over the last decade with properties spanning from New York City to Texas.

Suresh has coached countless individuals along the way about his journey. He has also maintained peak physical condition through an uncommon fitness and diet routine that he crafted himself as a busy entrepreneur who was also building a real estate empire and managing his personal life. He has been called  “America’s fittest CEO” by many in his industry.

His 12 foundational principles to take care of human domains of concern have changed the lives of countless men and women he has coached and mentored throughout the years.

On top of it all, Suresh speaks 4 languages and is a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.