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One-on-one with Kwame Jackson of 'The Apprentice'

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- "The Apprentice" has been going strong since 2004 on NewsChannel 36. The first season introduced a Charlottean to a national audience.

Kwame Jackson made it to the final round. He didn't win but that didn't keep him from success.

Jackson and I meet at East Mecklenburg High School. We're both proud graduates. We didn't get far before Jackson ran into a former coach.

 "I never thought I'd be as close to being as big as Coach Dulin," Jackson said.

We walked the halls and reminisced.

kwamejackson.com

"I wasn't the nerd but I wasn't as confident and comfortable in my own skin as I am now," Jackson says, remembering his high school years.

His classmates might consider him cooler now. But life lessons learned then, he says, still help him today.

"Unfortunately, for me, I lost my mom to cancer when I was 15," Jackson said. "That disappointment and that loss in your life at a very early age really formed me to deal with disappointment. I'm one of those people it all rolls off because I keep it in perspective relative to what happened at 15."

That outlook helped him deal with the loss on "The Apprentice." He says he still keeps in touch with some on the show.

"I don't talk to Omarosa as much for obvious reasons," he said. "You've got to keep positive folk around you."

Walking the halls of East Meck as a teenager he had no idea what he wanted to be. But he credits "The Apprentice" with sparking his entrepreneurial spirit.

He's launched Krimson, a men's apparel company. Their first product is neckties that really make a statement.

"When I put this on I'm going to make something happen. I'm going to get promoted today. I'm going to propose to my girlfriend today.  I'm going to close a deal today," Jackson said.

He's had both failures and successes in the business world, but one thing he has no shortage of is confidence.

"I always say I am Frank Sinatra kind of people. I did it my way. I might fall on my face my way or I might soar with the eagles my way, but it's definitely going to be on my own terms," he said.

Jackson lives in New York. Krimson is now available in 12 cities, including in Charlotte at Belk.