Tiran Jackson has gone through an incredible transformation and journey recently in his life. He grew up in rural Alabama and was a very good student, with a strong STEM background through school, while being a multi-sport athlete. With a strong work-ethic and determination to improve his livelihood, he was able to earn a full academic scholarship to Tennessee State University, earning an engineering degree from Tennessee State University (TSU). As Tiran was graduating from TSU, he met the woman who would become his wife, Maleka, who was a teacher at the time. Upon graduation, they moved to Indianapolis and he began his career as an engineer at Rolls-Royce. While working there in various engineering capacities producing gas turbine engines for 8 years, he earned several accomplishments, including being identified as an Early Career/High Potential (ECHP) leader, led teams to generate over $3MM in engineering cost savings, and was nominated for the ‘Black Engineer of the Year’. He also earned his MBA from the University of Indianapolis and began his family where their son, Cameron, was born. They later moved to Atlanta, where he progressed through his career into numerous positions of leadership with various companies, along with Maleka, where she was a human resources executive, focused on improving diversity and inclusion in numerous Fortune 500 companies.
However, Tiran’s life took a sudden and dramatic turn. In June, 2018, while he and Maleka were on a vacation celebrating their 15 years of marriage, the couple went on a boating excursion. Several minutes into the tour, there was a catastrophic explosion, severely injuring Tiran, but tragically Maleka did not survive the explosion. Since that ill-fated moment, life has not been the same for him, nor would it ever be again.
Since then, Tiran has had to face tremendous challenges as a result of this tragedy. He’s had to face the emotional pain of unexpectedly losing the love of his life and their son losing his mother, the physical challenges associated with being permanently handicapped, losing his left leg and learning how to function in the capacity that he remained, the mental outlook associated with figuring out how to move forward with his new life now that everything that he was used to was going to be different, and spiritual aspects of trying to understand and accept why this had to happen.
Tiran has reached some of his lowest points imaginable, but despite this, found the courage and fortitude to not only withstand what life has thrown at him, but take it and become the epitome of what strength is, while inspiring others to overcome the challenges faced before them. His positive outlook and faith in God has driven his physical and emotional recovery allowing him to be capable of withstanding the other challenges that he never imagined before him.
His perspective on life had to change in order to awaken the inner strength to not only ”keep moving forward”, but to also lead and create a path for others. He has found that his purpose is far greater than he ever imagined. In order to do this, he has had to make major transformations in his life. His story is inspirational, and as he continues to follow the path that is set before him, he hopes to aid others as they overcome the challenges within their journey as well.
