I’ve been writing these blogs for a bit and I never took the time to explain who I am. Nor did I explain why you should care. So let me fix that, starting with the 3 moments that led to Blkgradstudent.
When I reflect on how I got to Blkgradstudent, there was really 3 phases: the job search I almost failed, the email that got me into Carnegie Mellon, and the manager job that almost wasn’t. Each one of these led me to the perspective I have today; Young professionals struggle to get good advice which starts their careers off slowly. For me, when I reflect on my career I fell up. There were so many things that I could’ve done better. So many things by chance I got opportunities when I wasn’t 100% ready. Rather than leave young professionals careers up to chance I wanted to share some of the lessons I learned. Let’s get into those moments from each phase.
1: The Job Search I Almost Failed
My senior year of college, I was the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) Region VI Chair. A role which I was not ready for, and I had to grow really fast to do decent. Luckily, I had an amazing team around me, so much so that my best friend, one groomsman, and one of my really good friends in WA all came from that group. While I had a talented group around me, I spent most of my focus on school and NSBE.
By the time it got to February, the month of NSBE’s Annual Convention, I had hardly applied to any jobs. Fortunately, I had put my resume on NSBE’s career site one random night in January. That next morning Microsoft and Intel both reached out to me. Microsoft reached out about 2 roles and Intel about 1. Now you would think I would apply to more roles than just those 2 right? Wrong, I went into that convention with only 2 Microsoft interviews (Intel never scheduled my pre-screen).
At Convention, I thought I’d have plenty of time to interview with the hundreds of companies there. With my responsibilities, I never even made it to the career fair. So all my eggs were in a Microsoft basket. For my Support Engineer interview, on the spot I decided to take notes on my interviewers as they interviewed me. Probably nothing they had ever seen. Between note taking in an interview, my enthusiasm, and using products from the entire Microsoft suite — I had a Surface, a PC, and a Windows phone, the 3 primary devices Microsoft produced in 2014 — I did extremely well in those interviews. I left that convention jobless until Microsoft called me the following Monday to extend an offer.
I made so many mistakes and was fortunate to get to Microsoft. No young professional should risk so much on such a huge part of their life. I got the job because when the moment came, I was ready. I just shouldn’t have had to bet everything on one interview to prove it.
2: The Email That Got Me Into Carnegie Mellon
Fast forward 6 years in the future, I was now thriving as a Field Engineer at Microsoft. My excitement for tech was at its peak. I was traveling the US teaching Azure customers how to use our products and I loved it. But something still felt like it was missing. I never saw leaders who looked like me. I wasn’t in a position to grow those around me. Microsoft’s D&I report at the time confirmed it, there wasn’t a lot of me in leadership. At this point, I had been leading NSBE roles for 8 years and loving that too. I decided I would become a manager and I needed to get an Information Technology Management degree to prove my acumen.
I applied to Carnegie Mellon, Indiana University, and George Washington University. Carnegie Mellon was my top choice and the #1 school for IT Management, Indiana was highly ranked but felt reachable for me. George Washington was my I definitely should be able to get in school. My rationale was that in undergrad I’d applied to UCLA, UC Berkeley, and UC San Diego, didn’t get into any of them, and ended up at UC Riverside — one of two schools that admitted me even though I never applied. (A story for another time).
I got into George Washington 1st, then shortly after I got into Indiana, only having Carnegie Mellon waiting. It got close to the deadline for Indiana so I emailed admissions at Carnegie Mellon to see when the decision on me would be made. They responded back and said they would check the application. The next day, they emailed me and I got in. I remember thinking I wonder how many people knew they could email admissions to help them get into grad school. That’s when Blkgradstudent was born. What if I create a blog about my graduate school journey and what I’ve learned that could help others. Especially as a Black grad student. blackgradstudent.com was taken, they have amazing content if you haven’t come across it, but Blkgradstudent.com wasn’t. That’s why the name is Blkgradstudent, a better name for where I am now anyway. That one email to admissions changed my trajectory. If you’re ever on the fence, send that email — don’t leave it to chance.
3: The Manager Job That Almost Wasn’t
About halfway through my program, I had an opportunity to become a manager. My current manager was changing teams, which meant his boss was hiring. First 2 interviews, felt great, the 3rd felt like I wasn’t the candidate, so it was probably my worst interview to date. I was told I didn’t get the position, and it was going to be re-leveled a level above my band right before the holidays. Enough time for everyone in my family to tell me what I did wrong. Fun right.
After coming back in January, the hiring manager, my skip, reached out wanting to connect with me. When I joined, he mentioned how he talked to my manager’s peers to understand if they thought I was a good fit. All of them agreed I was and because of that he decided to come back and offer me the role. While I was happy to get it, because of the way it happened I had a chip on my shoulder. Being honest I still do, with how it ended — when Microsoft flattened management in 2025, and I reverted back to an individual contributor.
When I became a manager there was a lot that I already knew because of my NSBE experience and there were some things I didn’t know. As I started to learn how the business worked, I realized how many times I had luckily done the right thing as an individual contributor (IC). I didn’t have mentors telling me, you should do this, or why didn’t you ask for that. So, I just “fell up”. Because of that, I started picking up mentees and was coaching them to be better than I was. That’s when the final piece of Blkgradstudent came together. I needed a place and space where I can coach young professionals into high performers. I had the platform (my blog), I had the experience (my successes and failures), and I had a title that people would respect (Sr. Customer Engineering Manager).
All the right pieces came together leading to my platform, Blkgradstudent. While, Blkgradstudent does not focus on just the Black community, Blk is the new community I serve. Blk represents the young professional, who’s seeking to excel at their career and to be a high performer. I’d been doing the work for years in NSBE. The now I had the opportunity to do it with my own platform.
Wrap-Up
College informed me of the problem, my master’s degree led to the platform, and my manager role gave me the credibility. My goal for Blkgradstudent, will always be to help others achieve their career goals. While I had to learn the hard way, I want others to accelerate their careers at a pace I could’ve never imagined. So that’s Blkgradstudent — where it came from, and why it exists. If any of this sounds like your story, you’re exactly who it’s for.
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