We were lucky to catch up with Glenn Harrell recently and have shared our conversation below.

Glenn, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

People ask me this question all the time and it always makes me laugh because if they don’t know me the assumption is that my name is Rodger Williams. However, the name of the company is actually a portmanteau of sorts in that it’s a blending of two names based on personalities I believe represent the essence of what my company stands for. First, we have Rodger who was inspired by a character from my childhood “Mister Rogers” from Mister Rogers Neighborhood. This character represented the power of patience, kindness, and transparency. These qualities made him easy to attend to, easy to trust and made him honestly feel like a friend. Someone who had your best interest at heart, despite your color, creed, socio-economic status, disability, etc. You were accepted and valuable simply because you existed. The Williams comes from the late actor Robin Williams who I believe shared some of the same qualities, in addition to empathy, selflessness, and a human-centered approach to relationships and interactions with people. It was these qualities in individuals that led me to the name Roger Williams, and the “Academy” is simply a place of individualized education where the essence of Roger Williams is engrained into our infrastructure. And there you have it… Roger Williams Academy!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Absolutely. I’m originally from Philadelphia Pennsylvania, born and raised, up until I turned 18 years old and graduated from high school. After graduating from Elverson Military Academy, I was accepted into an accelerated two-year Early Commissioning Program at Valley Forge Military Academy & College to become a US Army Officer (2nd Lieutenant). While there, I would also be pursuing a two-year associate’s degree in life-science biology for the pre-med track. For as long as I can remember, my goal has always been to become a doctor because I knew that I wanted to help people, needed to escape the socioeconomic status I was born into, and really wanted to learn more about the human condition.. I always wondered what truly motivated us to act as we did. Not to mention, I was a math and science nerd – LOL.

Once I graduated from Valley Forge Military Academy in 2013 with my associates, I transferred to the Florida Institute of Technology (FIT) to continue pursuing my bachelor’s degree in pre-med biology. By my senior year, I started to realize how close I was to having to apply to medical school. Since this was a long-time dream of mine that I worked diligently towards since the first grade, you would probably think that I’d be excited. But unfortunately, I just didn’t feel fulfilled. I wasn’t learning what I thought I would, and medical school just seemed like more of the same; so I brought up my concerns to my student advisor. Surprisingly, I was told to get an internship outside of the field I was currently pursuing to see if I could find “a more fulfilling interest elsewhere”. At FIT, an internship is a graduation requirement, but for me, it turned out to be the opportunity of a lifetime.

While searching for an internship, I came across The Scott Center for Autism treatment and as I read through the description of job duties I was shocked because, for the first time, I saw a professional role that operationally defined my interest. So I applied … and a week later got the position.

On my first day, I was invited to join their clinical roundtable meeting. While there, I heard scientists discuss ways to increase their client’s motivation, decrease their frequency of dangerous problem behaviors (using things like differential reinforcement), and how we could meticulously manipulate their environment to increase the rate at which they learned new skills. And just like that, I WAS HOOKED! The very next day I went to my student advisor and changed my major to Clinical Psychology.

I never looked back.

Since then, I continued my work and contributions to the field of Autism and Developmental Disabilities (for 12 years and counting), and worked my way up from Behavior Technician to Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA). I had worked for the largest autism treatment companies in the world and at that point knew that the corporate sector had nothing left to offer me. I believed that on my own, I could have a better impact on the people I served, and on the people who choose to serve alongside me. This is how I got here! This is how Roger Williams Academy was born!

At first, glance, what sets me apart from others within my field certainly has to be my race /ethnicity, and the gender I identify as. In the field of autism and developmental disabilities, there is a dramatic and disproportionate number of African-American/Black behavior analysts and an even lower number of black male analysts/therapists. Other than that, I think my intrinsic empathy, unwavering commitment to clients and employees, and dedication to improving diversity and inclusion within ABA are some things that set me apart from many of my counterparts. If we’re talking about business owners, I haven’t met anyone quite like me.

As a Board-Certified Behavior Analyst, I specialize in providing behavior analytic therapy and consulting services to adults, adolescents, couples, families, and organizations. My target demographic is people diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. As chief executive officer and clinical operations director of Roger Williams Academy LLC, I’m responsible for strategy implementation, client and employee satisfaction, treatment fidelity, and growth/development with an emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). I have more than ten years of experience in the field of applied behavior analysis, organizational behavior management (OBM), and developmental disabilities. I’m proud to say that I’ve led organizations in a variety of settings (i.e., hospitals, residential, outpatient, in-home, center, universities, etc.).

My clients have described me as warm, empathetic, charismatic, and knowledgeable, and enjoy working with me because my therapeutic style prioritizes Pivotal Response Training (PRT), which uses a client(s) natural motivation to encourage growth & development. I also incorporate Discrete Trial Training (DTT) as a tool for increasing the rate of skill acquisition.

I truly believe that everyone has the ability to learn and grow. What’s often missing is an environment conducive to success, individualized instruction, and a good model. This is why Roger Williams was created – A behavior-analytic approach to developing growth mindsets! One of my favorite quotes is “There is no teaching without learning” – Paulo Freire

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

Yes! When I decided to leave my corporate job in 2021, I knew immediately that I was going to start a business. I also knew that I was going to need money to do this and that I did not want to work with banks or venture capitalists. So, I decided to crowdfund. I created an ad through GoFundMe.com, set my goal to $25,000, and sent it to everyone in my contacts, LOL. That was certainly easier said than done because I had a history of not asking for help and asking for “handouts” made me feel like I was begging. Of course, That was entirely ego that required some self-development But I made it a priority to do so and ultimately follow through. Within the first week, I think I raised nearly $3,000 which blew my mind. That all came from my phone contacts and people who donated through Facebook. A week later I started promoting on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn, and by the end of the month, I had raised nearly $6,000. Although this was an incredible feat I knew that it was going to take more in order to build a solid foundation so started marketing myself and my company Through Instagram reels end YouTube videos. In those videos, I created funny videos sharing information about autism and the services my company provided. I was trying to put out as much content as possible to get some traffic to my social media platforms so that people could see that I was raising money. After about 3 months, much of my efforts had been successful and I ended up raising over $10,000 in total. That was the capital needed to start Roger Williams Academy – ABA Therapy for Autism Treatment.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

Honestly, the best source of new clients has been old clients who I served at previous companies inquiring about opportunities to continue with me at my company. I also got a lot of clients from referrals. It’s been an incredibly validating experience.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.rogerwilliamsacademy.com
• Instagram: rw_academy_aba
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/glenn-harrell-mba-m-ed-bcba-0211708b/

Image Credits
Samuel Ayoade Instagram: @_samuelayo