Bradley & Nikki Bozeman: Tackling Hunger One Child at a Time

NFL player Bradley Bozeman and his wife Nikki Bozeman have used their platforms for good. Starting the Bozeman Foundation - a foundation made to help kids struggling with food insecurity. Today we had the chance to interview Bradley and Nikki on their careers and the foundation.

When asked about his football career and what inspired him to pursue football Bradley answered with, “my only goal at the time was to play for the University of Alabama. Playing professionally had never crossed my mind when I was in high school.” Family is Bradley’s main motivation and has helped him to become successful. “What keeps me motivated day in and day out is my family. Doing all of this for them and getting to see their faces on game day is really what makes it all worth it.” Being a professional athlete comes with its challenges so we were curious to see what the toughest challenge Bradley had to overcome was. “The toughest point in my football career was my sophomore year of college when I was competing with another guy for a starting offensive line position, took starting reps all through the pre season and when the first game came, I was not the starter.” With challenges comes overcoming them and persevering through them. “I was lucky enough to meet Nikki, my now wife, who was also an athlete and she really helped me navigate this hard time. I ultimately decided to stick it out and give it one last shot and I'm so glad I did because it has turned into a career that I could have never imagined!” Bradley recalls.

Another huge part of professional athletics is the coaches who guide the players and encourage them to be the best version of themselves. “One of the greatest coaches I have ever had was Coach Brent Key who was the head coach for Georgia tech. His belief in me and my abilities was something I needed at the time. He is also just an outstanding coach who pushes his players but also relates to them because he has played before.” Bradley stated. Some advice that Bradley would give to people who are wanting to coach is, “Advice I would give to coaches helping younger athletes is be real, honest, and truly care about the person. I think the coaches I always respected most, always told me the hard things, but I knew they cared about me as a person and wanted the best for my career.” Advice Bradley has for people who are wanting to play college and NFL football is, “Do it! Go for your dreams and don’t stop until you get there. I was just a nobody from a small town in Alabama that wasn’t even supposed to make it to the college level and look at me now, 8 years in the NFL and still going is truly a walking testimony that you too can do it! Just stay the course, work your butt off and things will fall into place.”

His wife Nikki played high school and college basketball and has had similar experiences as Bradley and has overcome challenges within her basketball career as well. Nikki started getting serious about basketball at the age of 13 when she was cut from the travel basketball team. “At the time, it was a pivotal point in my career because it made me realize I really did love basketball and I wanted to keep working really hard to become better. The more I worked the more I began to fall in love with the game and the rest of my career kind of fell into place.” Nikki’s parents' support is what helped her continue to keep pushing forward through basketball. “From driving me to practices and going to all my games, they really were what pushed me to be better and better.” “I would tell my younger self to have more confidence. Looking back at film and old playing days I was a really good player. I just lacked the confidence to stand up for myself or speak up and have confidence in my game. I would tell her she was there for a reason and needed to play with that confidence on the court.”

Athletics shape people in many ways not just physically but mentally too and helps to build your confidence and communication skills. When asked how young athletes can use sports to build confidence and character Nikki and Bradley replied with, “We say this all the time but sports are such a great tool to conquer so many challenges in life. From bullying to how to tackle hard times, there are so many life lessons you can learn from sports. Sports are such a testament that if you work hard you can build confidence in what you are doing.”

Lessons that Bradley and Nikki have carried from their sports life to their personal life are their parent skills. “Sports are so applicable to life and I think made us great parents. Some of the greatest lessons we’ve learned from sports were critical thinking, being calm under pressure, and bringing a positive attitude to each day.”

Sports teaches you the importance of leadership and teamwork which is a very valuable asset in the Bozeman foundation. “I feel like you are born with it and sports just brings it out of you. We both have the leadership trait and love to influence others in such a positive way with our foundation.”

The Bozeman foundation was founded in 2018 and has helped over 75,000 children with food insecurity. “I have loved getting to see the kids' faces when we are able to provide them with something they have never had before. Like a game day experience or coming to practice or providing a meal for the holidays or Christmas for a family. I love all of it. We are so blessed to be in a position to help and I have loved every second of it.” Around 14 million children in the United States have faced food insecurity. This is an ongoing issue in the United States and the Bozeman foundation has done so much to help. “During covid we saw the overwhelming need for food which seems so basic. A lot of the kids we mentored in Baltimore came to us because they didn’t have anything to eat. This is something we could not even fathom and knew we were drawn to switch gears quick and help these kids.” Nikki explains. The Bozeman foundation is providing food to kids using their SYNC snack program. The SYNC boxes are filled with foods such as, nutrigrain bars, mandarin oranges, and pop tarts. The boxes are delivered through police departments and contain QR codes that lead to educational resources, information about the Bozeman foundation and more. The SYNC program has been available for five years and has helped over 3 million kids. “Over the last 5 years of our SYNC snack program we have been able to provide over 3 million meals to kids and work with police departments in Baltimore, Charlotte, and now Los Angeles.” The Bozeman Foundation has positively impacted children, families, and police officers. Some amazing stories the Bozeman Foundation has received about their program include - “One little girl in Baltimore wrote, “Officer LaMonica delivered a SYNC snack box to me and I didn’t know girls could be police officers. Now I want to be a police officer just like officer LaMonica and help other kids like me.” “We had an officer that told us he had given a box to a young boy who he got to have a lot of conversations with over the last couple years. He said a couple years later they got a call about a boy holding up a gas station and when they got to the scene it was the young boy he knew from giving him the SYNC snack boxes. He knew he struggled with mental illness but they could call his grandmother because she was always able to calm him down. They did just that and the situation was diffused because of the conversation that they had on the curb over sharing a SYNC snack box.”

Overall, the Bozeman Foundation is a foundation aiming to help kids with food insecurity and they are always looking for people to help. If you want to be involved and help the foundation visit BozemanCharity.com and follow Bozeman foundation on social media.

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