Alumni Spotlight: Edward Freeman

21CL Alumnus Edward Freeman is our second spotlight for November 2021. A graduate of Thomasville High School (2017), and currently a final year student at Georgia Institute of Technology (2021), he was recently recognized as one of Georgia Tech’s 2021 Faces Of Inclusive Excellence Honorees for his book “Standing: Stand on Who You Were Created To Be.” In his acceptance note Edward said that as a student he strives to make impact in the classroom, amongst peers and through his entrepreneurial works.

Paint a brief picture of what you are doing now.

I am approaching graduation from Georgia Tech in December with a dual-degree Bachelors of Science in Biology and Applied Languages and Intercultural Studies with concentrations in Pre-Medicine and Spanish. Over the last summer, I interned at Bayer Pharmaceuticals as an Upstream Process Development Intern in Berkeley, California. After graduation, I plan on taking a gap year to conduct biotechnology research while I apply to medical school. Outside of school, I actively speak to youth audiences on topics such as self-empowerment, education, socioemotional health, and anti-bullying awareness. In the Spring of 2020 I published my first book “Standing: Stand on Who You Were Created To Be“, a self-empowerment book for Gen Z and Millenials. Additionally, I tutor students in Spanish Language and STEM-related subjects.

How did participating in 21CL transform you and lead you to where you are now?

21CL gave me the confidence to step into leadership roles and speak to large crowds without any fear. Before participating in 21CL, I did not have exposure to programs to enhance my professional development skills. I grew up in rural South Georgia, and participating in programs like 21CL was rare and unheard of. Coming to Atlanta and being on Georgia Tech’s campus while at TVYMI [a summer leadership institute], I felt inspired to think outside of the box and take advantage of every single opportunity that was placed in front of me. My experience at TVYMI encouraged me to apply to Georgia Tech, and this is one of the reasons why I am a student here today! In addition, I gained more confidence in speaking in professional settings as well as networking.  It also felt great to be surrounded by a diverse group of like-minded peers, many of whom I still keep in contact with to this day. I will always cherish my experience at 21CL because for the first time, as a sophomore in high school, I saw what I was capable of, and was forever changed from that moment on.

Which programs did you participate in? How did the skills/tools/perspectives you acquired from 21CL prepare you for your next steps, going into college, taking on new leadership roles in your community, college, and after

I participated in the 2015 Turner Voices Youth Media Institute (TVYMI), currently known as WarnerMedia Institute for Future Leaders, at Georgia Tech and the 2017 Goizueta Youth Leadership Summit hosted at Emory University. One of the key skills that I learned at TVYMI is how to operate in a team and to create formal presentations. As a Biology and Spanish major, I often have to present research presentations and by participating in 21CL, I learned my stage presence and how to articulate key points from my presentation. In addition, I have served on Georgia Tech’s African American Student Union Executive Board as Community Outreach Co-Chair. I was able to incorporate the team-building skills learned at 21CL while being on an E-board. Equally as important, I learned how to operate in professional settings. As a Georgia Tech Student Ambassador, I often interact with alumni and school faculty in business and social settings. My experience at 21CL prepared me to network and interact in corporate environments at a young age. Learning certain skills such as a firm handshake, making eye contact, and even knowledge of conversation starters assisted me greatly stepping into the student ambassador role. The skills learned during my experience as a 21CL student have greatly helped me in professional conferences, corporate internships, and during interviews.

What is your memorable or ‘aha’ moment in 21CL? (a particular program, meeting professional and diverse peers, speaking in public for the first time, etc.?)

 My ‘aha’ moments in 21CL came from first arriving at the 2015 TVYMI and interacting with like minded peers from diverse backgrounds. For the first time in my life, I met people that had similar interests and goals. Coming from a small town, I had big dreams, and oftentimes, felt alone because not many people around me thought the way I did. The initial moments at TVYMI showed me that outside of my hometown, there is a community of like minded peers that have big dreams to cultivate change throughout the state of Georgia and the entire world.

Did 21CL assist you in developing a leadership style that makes you an effective leader? If so, how? And have you recently learned something else about leadership? Please share!

Absolutely! 21CL taught me a lot about servant leadership and how to be an effective and emotionally intelligent leader.  The realization that leadership is more about lifting others up as you climb than it is being on a platform came while participating in 21CL. During the speed networking events, I would see professionals take time to serve and pour into students. Seeing this at 16 inspired me to lead in the same way. Throughout my undergraduate leadership positions, I found myself in spaces where I am serving underclassmen or grade school students.

I was even able to find ways to serve students from where I grew up. This fall, I gave two academic book scholarships to African-American Male students from Southwest Georgia from my book. My experience at 21CL gave me the fundamental skills to become an effective leader, and over time these skills grew into what they are today.

Alumni Spotlight: Bridget Gorta

Our second Alumni Spotlight for August 2020 is Alumna Bridget Gorta, a graduate of Greenbrier High School (2007) and of Georgia Institute of Technology (2011). Bridget currently works as a Learning Delivery Manager at Deloitte. During the 2020 Virtual Summer Institutes,  Bridget volunteered as a Speaker at the SYLI Alumni Roundtables!

Paint a brief picture of what you are doing now.

After 8 years in Nashville, I just moved back to Atlanta in January (2020).  It’s nice to be home!  Professionally, I’m a Learning Delivery Manager at Deloitte for the Enabling Areas business.  It’s a project management-centric role and I lead a team based in the US and India that drives the logistics and communications for our Learning and Development programs.  We are now in a 100% virtual world, but for a while, we hosted programs at our local offices and our Leadership Center, Deloitte University.  I’m incredibly passionate about well-being, so I serve as a Well-being Wizard and have been active in the well-being workstreams for the Nashville and Atlanta Inclusion Councils.  I also occasionally facilitate our Orientation programs, which is a lot of fun!

Right now, I am making the best of our situation with COVID-19.  I love being outside hiking/walking, doing yoga, weightlifting, going to farmers markets, and hanging out with my dog, an 8 year old pug rescue named Reuben.  I recently started volunteering with the organization Concrete Jungle, and I hope to keep that up once a month.

How did participating in 21CL transform you and lead you to where you are now?

It ended up helping me make my decision to go to Georgia Tech.  I had family and friends who went there, but it gave me a first-hand view of campus and empowered me to learn what else the Institute had to offer from a majors and career perspective.  I remember being in awe of how close campus was to Turner Studios and the CNN Center, which we toured during my 21CL experience.

How did 21CL prepare you for your next steps? Going into college and taking on leadership roles, heading into a new era of professionalism, etc. What skills/tools/perspectives have helped you along the way?

Collaborating with others really sticks out to me.  I remember it being one of my first group project experiences staying connected with others through email and technology with team members who were all across Georgia. We couldn’t meet up to work on tasks as you could for a traditional school project.  It’s amazing how this is how many of us, including myself, work on a daily basis now, especially in the COVID-19 landscape.

Which programs did you participate in, and when? What skills did you gain or improve through those programs?

I attended a summer session called Leadership Unplugged: A CNN Experience (the first WarnerMedia-sponsored summer leadership institute, now known as the WarnerMedia Institute for Future Leaders) together with Nicole Meadows – who now works at 21CL –  in 2006!

What was a memorable or ‘aha’ moment in 21CL? (Particular program, meeting a professional and diverse peers, speaking in public for the first time, etc.?

It exposed me to networking, which is something I enjoy and has been key to my career development and personal brand.

Did 21CL assist you in developing a leadership style that makes you an effective leader? if so how? And have you recently learned something else about leadership? Please share! 

Yes, all my professional life has been about building networks that last-it’s my leadership style!

Alumni Spotlight: Sara Dada

Sara Dada is our first Alumni Spotlight for the month of November! She is currently a Fulbright Scholar at Royal Veterinary College and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Sara shares about her leadership journey and the skills acquired from 21st Century Leaders such as the value of developing a personal brand and more… She is a graduate of Wheeler High School (2013) and of the Georgia Institute of Technology (2017). Read on!

Paint a brief picture of what you are doing now.

I am just finishing up my MSc in One Health (Infectious Disease) at the Royal Veterinary College and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. For the past year, I have been in London studying as a Fulbright scholar. During this time, I’ve had the incredible opportunity to meet other prestigious scholars studying in the U.K., attend a variety of talks and events in my field of work or at the US Embassy, conduct field work in Sierra Leone and India, and contribute to a number of development and research projects.

How did participating in 21CL transform you and lead you to where you are now?

While participating in 21CL feels like a million years ago, I do think this organization had a great impact on my confidence and ability as a leader that heavily influenced my involvement in college and beyond. 21CL camps were among my first experiences with groups of other leaders and change-makers and being a part of that network was inspiring. One of my most memorable and impactful experiences was when the entire cohort at Georgia Southern in 2011 came together to support the non-profit organization I had started. In February 2011, I started “Give Hope: RSD” and sold wristbands to raise money for research on Reflexive Sympathetic Dystrophy. I had presented this cause one night of camp and by the end of the week, everyone surprised me by donating a total of around $200-300 dollars. The whole group had been pooling their donations to present at one of our final evenings (where I shamelessly cried). I was unbelievably moved by this show of support and motivated by the kindness and inspiration of the leaders around me.

And how did 21CL prepare you for your next steps? Going into college and taking on leadership roles, heading into a new era of professionalism, etc. What skills/tools/perspectives have helped you along the way?

I do think 21CL prepared me for my next steps in college by giving me the leadership development skills and confidence to take on leadership roles from the moment I stepped onto campus.

Which programs did you participate in, and when? What skills did you gain or improve through those programs?

I attended G5, now called the Summer Youth Leadership Institute (SYLI), at Emory in 2010 and the summer leadership institute at Georgia Southern in 2011.

What was a memorable or ‘aha’ moment in 21CL? (Particular program, meeting a professional and diverse peers, speaking in public for the first time, etc.?)

My 21CL “aha” moment is still with me EIGHT years later! I can’t remember the particular name of the session, but I remember sitting in that lecture hall at Emory one very hot summer day in 2010 discussing personal brands. The speakers mentioned the value in setting up and running a blog. I think they explained the value in a blog developing your personal brand and providing a unique experience in writing and other skills that could be marketable down the line. That was the moment that I decided to start my own blog. And while activity on the blog has fluctuated over the past 8 years, it has been an amazing place to look back on my journey. Even more importantly, it has been a vital channel through which I communicate and express my view of the world. My blog posts have had everywhere from 8 to 2000 views and it has consistently served as a place for me to develop both personally and professionally. I have recently actually challenged myself to turn my blog into a website and have been working on this project all summer – you can check it out here: www.ramblindada.com

Did 21CL assist you in developing a leadership style that makes you an effective leader? If so how? And have you recently learned something else about leadership? Please share!

21CL introduced me to various types of leadership styles and roles and allowed me to try them out in different ways. But my last five years in college and beyond challenged the typical understanding of leadership that I had. One of the most important lessons I have learned from a book called “Leadership on the Line” has been “Meaning derives from finding ways to love and contribute to worldly enterprise.” I read this statement at a time when I was really struggling. I had just lost not one, but two presidential elections for campus organizations I was heavily involved in. I was feeling not only that I had failed as a leader in those organizations but also helpless that I would be unable to serve my community in the upcoming year. This quote, and other lessons from this book and experiences in my life at the time, pointed me in a new direction. I soon realized and truly appreciated that meaning does not derive from the positions or leadership “roles” that we fill, but from what we do and the actions we take. Since then, I have reminded myself that I can find meaning and contribute to worldly enterprise in a variety of traditional and non-traditional ways such as by writing on my blog, serving as a mentor, and being a positive energy in the teams to which I contribute.

Alumni Spotlight: Nicholas Jones

Nicholas Jones who works for Eaton as a VAVE engineer is a graduate of Fort Valley State University (2014) with a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics and of Georgia Institute of Technology (2017) with a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering. He is a graduate of Southwest High School (2012). Nicholas says that the leadership skills he acquired from 21st Century Leaders helped him turn an internship into a part-time job while still in college and later into a full-time job when he graduated.

Paint a picture of what you are doing now.

My current role is a VAVE Engineer at Eaton’s Lighting Division in Peachtree City, GA. VAVE is an acronym for Value Analysis and Value Engineering. I have served in this role for a little over a year, and in this role my primary objective is to reduce the costs associated with our lighting products while maintaining or improving quality and value. This includes examining and/or changing manufacturing processes, suppliers, and product designs.

How did participating in 21CL change you and/or lead you to where you are now?

Participating in 21CL helped me work something that is very invaluable: soft skills. The programs at 21CL help students focus on communicating and building networks, which is a key resource in navigating college and career fields. Developing these skills helped me turn an internship into a part-time job during my last semester in college, which I was able to turn into a full-time position at Eaton once I graduated.

What was a memorable or ‘aha’ moment in 21CL? (Particular program, meeting a professional, etc.?)

The most memorable moment for me during my 21CL participation was learning to Salsa at EarthCare in 2009. It was memorable for me because it was a chance to interact with people I hadn’t normally interact with during the camp. It was also a chance to see everyone there having fun learning something new together in a more relaxed environment.

Which programs did you participate in, and when?

I participated in two 21CL programs: Earthcare at Berry College in 2009 and G5 ( now SYLI) at Goizueta in 2010.

How did 21CL prepare you for your next steps? Going into college and taking on leadership roles, heading into a new era of professionalism, etc. What tools/perspectives have helped you along the way?

Participating in 21CL prepared me for my next steps in life because it helped me appreciate diversity and different perspectives other than what I was used to. Being appreciative of and open to different thought processes and ideas allowed me to be a better leader in organizational roles in college. This is a key to being an effective leader.

What’s something you have recently learned about leadership?

Recently, I have learned that in order to be an effective leader, you have to know and build relationships with those under you. It’s important for those you lead to know that they can talk to you about issues they are facing.