African American Student Union SPOTLIGHT ON HBCUS
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Posted By: S. Moore on February 08, 2023 The HBS African American Student Union (AASU) strives to be an extended family for its members from the moment they decide to attend HBS, through the transition to second year, and beyond graduation. Here we profile two AASU members who attended Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) about their experiences before and during the MBA program. Kristen Shipley (MBA 2024) Where is your hometown and which HBCU did you attend? My hometown is Baltimore, Maryland and I attended North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (NCAT). What was your pre-MBA industry and role? Before HBS, I worked in tech as a Product Marketing Manager on the YouTube Ads Marketing and Google for Startup teams. I also interned as a summer Investment Analyst at Obvious Ventures, an early-stage venture firm, where I focused on consumer brands and women’s health/FemTech. I also have experience working in the House of Representatives as a congressional intern. Why did you choose to attend an HBCU? After going on an HBCU college tour, I fell in love with North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. The people I met made me feel like I was part of the Aggie family. Inspired by the courage of the A&T four, who started the sit-in movement in the 1960s across the nation with the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), I chose to attend an HBCU because of the rich history, legacy, and impact on the community and society. My HBCU offered me incredible experiences, such as meeting President Barack Obama, joining a lifelong sisterhood in Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and representing my school in the nation’s capital as a White House HBCU All-Star. I am proud to be a graduate of the largest HBCU in the nation. At what point did you decide to pursue an MBA, and why? I attended the Summer Venture in Management Program at HBS in the summer of 2017, which was where I first experienced what it could be like to be a student at HBS. I applied to HBS through the 2+2 program in my senior year of college. In 2020, I attended the 47th annual H. Naylor Fitzhugh Conference and the first Black Tech Master Series. It was here that I learned about the diversity in the entrepreneurship and venture capital ecosystem from Black women investors like Jewel Burks Solomon, who later became my manager at Google and a mentor. The speakers I heard and relationships that I built at the conference continue to impact my career today. While my undergrad degree is in journalism, I have always been intrigued by business and knew I wanted to build the foundation to one day either start my own business or become a business leader. What has been the highlight of your HBS experience thus far? One of the highlights of my HBS experience so far has been the Moving Beyond Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Short Intensive Program (SIP). I love marketing and am interested in pursuing entrepreneurship post business school. This course allowed us to go deep into companies that started as DTC companies and have since grown to multi-million and billion dollar brands. We heard directly from the founders, which included celebrity entrepreneurs like Scarlett Johansson, Kim Kardashian, Bobbi Brown, David Chang, and Gary Vaynerchuk. Insightful and inspiring, the course highlighted the challenges and tremendous opportunities that lie ahead for consumer brands and entrepreneurs. Brandon Pryor (MBA 2024) Where is your hometown and which HBCU did you attend? I was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland and I attended Morgan State University. What was your pre-MBA industry and role? Before business school I was an Equity Associate at an Investment Management firm in Baltimore. Why did you choose to attend an HBCU? My mom went to an HBCU and would talk about her experience occasionally when I was younger, but it wasn't until I visited campus as a young adult that I fully understood her point of view. On campus I felt like I was in an environment that was intentionally designed to cater to and embrace people who looked like me. When I was there my skin color didn't matter and frankly, I didn't feel like I was being used as an inclusivity statistic. Morgan State made me feel welcomed and wanted for just being me and that felt really good. At what point did you decide to pursue an MBA, and why? I started to think more seriously about pursuing an MBA during COVID. Up until that point I'd only lived in Baltimore — born, raised, college, and career — and the pandemic was the catalyst for me to rethink if that's where I wanted to be long-term. I considered moving away and taking a job in another city but after talking to colleagues who went to business school, I began to understand the value of an MBA and how it would benefit me going forward, both personally and professionally. How have you leveraged your unique HBCU experience at HBS? Having grown up in a predominantly Black community and attended an HBCU in Baltimore, I've seen firsthand how some of the decisions made by people at the top can have lasting negative impacts on minority communities. These communities are often viewed as an afterthought by those in leadership positions, so I try to call attention to this when thinking through business decisions in the classroom. What has been the highlight of your HBS experience thus far? Having the opportunity to sit, discuss, and learn from both students and professors who come from extremely different backgrounds has been the best part of my HBS experience. The case method fosters open discussion, so I'm constantly exposed to different opinions and perspectives on business problems in the real world that I hadn't previously considered. There aren't many places in the world that give you the opportunity to debate these business problems in a safe space, which is what makes HBS so special. SOURCE HBS NEWSLETTER If you enjoyed this article, Join HBCU CONNECT today for similar content and opportunities via email! |
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