Fernando Pullum distinctly recalls gearing up for this concert. He was getting ready to play with three former students for Whitney Houston's final performance.
Years prior, he remembers scolding one of the those same three kids for constantly putting his trombone slide in the incorrect position — and now, "this kid who I had been yelling at was playing better than me," Mr. Pullum said.
The story of disciplining his student, getting to play for Whitney Houston and seeing that same student become better than he is was just one of many stories coming from the heart of South Central Los Angeles inside Fernando Pullum Community Arts Center.
Mr. Pullum is a trumpet player, teacher and founder of Fernando Pullum Community Arts Center. His musicians have gone on to play for artists like Bruno Mars, Whitney Houston, Beyoncé and more, winning eight grammy awards. And when considering considering why he decides to give back to the youth of Los Angeles through music, the answer is simple.
"I just have to." Mr. Pullum said. "It's so incredible to be on the journey to see see someone come up and and then they learn who they really are and and they become great because of it. You get to be a a passenger in in that that journey and see how it works. So I'm always excited to see that every single time, it never gets old."
The same trombone player at the Whitney Houston concert also played with Dr. Dre during the Super Bowl LVI halftime show, the same Super Bowl where the Rams defeated the Bengals 23-20.
Now even more involved with the Rams organization, in July, Mr. Pullum was honored as the second Rams "pLAymaker" of 2026 during a summer performance. Similar to his reason for giving back, Mr. Pullum sees the award as a credit to his students more so than himself.
"Being named pLAymaker validates all the work of my students, because it's what they do, it's not what I do or dream to do," Mr. Pullum said. "A lot of educators walk into their classroom trying to be the best that they can be, but you have to have students that are willing to travel that journey with you. I've been very fortunate to have students that want to be great and believe in themselves, and believe in what I'm telling them, and choose to do something positive instead of taking easy route."
Mr. Pullum grew up in an unstable household and unsafe community, and he wasn't planning on attending college at all. Not attending college and succumbing to the violence around him would have been the easy route. But then, a band director pointed him in the direction of the University of Michigan and Interlochen Center for the Arts for him to record his audition. He ended up graduating from Michigan with concentrations in music education and trumpet performance where he now provides the same guidance for students that led him to where he is today.
The Fernando Pullum Community Arts Center is a non-profit organization that teaches the next generation of youth music, instilling confidence and higher self-esteem into adolescents that need it the most.
"What I'm trying to do is give the people that were being discarded a face and a voice, because people really limit what they can be and put them in boxes," Mr. Pullum said. "They perceive what they can and cannot do, and I just want to make sure that the people that were in my position had an opportunity to realize their full potential just like I did."
By giving these students a voice and sending them along the right path, they're going on to become world-class musicians, none of which would be possible without teachers like Mr. Pullum. That same director that guided Mr. Pullum to Michigan also gave what he sees as his motto for why he gives back and helps the kids that become his students.
"The guy who helped me to get into Michigan told me to help 10 people," Mr. Pullum said. "When I started thinking about that whole concept, I said, 'Well, if I help 10 people, and the people I teach help 10 people, and so on and so on, we can make a dramatic change in the world.' So I tell my students the same, 'help 10 people.' And I don't believe that you help anyone without helping yourself in the whole process."
The fulfillment gained through the arts center is what continues to drive Mr. Pullum's work. Whenever possible, Mr. Pullum tries to also show his students what giving back feels like. Mr. Pullum and the arts center have gone to Cuba twice, Brazil, Spain and many other places. On those trips, he remembers a specific occasion where he bought out an entire department store's candy supply to give to his students so they could give the candy to children in Cuba.
"I just knew at that time, my kids really understood the power of giving, that they can actually get someone something and make them happy," Mr. Pullum said. "They don't have much themselves, but then they understood what they had and the opportunities that they have in America by going to a place that was worse than they were."
Scattered throughout the country are musicians that are beneficiaries of Mr. Pullum giving back to his community. Throughout his career as an educator, Mr. Pullum has certainly helped more than 10 people. But through playing with his former students at concerts with musicians like Bruno Mars, Whitney Houston, Beyoncé, Dr. Dre and more, he can see how the people he's helped have gone on to change the trajectory of their life and those around them — and that's more than worth the hassle for Mr. Pullum.
