Born November 7, 1975 in Youngstown, Ohio to Robert and Gena Thornton. A graduate of East High School in 1994. A graduate of Wilberforce University with a B.A. in Sociology with a minor in Criminal Justice in 1998. After graduating, he was first employed with an Alcohol and Drug Prevention agency as a prevention specialist. From there he worked with Children Services as an Adoption Assessor and Foster Care Case Manager. After which, he relocated to Detroit, Michigan and continued his work with Children Services until moving on to work with MPRI (Michigan Prisoner Re-Entry Initiative) as a Community Program Manager. While there, he also contracted with a prevention agency to perform court ordered Anger Management and Parenting classes.