In my role diversity recruiter for the Peace Corps, I’ve had this never ending question of what can I really do in this role that has not been done before. Without a doubt I wanted to do something significant; with a focus of attracting African Americans and getting the word out about international service, international development and living abroad to have a different type of exposure and perspective from a global lens.
Oddly enough, when I was serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Malawi Africa, I was concerned about the lack of diversity in the agency especially as it relates to African Americans. During my service, there were 4 black folks in my group of about 50; only 2 of those 4 completed their service. The 2 happened to be products of HBCU’s. Which is myself, I attend Norfolk State University and the other is my comrade T.J. he attended Virginia State University. T.J. is from North Philly, and super abrasive when he speaks, and super unpolished but you appreciate him for that and his authenticity. During my service I would consider myself more reserved and tactful when I speak, especially when around our white peers, simply because I didn’t want to give them a reason to lump T.J. and myself in the same box, as if Black people were a monolith. I was very intentional in how I associated with my peers, and cognizant of the way I governed myself in certain spaces.
T.J. and I at a bar in Malawi.. Circa 2014
T.J. and I at Virginia State Homecoming part of the HBCU Barbershop Tour
With that being said, I understood that more black folks narrative needed to be told and have more accurate representation of our communities.. not only internationally but domestic as well.
While in my service I kept a journal of sorts to talk about all the things that I wanted to do in Peace Corps and post Peace Corps… One of those things that I wrote was “create an HBCU campaign for Peace Corps” At the time it was blind ambition, I clearly didn’t have an understanding of how I wanted to do so or the insight to make something like that a reality. Fate would continue to lead me down this unknowing path.
I finished my Peace Corps service in May 2015, then I started working for the agency as an employee in October 2015 my original job was a Training Technician in staging.. The job was ok, it allowed me to hone my skill of being a facilitator and public speaker.. That part of the job was incredible however it was the other stuff that came along with it, that I was not so passionate about, and it showed as time went on..but I dealt with it… until a blessing in a suit and tie and dreadlocs.
A good brother, friend, and colleague Byron L. Williams encouraged me to accompany him on a recruitment event at Howard University at the Ralph Bunche Center to talk about my service with a group of students. As I told my story, the students bombarded me with questions and excited comments, I still did not fully understand the value in this. However, Peace Corps director of recruitment Tina did.. She realized I had a way of capturing an audience. After about 2 months she poached me from my old department and I started working as a Diversity Recruiter.. About a week into the role I accompanied senior recruiter Leslie Jean Pierre on his HBCU tour throughout the east coast and down south. I thought it was amazing! I learned so much from Leslie, perhaps too much. Nonetheless, the way he organized stakeholder meetings and panel discussions with the HBCU’s in partnership with the White House Initiative on HBCU’s during the Obama administration! I thought it was the most incredible thing of all, and I was super inspired. I felt that even though I didn’t organize the tour it was still meaningful to me, because I had a chance to participate, so I was part of the success, and thought maybe this was the type of capacity of the HBCU campaign I meant when I jotted it down when I was in my service.
Within my first year of being a recruiter I did really cool gigs with the Thurgood Marshall Foundation, spoke on panels at the White House as part of the HBCU Conference, attended HBCU foreign policy conferences at the State Dept, recruited at Howard University yard fest during homecoming, speaking engagements at diplomacy wonk tanks, attend Alpha Phi Alpha General conventions, attend the Black College Expo in Brooklyn, SneakerCon in Atlanta, hell, being a diversity recruiter got me invited to Ambassdor’’s Gina Winstanley house for her birthday party to go down the soul train line with political royalty. The position of diversity recruiter has really allowed me to network and gotten me into some sweet places and meet incredible people. However I still felt like I haven’t done the thing I needed to do to leave my mark in the agency… that was until I pitched the HBCU Barbershop Tour::
In my proposal I stated that the Black Barbershop is a staple in the Black community and that in order for Peace Corps to have credibility, we needed to go through the barbershop to have familiarity and foundation in the community. I attached a few google images of Black men in the barbershop and one that had President Obama in the barber chair and sent it in a email to the powers that be, and they accepted the proposal!. I figured since I’ve gotten that far I wanted to see if I could get promotional items to really bolster up the tour, so I spoke to our Admin Officer and gate keeper of the money and requested Peace Corps Barbershop capes and wave brushes with the Peace Corps logo, and she obliged, I could not believe it.. This project really got approved and fully funded. I had full support from the agency from the top to the bottom and a budget to work with, all I had to do was execute. I spent a little over a month working and speaking with university stake holders, and barbershop owners and before you knew it, we had tour dates lines up from 10 HBCU’s and 10 barbershops. I could not have executed this project without the help of my friend and colleague Kandice Brown who captured all the moments in video and pictures, she kept me in order and on topic with all the press and media engagement that came along with such a project, there is no way this tour would have been as successful without her. The month of October is homecoming season at HBCU’s so that’s when I decided to target the barbershop and universities to let them know about Peace Corps and its benefits...
The HBCU Tour consisted of 10 tour date:
1. Oct. 2nd Morgan State University @ Nile Style Barbershop
2. Oct 3rd Virginia Union University @ Mike Blendz Barbershop
3. Oct 9th Bowie State University @ Bowie Town Barbers
4. Oct 15th Norfolk State University @ Kappatal Cuts Barbershop
5. Oct 16th Virginia State University @ Real Cutz Barbershop
6. Oct 22nd Hampton University @ Just Earl Barbershop
7. Oct. 23rd Howard University @ Wanda’s on 7th
8. Oct 24 Delaware State University @ J Stylez Barbershop
9. Oct 29th University of Maryland EasternShore @ Phaze Two Barbershop
10. Oct 30th Coppin State University @ Phaze Two Barbershop
It makes me happy to know that of this ambitious project that I wrote in a journal in 2014 came to fruition in 2018 during the close of my third year as an employee..It pleases me that the agency has still allowed me to be creative even in a professional capacity, this is a continuation of where passion meets purpose.
Me talking Mayor Todd of Hampton about Peace Corps service and the importance of African American representation! Mr. Todd came out to support the initiative.
First stop at Nile Style, speaking with Morgan State Students interested in Peace Corps along with Dr. Nettey who is the International Director at Morgan State University.
