Tony Gaston is the founder of CurtisLafayette LLC, a boutique workforce strategy and partnership consulting firm built on more than 22 years of experience at the intersection of employer engagement, workforce development, and equity-centered systems change. The firm's name carries personal meaning: Curtis is Tony's middle name, and Lafayette is the Brooklyn street he grew up near, a deliberate signal that this work is rooted in lived experience, not just professional pedigree.
At CurtisLafayette LLC, Tony partners with mission-driven nonprofits, employers, and public sector organizations to turn bold workforce ideas into practical, measurable strategies. The firm's services span learning and development program design, AI readiness, apprenticeship and workforce strategy advisory, employer partnership development, program design labs, and stakeholder alignment, offering clients the enterprise-level thinking of a large firm with the relationship depth and equity commitment that only a practitioner-led boutique can deliver.
Tony began his career at Grand Street Settlement, a community-based organization on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, where he spent five years supporting and managing afterschool programs and youth development services, an experience that grounded his understanding of what young people from underserved communities actually need from the systems meant to serve them.
Prior to founding CurtisLafayette LLC, Tony served as Vice President of Employer Partnerships at CareerWise New York, where he led employer engagement strategies that created high-quality apprenticeship opportunities for high school students across New York City. Earlier in his career, he held senior leadership roles at NPower and Per Scholas, two of the country's most respected workforce development organizations, where he built and managed national corporate partnerships and helped expand access to technology-focused career pathways.
A global management consulting firm · A Fortune 100 financial institution · A Big Tech and e-commerce leader · A leading academic medical center · NYC public sector partners
Tony helped shape the creation of a first-of-its-kind youth apprenticeship civil service title within New York City's public workforce system, a landmark effort that reflects his ability to operate at the intersection of employer, public sector, and education systems.
Driven by that belief, Tony founded CurtisLafayette LLC to close the gap between workforce ambition and workforce outcomes, and to ensure that the communities who need access most are never left out of the equation.