Welcome everyone to the Blacks and Technology bit Tech Talk Podcast. A show but
we talk to black people who are engineers, innovators, educators, inventors,
change makers and entrepreneurs doing amazing things in the world of technology. The Big
Tech Talk podcast is where they show her they are stumping the divide by sharing
their stories, experiences, ideas, knowledge and perspective on tech with the big
community. Welcome everyone to the Bit Tech Talk Podcast. I'm your host,
Greg Greenley. I am the founder of the Blacks and Technology Organization, and
tonight we have on our podcast as a guest, Andrea Parker. Andrea is
a marketing project manager at Cisco Systems in Worrisville, North Carolina. She also
serves as co president of the Connected Black Professionals Network at Cisco, and she's
a member of the Blacks and Technology RDU Executive Board. She also co owns
the Parker Group Consulting, LLC, which is a consulting firm the support business,
branding and marketing needs as well as career coaching. And Andrea is also
also an effective motivational speaker. So I'd like to welcome Andrea to the show.
How's going Andrew Everything as well thank you for having me. I'm happy
to be here. Thank you. I appreciate it. You are the second
RDU person to join the podcast. We had Bobby on one or two episodes
ago, so it's good to have someone else representing ARE to You and to
talk about, you know, your journey in tech as well as you know
kind of what the happenings are a bit RDU. So I do want to
start off by saying thank you for being a servant leader of the Blacks and
Technology Are to You chapter. Your efforts are greatly appreciated. I appreciate everything
you all do as leaders and keeping everyone engaged and keeping the mission going.
So thank you, absolutely absolutely. Now I got some really big I'm sorry
now, I was just gonna say I got some big shoes to feel.
You said that Bobby was up here a few weeks ago. Bobby is best
man. So but I'm gonna do RDU jen Okay, excellent, excellent.
So Bobby, it sounds like he might be a hard act to follow,
but we'll try to top that for sure. So tell us a little bit
about yourself, a little bit about you know, kind of where you're from,
where you went to college, that type of thing. Well born and
raised in Ronald Rapids, North Carolina, which is too fi to anybody know
where that is. It's right not too far from the Virginia line. I
went to East Carolina University, graduated in twenty thirteen and with my bachelor's in
communications, and I went to North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. You
cannot rush greatness, and I graduated in twenty nineteen with my master's and information
Technology. I'm a mom. I'm here in the Raleigh area, but yes,
I am a mom of a little boy named Noah. I feel like
Noah is almost my colleague and my child. He goes to work with me.
He's into the big events and yeah, so he's a big part of
the reason why I'm even here. And I'm a wife. I cannot do
that. That's the biggest thing. I'm a wife. Very cool shout out
to Noah. I got a sign Isaiah, so I love. I love
the biblical name stuff going on there. But is always focused on forming new
partnerships and opportunities to assist the community and our members with their continued professional growth
and development. If you'd like to partner with us, send an email in
queries at blacks and Technology dot Net. Absolutely so, tell us tell us
a little bit about you said you went to North Carolina at which is an
HBCU, if I'm not mistaken correct, Absolutely, yes, all right,
tell us a little bit about that experience. What was going to an hbc
you like for you, Well, I got the grad experience of going to
an HBCU, which is totally different from the undergrad experience I was at.
I was at other HBCUs during my undergrad experience at ECU, and I saw
what it was like, but unfortunately I did not get a chance to experience
the HBCU life as undergrad. However, being an Aggie has has proven to
be way more than I even expected, especially coming through grad chapter. A
lot of times when you come through grad chapter, you're not really as tapped
into the school. You're just there to get that master's and you keep it
moving. If you find a few alum in your career, great. I
can't say that. I feel like I almost feel like I went to A
and T undergrad because of the relationships that I've built. When I go back
to homecoming, there are people that I know and I feel just like a
person who went, you know, undergrad. So Aggie pride is not just
something to yell out loud when you see another person in blue and gold.
It is true pride that emanates through each one of us who has who have
experienced what it was like to be a part of Aggie Land. And when
we find a fellow Aggie, it's just it's an immediate let me pull you
up. How can I help you? What can I do for you?
You know? So that's the experience. Excellent, That's that's that's good to
know. I've got young kids, and I know, you know, hope
anyhow they take the college route and go through that experience. I didn't go.
I went to a technical community college here in Ohio, so I don't
even have the full college experience at all. But it's nice to hear,
you know, kind of like what that experience is like for other people,
because I definitely like to steer them in that direction for sure. Let me
let me ask you what you you you got your bachelor's and communications, but
then you decided to pursue a degree in it? Like what what drove you
towards technology? Apparently technology was the key that I needed to succeed. I
am technical, but I am no tech wiz at all. I will not
claim to be. It's not my favorite thing, however, Okay, to
reach some of the roles that I wanted and to at least have a chance
into some of the companies that I wanted to be able to apply to.
I really thought that going back to school to get a degree in it would
be a good addition to my bachelor's degree, which was in communications. Communications
is so broad and you know, there are so many things that you can
do with it. It's it kind of does not coin in on anything,
but it coins in a little bit more and you can really have a like
a concentration, so to speak. So I took the opportunity, you know,
instead of going to just get a get certifications or getting an associates in
it, Hey go go to grad school and then have that collaboration of your
I T degree with that communications degree and let's try it again. Let's let's
let's try it again. So that's what drove me into you know it,
it would have been computer science if I could have gotten into that program,
but anything technical when I was trying to get into these companies, that was
the key. That was the key to pursue. Okay, so it was
it was more of a uh to to kind of compliment your communications degree and
and get into those technology companies, uh that you wanted to get into.
Yes, absolutely should it should always. I'm sorry it should have always been
it. To be honest, as as far as I've gotten in my career,
I should have pursued that in the beginning. But you don't know what
you don't know, so when you do know, you do better. Yeah,
I agree. Uh, it's funny I had. I had a roundabout
way of getting into it myself. I always was was interested in it.
Uh, but you know, life happens. Uh, you make certain decisions
and uh then you change those decisions later on, and uh and and things
you know, and I had to get back into it. It was later,
a little bit later on in my life, morelater than what I wanted.
But I felt that I just had this conversation with a good friend of
mine. It was exactly right on time for me. Yeah, because I
probably wasn't mature enough to handle not the work or anything like that. But
like you know, when you start in it and you start working your way
up, like the money, that's a huge reason why Blacks and Technology exists.
It's to get more black people in the tech but it's also you know,
kind of pushed them forward along the financial spectrum, right Like it allows
you to be able to generate this type of income and money that you can
put into other things that you can slowly start to build some generational well from
I say that to say, like, had I had that money too early?
And I probably who knows what my mind was at at the time,
I probably it was right on time for me to have subscript what's up everyone?
We hope that you're enjoying this episode of the Blacks and Technology BIT tech
Talk podcast. Do you or someone you know have a dope story that they
want to share with our bit audience. Blocks and Technology is seeking guests to
be on our podcast. We're looking to highlight the journeys and experiences of black
women and men in the tech industry. So if you know of someone,
send them our way, shoot us an email to contact us at Blacks and
Technology dot net, or click on the link in the show notes and fill
out our form. We're looking to hear from you. So you're in this
of technology, so did you have any any role models like growing up,
but that you could relate to as far as tech goes. To be honest,
I can't say that I did, because my family was either in the
medical field or in factories. So the thing that I followed with tech is
that in high school I was involved in most of in a lot of STEM
programs and organizations. I saw the opportunities that they opened up from high school
to college and then in college digging deeper into Even though my undergrad was communications,
it was, you know, surrounding mass media. I was always intrigued
by the technical aspect, being the production assistant, directing, producing, doing
audio video production type of things like that. It was always the piecing together
of things, not necessarily being a reporter or things like that. So the
technical aspect has always been an interest of mine, even in mass media and
communications, and it was it was it was just an automatic. It was
an automatic from you know, I graduated with that degree, but I never
really got a good job with communications. So I was drawing blood in a
laboratory for about five years and I'm like, this is not me, this
is not my life. And it was like, what what do you like
to do? I like marketing and events, and things on the communication side.
But I always had a nice protect, nice nice It's funny that you
mentioned that the audio production, uh, video production, all that stuff.
It's that's kind of how I got my interest in tech as well. A
friend of my mom's actually was he was going to school at a place called
Southern Ohio College for like audio and video production, uh, and it was
he would he would take me uh up there sometimes, like on on Saturdays.
We would just we would actually catch the bus and we would go up
there and he would show me like all the all the audio and video equipment
and the huge production board and everything like that. And he was also like
really really good with just building things, Like he had a mind for electronics.
He would show me schematics. He would say, hey, this is
what this is. He would build little gadgets and things like that. I
remember he built this PA system into his car one time, and it was
just stuff like that. They really fascinated me and grabbed my attention. I
was like, oh, this is pretty not only that like back then,
when like I didn't I didn't think. I don't think I knew any other
black people who had that level of technical acumen that he had and that that
really drew me to him as well and drew me to the industry. Was
seeing that and seeing a black man as intelligent as he was doing some of
the things that he was doing, you know, kind of running the show,
you know with the audio and video production because he he actually utilized that
to uh to do audio video production for some local businesses like you'll do like
h video for for the church, the local church and things like that.
He'd he video there there the Sunday sermon, things like that, and he
would bring me along to those as well, help and have me help him
set up and and all that. I just thought it was fascinating. Uh
So it's it's it's it's funny that you you you kind of had that same
that same route. Let's talk about about Cisco. It's a huge company,
very huge company. I actually used to be Cisco certified back in the day.
But tell everyone who who who might not know about Cisco, who Cisco
is and what you do for them. So Cisco for me, has proven
to be the ideal technical company that it promised it would be. When I
was external, when I I was on the outside trying my best to get
in. I remember reading Cisco said be you here. Since I have been
there, I've been there for about three and a half years. June will
be three and a half years. And I have been myself in every aspect
of my life at Cisco, through tragedy, opportunity. I mean if I
did have pink hair and was tatted from my neck down, I would still
be acceptable at Cisco. Cisco takes pride absolutely. Cisco takes pride in diversity
and allowing us to express ourselves. It's having that comfortability sometimes allows you to
be the best person in sales to your customer. You get to open up,
you don't have to put on this personality. You get to be the
very best parts of yourself so that you can give the best parts of yourself.
Then I realized, well, I came to find out what inclusive communities
were, or what most people know them as art and I found the connected
black professional space and it was I came in during the pandemic, so a
lot of people, you know, we weren't going to the office, and
so you're at this big company and I always heard people talk about how they
would walk through the halls at times and when they see somebody that look like
them. It's like, oh, it's somebody that looks like me. And
so not even being able to walk through the halls and see people that look
like me, it's like, how in the world am I going to get
acclimated at this big company and find my people? And so there was CBP
and I was added to the room our webeed space by a colleague who was
actually a good friend of mine from we'd known each other since the sixth grade,
and she the CISCO. She added me to the space, and everybody
just gave a big round or welcome of you know, I'm glad you're here,
x y Z. Time went on, I saw that there were roles
open to take a role of leadership on the e board for the RDU or
the RDU chapter, and I raised my hand. I raised, I raised
my hand to be a part of the communications and events pillar interviewed for it.
Pretty much got the role, and then I saw that there was an
opportunity for a co lead for the chapter. And in my mind, I'm
like, you're not ready for that, you're not, so just do communications.
But when I spoke to that same friend who I'd known since the sixth
grade, she was at the time that co lead. She said, girl,
do the co lead role. That is you, That is totally you.
You can handle it. And I think that she could probably turn it
around because the pen had really brought everything down and it was the best decision
that I could have made. Being a part of that inclusive community is how
I met Bobby and how I'm even a part of it now. That community
has has allowed me to meet different have been to be a part of different
projects. Two three weeks ago, I was at Howard University with our Social
Justice Impact Office and I met the Cast of a Different World for because of
a project that Cisco is sponsoring with the Cast of a Different Well, it's
called the Human Takeover. It's a Different World. We see you College Tour.
So TBP is an entity of Cisco. It is the biggest entity for
me of Cisco. But even outside of that, even in my day job,
I get a chance to really work with some amazing people and make amazing
connections other companies that are aligned to Cisco, and it's it's full circle.
I always said I wanted to work there, and I am and I think
I'm doing really good there. Excellent, Thank thank you. For for the
history around that. That's pretty cool, so that you got to meet the
cast of a different world. My daughter, her her middle name is actually
named after Kree Summers, who is Freddie. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
I was. I had a crush on her back in the day. So
she's Do you have a product or service that you would like to share with
the big audience or maybe you'd like to support the big community and do your
part in helping us with stomping the divide. Start by sponsoring one of our
podcasts. Please email us at contact us at the boxtechnology dot net us.
Tell us a little bit about, you know, kind of what what you
do there as a project manager. So I'm a marketing project manager in our
HR organization, which we call people in communities. We try to keep it
as not corporate sounding as possible. I support our support projects with our in
our benefits space and our compensation space, any of the SharePoint sites that need
refreshers from one fiscal year to the next. I work along with the stakeholders
UH to get that done. Our benefits program, there are so many benefits
and this happened to a lot of people at their companies. We have so
many benefits that we pay for every month and we hardly use them most of
the time. We're concerned about medical and four oh one, K, well
what about suitial reimbursement? What about employee resources like you know, therapy for
you know, things like when tragedy happens. It's so many different benefits that
you have at your company and people are not aware. And so part of
my job is to work along with our benefits team to put those communications out
there for our employees to know what they're paying for. We have money coaching,
we have career coaching. We I mean, it's so many and we're
paying for this and a lot of people do not use it. So it
is my job to be able to pull those things out along with my stakeholders
in that benefit space and find a way to educate our employees so that they
will stay abreast and utilize what they're paying for. Gotcha, gotcha. So
what I like about about your journey is that you are melding these two which
can sometimes seem like the sparate worlds, right like the tech world and you're
melting out with your communications degree and being a project because a lot of people
I shouldn't even say a lot of people. There are some people out there
that might get the they might get the idea that, oh, working at
a tech company is not for me because I'm not an engineer or you know,
I'm not a web developer or anything like that. And it's good to
hear stories of people who are doing things outside of engineering and they're still making
a big difference within the companies, the tech companies that they work for.
So anybody who's watching, like, if you have other interests and you think
that you may or may not like be a person that can work at a
tech company, like, think again, Like, there's so many different avenues
who's within the company and within tech companies that you can pursue, uh,
in order to kind of work within the realm of tech. So so don't
limit yourself thinking that you just you just have to be an engineer, because
that's not true at all. So, yes, thanks thanks for sharing that.
Let's talk a little bit about the Parker Group. Tell us tell us
what the Parker Group is, uh, and you know, tell us what
your your role? Uh? And it is. So the Parker Group is
it's located here in Raleigh. Of course, it's led by Project managers who
have over ten years of experience of experience in you know, event management.
I hate to say, I hate to say. I will also say life
coaching because that is a lot of what we have been doing. Helping people
rebrand themselves. You know, if if they you know, had this image
before, but they want to pursue this type of career, and people won't
let their past life go finding ways to separate the past for from the present
in the future. Business business marketing as well, branding, ef IT logistics,
operations, social media management, all of that and are the things that
encompass what you need in order to make your business your businesses grow. To
make sure that your image match what you want people to think of you,
and basically just staying on top of your brand and who you are, and
to to make sure that you know you understand your worth and your value,
not underselling yourself, you know, stay and stay up today with the times
and the expectations. So a lot of people here consulting and it's in they're
like, oh, no, that's a I won't say that, but that's
a scheme that I want to get get into. I don't want to say
that particular brand I don't want I don't want the smell, but that etiquette,
the teaching of soft skills. Sometimes you can't teach that, but sometimes
it is teachable if people understand what they need, you know, conflict resolution,
just think the things that we don't think really matter when it comes to
our growth or when it comes to people wanted to work with us and use
us for business. So that's what the Parker Group mostly does. It's it's
a big ball of enhancement for pretty much the things that people need to enhance
their lives. Pretty cool, pretty cool, Like I love the I love
that whole thing. It's it's it's so crazy that nowadays, like in the
age of the Internet, social media, like it's so needed for people to
you know, leaders are not not even leaders just every day. I was
actually looking at getting my sons because I have a son that, uh he's
like a he's swimmer and he's like a champion level swimmer at age fourteen,
and I was like, Yep, we need to get on his branding and
marketing and everything right now because not only is he a really good swimmer,
but he's a black swimmer. And if you know anything about swimming, there's
not a lot of black people at any of these swim meets, but I
felt like, you know him being who he is, his personality, he's
a handsome young man like and the fact that he is really good, like
I had, like, let's let's market let's market it, let's brand it,
let's let's go the whole nine and and put you out there. And
and you know in the day's day of nil deals and all this stuff,
it's you know, he could set himself up, you know, for for
something, for something great down the line. So people nowadays, it's much
needed. It's much needed. I need some work doing that myself. Hey,
let me know we can do this. So okay, all right,
tell us a little bit about how do you how you first learned about Ben.
I'm always interested in knowing this because Dennis Schultz, who's our executive director,
he he handles like the day to day operations of the Blacks and Technology
Foundation, which all of our chapters and everything, all our members are underneath.
Uh. And I'm on the board of that. But I don't always
get to interact with a lot of the leaders. For one, uh,
he does a lot of that communication. Uh. And two there's there's so
many. Now we've we've grown, you know, fortunately, we've grown to
be pretty big, and I just don't I don't know everyone, so I
always like to hear, like, how did you hear about, you know,
blacks and Technology? So two ways. One, I have a good
friend who went to church with Bobby and this was my last last summer,
and she said, I think you need to talk to Bobby McNeil. And
I was like, who is that. She was like, he's the president
of this group called blacks and Technology. So it was on my to do
list to look this person up on LinkedIn and touch base. Well I did,
but Bobby never responded. Bobby never responded. He didn't he didn't leave
me on red but he just never responded. So, like I said,
that was last summer. About September October ish a colleague from our wich pillar,
our professional development pillar at CBP for the RDU chacker. She touched that
she put she pinged me and said, I want y'all to meet Bobby McNeil.
He's the president of blacks and Technology for the RDU area. I think
that Cisco, CBP and Big could do some great things together. I was
like, Yeah, that's perfectly fun because I've been trying to get in touch
with him anyway, was talking absolutely. So she did a soft introduction for
Bobby, myself and my two colleagues. My colleague, my two coleads,
and we ended up on a meeting maybe about three weeks later, and we
talked about the relationship between Cisco and Bent. Okay, I said, Bobby
a separate message, and I said, I want to talk to you about
me and BIT, and so he said, okay, it's perfectly fun.
So we got a quick meeting maybe like the next day or two, and
I basically told him, you know, what I saw about BIT, what
I really appreciated, and I wanted to get involved more in the community outside
of Cisco, as BIT touches a whole lot more areas and entity and so
you usually they would choose people to come to the board that have been more
like active in the events and things. I've never been to any BIT event.
I've never really heard a BIT until it came to my attention and he
said, well, I'm gonna see if we have room. We do have
some roles, but we did just feel some on the E board and but
I think this could be a really good relationship to leverage because we've been trying
to leverash this relationship with Cisco. If we could have Cisco sitting right on
our board, that's a direct shoe in. Yeah, and the rest is
history. I interviewed with the team. They said they love me. I
got a kick out of them at first sight. And I'm here like,
here we go, and yes, we are using Cisco to the max,
using the building for spaces for events, and you know, it's a beautiful
relationship thus far. I just gotta get them to get one of these sponsorship
packages and and that's it right there. Yeah. So a lot of people
don't don't know that. I guess the what aredy You is in terms of
the technology like the that So it's ared you and RTP. Are they kind
of like one of the same things, RTP Research Triangle Park. Yes,
yes, so as you said, RTP is Research Triangle Park, RDU is
Rolly Durham, RTP is it's actually in Morrisville, and Raleigh and Durham are
own the house like Raleigh, Durham, Carry and Morrisville, and so Cisco
is in Morrisville. And then you'll have Lenovo down the street and you have
a IBM across the street, and whichever way you go, you're gonna go
to Raleigh, Durham or carry so RTP. It's literally like the little triangle
that's in the middle of the pizza. It's just it just holds all of
it, all of it together. That's basically what it is. And of
course already you is Hardy. You is the area in which most of the
companies reside, either Raley or Dura. Got you And I say, like,
people don't may not know that it's it's kind of like the Silicon Valley
of like the East. Does that be fair assumption? I mean you have
some some super big it's like Cisco and IBM and Lenovo, like those three
alone are huge, huge companies. Yes, and we have Apple here too.
Okay, I didn't. I didn't know Apple was there. You're definitely
the Silicon Valley of the East. Yeah. So me, what's what's the
the What's been the most rewarding part of being part of leaders Being able to
see people who usually don't get a chance to shake hands with a VP,
a director. They get to come to these events and actually talk in person,
give an informal interview, almost they get a chance to talk to the
very people who could hire them for a job. BI opens up that door
for them to be able to make those connections. And then because usually,
you know, you apply for a job and you don't know what else happened.
You back in the day, we say, who's the hire a manager?
Can I get? Can I get a phone number? Email or something?
You just apply and you pray to God like that's it. But here
you get a chance to Now you can meet the person and make that connection,
follow on LinkedIn, get an emails, seeing a resume directly. BIT
opens the door for that, and I am I am so appreciative to be
a part of an organization that that has cut those barriers for us. And
then opportunities like what I'm doing right now, being able to speak on panels,
being being able to speak on this podcast. You know, with something
that you mentioned earlier, just because you're at a you if you want to
work at a tech company and you're not technical, that's that's okay. Do
you have transferable skills for the job that you want. Hey, it's a
tech company, but somebody got to run it, so there's hr you know,
being able to let people know those things and network with people to say,
hey, you know what, you don't gotta you don't gotta do it
like that. Come over here, I'm gonna show you how to make it
a little bit easier for yourself. It's just a beautiful thing, it really
is. That's that's wonderful to hear the the I think that's why, like
and it seems like such a people mission. It sounds like you know anybody,
but it really hits home as far as like what we are trying to
do in this industry. So for people who don't know, increase the representation
and participation of black people in tech is our is our mission. Uh.
The representation part is huge because I've always felt that in order for us to
usher in the next generation, whether or not they're on a path towards tech
already or they might not know about opportunities in tech, that representation piece is
going to be huge. It's just like you said, you know, people
come to these events a they're seeing other black people in tech. So that's
representation. Not only that they're getting to meet vps and other executives and and
and and meet them and in this informal way that allows them to be themselves
and not have to you know, because the interviews, some interviews can be
very formal and the way that you approach them. Now, I'm not saying
necessarily like hey, like every interview is going to be a former. I'm
saying like, sometimes you're trying to impress somebody, or you're trying to you're
gonna come, you're gonna you might dress up or what have you. You.
But when you're in there like an informal setting, a networking event and
things like that, and you can really just talk to people one on one
and face to face and just really kind of be yourself like that really changes
the mindset of other people because then you don't have that mental barrier to whether
or not I belong in tech or not, because you know, I don't.
I don't. I don't think I fit what the criteria is as far
as what a what a tech person is. And when you have spaces like
you know, what you all are providing at these events, I think it
breaks out at down. Like like our tagline said, stomping the divide,
That's exactly what we're doing. We're we're breaking down and stomping that barrier and
saying hey, like this is for you, this is for us, uh
and and and come on in welcome, welcome to this industry. So I
love hearing that right absolutely, And so let's talk a little bit about you
know what what drives you as a leader, because you're you're part of this
connected black professional les goo uh, you're part of the bit RDU leadership,
Like what drives you to be a leader and championing these DEI efforts. It
took me so long to get here because of all of the blockers that I
experienced. Some of them, actually a lot of them came from just not
being privy to knowing what was out there. So if I knew that,
if I had gone to school for Tech out the Gate, I truly feel
like I would have been here in my twenties, and by now I would
have I would probably be pushing director level with the grit that I have.
I had to go through a lot of trial and error and figuring this out
and what's out there. Just not knowing you cannot help what you don't know.
So for anybody that's still feeling like you're not on time, you're behind,
if it's because you don't know, you cannot help what you don't know,
but you can always ask questions, and you can always learn, and
you can always make a difference in the time that's going to pass anyway.
So would that being the case if now I am at this point, I'm
thirty three, I feel like I'm on track, I'm going somewhere. What
I'm doing is working. Doors are opening. But now I see these young
people who are coming into Cisco, they're twenty three or twenty four, and
they're making seventy and eighty thousand dollars out of the out, straight out of
school, And I for a moment had to stop feeling a little bit envious
because I'm like, man, I wish I had what they have back then,
and and it's like, you no rearrange that help develop them. Now
of course they've gotten out of school, and eighty thousand dollars salary at twenty
three is like twenty two to twenty three is like, man, yeah,
you know, I'm rich, especially if you were a broke college student.
But if it's not applied accordingly and efficiently, they're not focused on their professional
development, and and that money ain't gonna last long if you don't have good
spending habits. It's not you're you're gonna start feeling stagnant and you're gonna be
stuck it at eighty thousand for the next seven or eight years. You want
to grow, you don't want to, you don't wanna, and that enjoy
it once you get, once you reach that goal, enjoy it. But
then it's time to keep moving. Let's keep on moving so that you know
you can keep growing up until the better part of yourself. So being these
di efforts and these roles of leadership allow me to knock over the blocks for
others. And that is something that I genuinely love doing. I love to
be a problem I love being a problem solver. I love I honestly love
it when somebody has said I've tried everything, and then I can almost do
something at the snap of a finger, and it's like, oh my gosh,
you really, you really help me. It's not a matter of gratitude
or you know, I need that pad on the pad on the back,
or the validation. I truly do enjoy. I genuinely enjoy seeing people succeed.
And when yeah, I have to say I agree with all that,
like it's it resonates with me so much because I felt like that that was,
you know, part of my journey. I felt like I was late
getting back into tech. Uh. But then once I got in there,
you know, it's like you're right on time, You're you're you're where you
should be. And I felt a need to give back. I saw some
of the things that were developing in my life, excuse me, developing in
my life, and I felt like, you know, if if if there
were other people that I can reach, I'd like to see them win.
Like I felt like I'm winning as well. Uh. On top of that,
just like the whole community aspect of of what BIT represents is something that
I did not have early in my career that I felt that if that is
something that I could help provide, then I feel that it could make an
impact and in some way and we'd be all better off as a community and
as an industry later on. So I definitely and and like you said,
like there were times where you kind of feel like, man, I wish
I would have done this earlier. But like I said, it's a friend
of mine had to check me on that recently and say, no, you're
right on time. Because of the maturity that you've experienced over the years and
all the other things like it. Sometimes it takes those steps. You know,
some people want to go from here to here, but sometimes those steps
in between is what's needed to help mold and shape who you are and your
mindset towards a lot of things. And I think that that's exactly what I
needed. So everything that you said is right on point, definitely. What
are some what are some some some non tech hobbies that you like to do.
We always, you know, we get on here, we talk about,
you know, the tech journey and everything like that, and but I
love to hear and and I'll tell you why I feel like this is important.
It's something that actually didn't get to ask Bobby, because it's back to
that whole representation thing, because there might be someone that watches this. They
might feel like they're on the outside, and then they all of a sudden,
they may hear, oh, that person's interested in that, so am
I And they may feel like right at home, like okay, So if
they can do it and be in tech, then I can do it and
be in tech. The BIT Foundation has established featured partnerships and programs with companies
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Join now and remember membership is free. So that's that's, that's why I
like to ask this question. So tell us, tell us what non tech
hobbies you like to engage in. So I don't really get a chance to.
I don't really have the time anymore, like I like, but I
can pretty much bling anything. Them headphones you got on, even though I
know you wouldn't want that, but crocs and phone cases and like since twenty
thirteen, I picked up a blink stick and ron stones and I never put
them down. Or at one point I was making eight hundred dollars a week
in orders from from bling bling whatever. I mean, the skates and cowboy
hats. I bling some stuff in this world. But that and that,
and I'm a country girl. So whenever I get a chance, if I
can go home and hop on somebody's four wheel love or a fish fry some
spades, I'm that is that's me. A nice ride down the road with
the windows down and my some my moon roof back and I love, love,
love, love love Chris Brown. So that's just like the typical uh,
spring and summer and fall night on a Friday night, just riding out,
just enjoying myself. I'm a girly girl, so I love self care.
So just all of the things that separates myself from work. Everything that
just you know, yeah, just made me feel good. Those are the
I don't even know if you could say that they are. It's a hobby
to get your nails done, but it's a hobby of mine because it's funny
that you mentioned the ron stone so way back, and when I was in
high school, people around the way used to do their hats like you know,
the fit it hats, and they used to do them in ronstones,
and like I think it was I think my cousin was the first person I
saw who had one of those, and it was like, you know,
it'll be like a team hat like an NFL or NBA or something like that,
and just kind of trick it out in ronstones. So we used to
go to this place called Capito's here and they do costumes and jewel That's where
we used to buy the ronstones. At and just people don't know, like
if you've never done ronstone thing, it takes a lot of ronstones to properly
do something like you don't just put a couple on there and ready to go.
No, if you if you do, because we use not just the
the the outline of the logo. We used to do the entire logo inside
out everything. Not only does it, you have to be really precise and
you have to you know, we dip that little put that little bit of
glue on there, and we had tweezers. We weren't sophisticated, so we
had tweezers doing it, and we would get different sizes of ronstones depending on
how large the logo is. We get the small ones to outline the outside
and the larger ones to fill it in. I mean, it took a
while to do. It's not something that you're gonna, oh, I'm gonna
knock this out fifteen No, you're talking about a couple hours or more if
you really do it the right way. Yeah, So that's funny that you
because we used to. We used to do that all the time. I
had several hats and my name is Greg, So I had Georgetown university.
I had Green Bay Packers hat because I have to g on it, and
so I would always I would always do Yeah. So that's that's that's that's
cool it It gives you a chance to like flex your your your artistic and
creative side of things, because you know they say people in I t in
tech they're creative anyhow, So uh so that's that's you know, uh yeah,
yeah, you kind of you have to be right. I mean,
if you're problem solving, you you're trying to think of creative ways of doing
things. And usually those people kind of they have that that that right and
left bright thing going on the creative side. And the more I guess,
uh, what's the other side considered? I can't think of the word,
but it's more of a calculated yeah. I like that. I like that.
Yeah. And you gotta nurture that too, right, That's that's part
of it. Like you you can't be all the time and in this in
this pocket. Sometimes you gotta you gotta step out there and and and it's
funny because that's how that's how ideas, that's how sometimes I solve problems.
I'll think about something and my mona and then I'll go off and do something
totally non related to to that and the problem will pop in my head.
So so flex that, flex that creative side because it definitely helps, absolutely
absolutely. So, how how can people if they want to get in contact
with you, how can they reach out to you? Uh? The best
way is LinkedIn? Uh, you can't go wrong. You can't go wrong
with LinkedIn. Definitely, I would say that's the best way because all of
my other uh social media accounts are private. That is something that's very important.
You need to separate your private from your your fessional. Everything is not
meant to be to be public. You know, you still have to watch
the things that you are posting, but everything doesn't have to be public because
it does affect your your image. So my Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat,
I don't even TikTok, but I got a TikTok, all of that is
private. You want to reach out to me, you want to find me
LinkedIn and we'll post your your LinkedIn link profile link in the show notes so
people can reach out to you. And also if you're in that artyu area,
check out bit AREADYU chapter. It's it's always I told Bobby this,
it's like our model chapter. It's one of our model chapters. You all
do such a fantastic job of engaging the community and really and really lifting like
the chapter itself is. You guys do so much I can't even put it
into words. Elevating a bit brand. Yeah, I came out there once.
I was like maybe I don't know if you were part of it.
Maybe a couple of years ago in twenty twenty two they had like some function
out door, they had like a little cookout and then they did a tour
of this, uh this facility. Uh. But stuff like that. Man
getting the the the the community involved and understanding who you are as an organization
and being that open like it it. I know it takes a lot of
effort outside of the nine to fives that you all do, uh, And
you know, I greatly appreciate it. It's it's something that I don't take
for granted at all. And like I said, you all are a model,
a model chapter that a lot of our chapters can can really take the
blueprint from it and apply it to their own chapters. So so thank you,
thank you all again for for what you all do there. And and
Roley Durham, thank you for that commendation. We do try our best,
absolutely, definitely definitely. Uh So, last thing, Uh, what are
some of the things you all have planned? I know I went over this
with Bobby, but uh it may be you know, who knows who will
listen to this one and maybe not Bobby. So tell us a little bit
about what you all are doing and BIT are to you, Like, what
are some of your goals for this year? So of course we are definitely
trying to right now. One big thing that we're working on is really weeding
out those who are benefiting from BIT and those who may just kind of be
hanging around for whatever reason, but not necessarily reasons that are building their career.
We're trying to because we want to be as beneficial to our community when
we are supporting black businesses, we want people who are there to support them,
you know, not to just take up a space and maybe not show
up, or take up a space and come just for the food, you
know. You know, we we want to make sure that our members are
really engaging and so just you know, a little observation. We'd be blind
if we did not, you know, admit that, you know, it's
just a few things that we have seen that we are just trying to find
ways to make sure that we are given the best to those who really want
it. We started our newsletter about two months ago. May will be the
first I mean, I'm sorry, May will be the third copy of our
bitletter. That's what we call it, the BIT letter. And we're starting
something. We started something called Member Spotlight. So each month we're highlighting a
member who is you know, they they're out they're outstanding, they are regular
at our events, they support they you know, they come, they actually
network and you know, really showing that they want to be a part of
it. We're also being more intentional about trying to be a little bit more
intentional about our networking efforts. You know, we'll put people in the same
room and a lot of times they go to the people that they already know.
Uh, we do events with the we'll do events with the Black Professional
Networks and r DU and we'll have you know, Microsoft and Google and Cisco
in the room. And what good does it do to network if you go
back to the people that you already know. So we're trying to be more
intentional about networking activities like having strategic networking a attempties that actually force people to
start talking to each other, whether that's networking, bingo or how many LinkedIn
profiles can you screenshot? Whoever wins get a prize, you know type thing
like that. So yeah, that's those are the we're just digging deeper into
our members and trying to bring more value. Excellent, excellent. That's that's
good to hear. And if any of our chapter leaders are listening, you
can go ahead and steal some of those ideas apply it to your chapters as
well. Like I said, you are our model chapter, so it doesn't
surprise me that you all are finding ways to better engage with the community.
So that's that's very cool. So Andrew, I would like to thank you
again for joining me tonight. It was a pleasure talking to you, talking
about your journey, talking about all the things you're doing and or to you,
and I wish you nothing but the best in the future. Absolutely,
thank you so much for having me. I enjoy this. Thank you,
and I hope to see you at bitcom this year. We're gonna be there.
I will be there. I will be there. Absolutely excellent, excellent.
Well, thanks again, Andre, will we'll talk again all right take
care of gray