GROSSMONT COLLEGE — Seen a man on campus wearing an all-white tuxedo lately? If you have, then you saw Marcus Pickett. He says people who want to be successes  should always look the part.

Pickett is a Grossmont College student majoring in psychology. He grew up in Pompano Florida with a younger brother and sister. He will be the first of his family who will be receiving a college degree.

Pickett is involved in several activities including: a non-profit organization that he is president of called Nothing But Love; an organization called First Tee, which he has been a member of for a few years as a professional golfer; and another group that meets to study the Bible.

As a professional golfer he has had the opportunity to travel and meet such famous people as golfer Tiger Woods and rapper Sean “P. Diddy” Combs.

As a youngster, he was featured in a “The First Tee” commercial with Jack Nicklaus, seen below.  “I was picked from 30 other kids for the commercial spot.” 

Pickett’s mom died when he was just 15 and he never got to know his father.  Pickett’s aunt was his legal guardian, but he says she never treated him and his siblings like she did her own children.  He said he was left to look after himself and his younger brother and sister.

At 21 years old Marcus has traveled to Los Angeles, Indiana, Jacksonville, and Atlanta. He said he realized  that in order to get out of the “stereotypical box” that often confines African American men, he had to stand out.

In November of 2011 Pickett started his “look the part” movement.  He started with a test run of simple dress suits and in February, Marcus upgraded to his signature all-white tuxedos.  With more than 20 tuxedos Pickett’s motto is  “it costs to be the boss.”

Pickett says he has lived his life on seven words: trust, responsibility, integrity, love, good judgment, and reliability.

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Boyd and Burke are staff members of the GC Summit.