I aim to use the power of communications and technology to serve people and their communities. I strive to mentor others along the way, lifting them up such that they realize their potential.
I naturally want to do what’s right and improve the lives of others to the best of my ability. At The City University of New York, I use strong communications and marketing efforts to build the ability of the nation’s largest urban public university to improve the socioeconomic status of New Yorkers and others.
While studying at CUNY’s The City College of New York, I served as the college’s first-ever representative on the National Committee of the Public Relations Student Society of America, the premier student-led preprofessional communications trade association. I have previously been involved in a data-driven outreach effort to improve access to New York City’s specialized high schools (some of the City’s highest-performing public schools) for Black and Latinx students.
As I work towards success, I will be a voice in the fight towards a truly diverse, inclusive and equitable society. Growing up as a low-income Black person who fought to be afforded a number of opportunities, including attending the highly-regarded Bronx High School of Science, I have the chance to guide others towards the keys I struggled to find.
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On CUNY's Communications & Marketing team, I am tasked with creating engaging content for the various audiences of the nation's largest urban public university. I help develop social media content ideas, write copy for announcements and updates made via social media and provide a student and alumnus perspective for university-wide communications.
I helped initiate CUNY's presence on Spotify and TikTok, strategizing how to best utilize the platforms to further the communications objectives of the University in an engaging manner accessible to an increasingly digital audience. My work as an intern on this team led to a full-time role as of June 2020.
As a member of the Specialized High Schools Diversity Outreach Team, I was tasked with providing information on New York City's nine specialized high schools—public magnet schools typically regarded as amongst the highest performing—to families of backgrounds underrepresented at the schools - including the Black and Latinx communities.
On this team, I engaged with community partners to disseminate information, plan informational presentations and encourage families to take part in the admissions exam and/or audition process.
My communications experience and my status as a black alumnus of a specialized high school allowed me to speak from a professional yet personal perspective when engaging with and informing families.
I worked on the Sales Floor Team, maintaining the appearance of the sales floor and providing guests with assistance and information. I also worked on the smaller Store Remodel Team, tasked with implementing a store transition by reorganizing the layout of various product types around the store.
In an effort to serve as a resourceful individual for guests and other team members, I took initiative to familiarize myself with workflows outside of those I was expected to be proficient in.
I was proactive in assisting other departments when roles needed to be filled, being trained and working in a total of six different areas throughout my tenure.
I served as a student employee at The Corner Store, one of the most frequented dining locations on the campus of the Rochester Institute of Technology and the central convenience store of the Institute's residence halls. At The Corner Store, I was both a cashier and stocker.
Understanding that working at a campus store meant most customers would be fellow students who would make return trips to the store, I made it a primary focus to provide customers with a positive experience whenever they arrived at the store.
I had the pleasure of being promoted to Student Manager in January 2017, being able to further the positive rapport by being empowered to solve customer issues at a higher level. I also utilized my inclination to "float" when necessary in allocating student employee responsibilities to address store needs.
During my time as a member of Key Club International—a high school, student-led community service organization—I utilized my knowledge of the public transportation system of New York City along with the web design & development skills I was learning to create a website providing transit directions to volunteer events for the 600 members of Key Club International chapters in Manhattan and The Bronx. This was a project I started after I noticed the large volume of students who were reluctant to attend events if they were not familiar with how to travel to the location. My work led to the formal recognition of a "Divisional Transportation Chairperson" role. At the end of my tenure running the site in March 2015, the website had acquired over 4,700 unique page views and attendance by Key Club International membership at divisional events had increased substantially.
During the active running of the site, it was hosted officially on the division's site, at directions.nydkc11.org. For demonstration purposes, the site can be viewed below.
View Project