Rafiah Hickson and Yaniece Spencer became friends in middle school and their parents worked together for the State of NJ, Juvenile Justice Commission. They both went on to receive Social Work degree and continue onto Master Degrees. 

In early 2017, Rafiah and Yaniece heard the calling on their lives to start a program giving back to the youth. Although, they pondered on serving females vs. males, they knew that wanted to work with the youth.

They finally settled on working with the young men, calling them "Bosses" which is how they came up with the name Boys of Sustainable Strength (B.O.S.S.) Mentoring.