Marqez Bimage

Hi, I'm Marqez.

Athletics kick-started the way I saw the world at five years old and eventually opened doors I could not have imagined. Curiosity kept me learning in every room I entered, while research and scholarship gave me new language and practical tools to understand those experiences.

Today, I help students and athletes strengthen self-efficacy, emotional intelligence, and career readiness so they can make more intentional decisions, build meaningful relationships, and recognize opportunity.

Alongside my work in higher education, I offer paid educational talks and guided conversations for individuals, small groups, Texas schools, colleges, athletic programs, and related community organizations.

Explore My Work
Portrait of Marqez Bimage

My Story

From a small Texas town to the rooms that shaped me.

I grew up in Brenham, a rural Texas town, and began playing tackle football at five years old. Athletics introduced me to coaches, boosters, donors, and university leaders, giving me access to forms of social capital I did not yet have the language to recognize. That journey carried me to UT Austin and UC Berkeley as a college athlete and now to Vanderbilt University as a doctoral student.

My day-to-day career is in higher-education fundraising and development. That work has strengthened my ability to listen across different experiences, build trust and connect people's interests and generosity with campus priorities. I see fundraising as bridge-building between people, purpose and institutions, grounded in genuine relationships that extend beyond a single gift.

The same skills shape how I approach educational speaking and small-group conversations: listening carefully, communicating across experiences, building relationships and helping people recognize connections between their choices, opportunities and communities.

“Don't let schooling interfere with your education.” A quote commonly attributed to Mark Twain.

Formal education matters, but so do curiosity, observation, relationships, how we manage our responses, and what we learn through lived experience.

From the field to the classroom, each room gave me something different to learn.

Marqez Bimage in a burnt-orange Texas Longhorns uniform, number 42, holding the football overhead while celebrating a turnover with teammates

Competing at Texas, where athletics opened doors and introduced me to relationships and opportunities I was still learning how to recognize.

In 2019, I became one of only four Longhorns over the previous 20 seasons to record a sack, forced fumble, and fumble recovery in the same game.

Texas Athletics, November 29, 2019

Recognition Along the Way

A few moments that document the journey, on the field and in the classroom.

Marqez Bimage standing beside the UC Berkeley wall listing the School of Public Health, Graduate School of Education, Department of Psychology, and BAIR
On campus at UC Berkeley, where I pursued graduate study while competing.
Post from Marqez Bimage: four-year scholarship college athlete, walk-on, earned scholarship, graduate student at UC Berkeley, thanking God and the people who helped along the way
Walk-on to earned scholarship to graduate student. A path built with the help of a lot of people.
Post from Bryan Fenley describing Marqez Bimage as a hero among us who cares about making the world a better place
Recognized publicly for caring about more than the game.
California Football graphic naming Marqez Bimage, number 46, a top-graded Pac-12 EDGE player through nine weeks
Graded among the top edge players in the conference during the season.
PFF list of top-graded EDGE players through Week 10 with Marqez Bimage first at 88.8 and noted as number 10 nationally
Top-graded edge in the conference and No. 10 nationally by PFF through Week 10.

Where I competed and studied

  • Texas Longhorns

    The University of Texas at Austin

    Competed & Studied

  • California Golden Bears

    University of California, Berkeley

    Competed & Studied

  • Vanderbilt Commodores

    Vanderbilt University

    Doctoral Student

Projects

Building the access I care about.

UpSide AI

Active

A conversational platform created to help Texas college athletes think through decisions, relationships, transitions, and opportunities.

Explore UpSide AI

Noticed

Guillermo Rauch, CEO of Vercel, recognizing what I built.

I shared UpSide AI and tagged Guillermo Rauch, and he responded — recognition from the person behind the platform it runs on.

Services

Speaking and Conversations

Educational talks for athletes at every stage, rooted in rural and regional Texas and available to schools, colleges, universities, and communities statewide. Through lived experience, established research, practical frameworks, and guided reflection, I help people think through decisions, relationships, transitions, and opportunities.

Marqez celebrating with the California Golden Bears team, holding the Stanford Axe trophy in the locker room
The rooms I care most about are team rooms. Here, celebrating with teammates at California.

Speaking Engagement

60-Minute Educational Talk

A practical, story-driven experience for athletes at every stage, from middle school and high school to college, along with the teams, schools, universities, and community groups around them across Texas. Marqez combines his experience as a former scholarship college athlete, higher-education professional, and doctoral student with the E+R=O concept credited to Dr. Robert Resnick and popularized by Jack Canfield. He then applies an SEC lens, inviting participants to consider self-efficacy, emotional intelligence, and career readiness within the Response. Each engagement connects relevant stories with established scholarship, guided reflection, and practical considerations participants can carry forward.

Two available formats

Talk and Q&A

A focused presentation followed by audience questions and practical reflection.

Moderated Conversation

A coach, athletic director, teacher, student affairs professional, or community leader may serve as the moderator. The moderator can use prepared questions to guide the conversation, connect the discussion to local resources, and invite participants to take part.

Both formats are tailored through a brief planning conversation with the host before the engagement.

Rooted in Texas

This work is rooted in Texas, with particular care for rural and regional communities where access to networks, developmental support, and conversations about opportunity may be limited.

These talks and conversations are educational and developmental. They are not counseling and are not substitutes for licensed mental-health, legal, financial, medical, or athlete-representation services.

Ideas Into Practice

Translating research into practical conversations.

My doctoral studies at Vanderbilt, professional practice, and lived experiences shape how I translate established scholarship into practical conversations. I approach this work as a growing scholar-practitioner, learning from research, applying ideas carefully, and refining my approach through practice and reflection.

Marqez with his graduate cohort at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Education
With my cohort in the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Education.

Event + Response = Outcome

E+R=O is not my own. The idea is credited to psychotherapist Dr. Robert Resnick and was later popularized by Jack Canfield in The Success Principles. I use it here as a starting point for reflection.

EEvent+RResponse=OOutcome

You cannot always control the Event or the Outcome. The Response is yours, and that is exactly where this work lives.

Applying an SEC Lens to the Response

I use SEC as a practical lens for considering three established areas within the Response: self-efficacy, emotional intelligence, and career readiness. These areas can help people reflect on how they navigate decisions, relationships, transitions, pressure, and opportunities.

SPart of R

Self-Efficacy

Building confidence in your ability to respond, act, and influence what happens next.

EPart of R

Emotional Intelligence

Recognizing and managing emotions while understanding how they affect relationships and decisions.

CPart of R

Career Readiness

Developing the skills, judgment, relationships, and confidence needed to navigate opportunities during and after college.

SEC, as used here, refers only to self-efficacy, emotional intelligence, and career readiness. It is an educational lens for reflection and application and is not affiliated with any athletic conference or network.