 HBCU Dodgers radio welcome back I'm your host Jared Carter bringing you exciting and distinguished voices from the HBCU community today we have a student in our midst which is always a spectacular treat for me so often we're talking to the executives and talking to alumni but as always a thrill to speak to the future executives and alumni who want to be running this planet and today we have a very special guest with us Ariella Houston she is a duly enrolled chemistry and chemical engineering major at both the Bennett College for Women in North Carolina A&T State University and she is also an entrepreneur who was recently one of a handful of women selected as a grand prize winner in Victoria's Secrets pink girl power project which was an initiative or has been an initiative for several years to bestow grants to female entrepreneurs across the country to help bolster opportunities and access for other young women across this great nation in world to realize their greatest potentials Ariella indeed in honor to have you on today hello so tell us about being this this grand prize winner and what it's like because you win for a business that you actually started what three or four years ago at the age of 15 yeah and now you're on this national stage as an entrepreneur who's doing great things to advance the cause of girls and women across the country talk about how you became knowledgeable about the Victoria's Secret initiative and how you think you got to the point where you could win it okay so it's honestly been a whirlwind of excitement I applied well I got the notification you know I follow pink I'm part of their app you know who doesn't shop at you know pink or Victoria's Secret so I honestly get all the emails all the time and it came out and an email back in February and I was like you know what I have a business I want to grow my brand I want to get my name out there and it doesn't hurt to just try the application process was super easy we had to submit like three heroes or three women in our lives that we look up to and then to a short two-minute video about our business and how we can advance the society of women or ourselves so I was basically like you know I have this whole business based around well now it's based around my entire institution Bennett College and giving you know the Bell's easy access the cute apparel that creates body body positivity so I was like okay yeah I totally fit into this category so let me just try it and you won the joint I did so which was so surprising you keep on shining because a lot of your work has been featured nationally because of what's been going on with Bennett College so yeah this is a this is a high that just continues to get higher talk about how the experience of being not only a CEO but having the you know the relative embrace of your school to be a part of such a historic movement for Bennett and for HBCU's raising millions of dollars to try to save the school's accreditation having you know logos and your designs featured on on people all across the country via social media what was that experience like honestly it's so crazy like seeing people post or different networks post people and they're wearing my clothes I'm just sitting back like okay that's me like that's my name that's my brand it's so amazing to see and it's like it's it's honestly breathtaking just being like sitting back and being like okay I'm part of this movement like you know obviously it was something that we weren't expecting just like a huge impact on our entire community and it was great to be a part of the comeback yeah definitely so with this Victoria's Secret Initiative I believe you were the only HBCU student to be one of the winners one of the Grand Prize winners correct yes so let's go backward a little bit and talk about starting your business because at 15 16 years old that is around the time you also start getting serious about college yeah considering where you want to go so what was the experience like one to to develop an entrepreneurial spirit and then say at the same time and yep I'm also going to the school across the country somewhere and how did you select Bennett slash North Carolina and T to be a chemistry whiz and a chemical engineering whiz all at the same time what was that process like developing these two interests simultaneously so back when I started my business it was actually a clothing line for the Girl Scouts of San Gregorio Council back in California so when I got to Bennett I chose Bennett in North Carolina ANC by the way because of the dual degree program like that was something that was an amazing opportunity to go get two degrees for the price of one I mean who passes that up right so when I moved to Bennett you know every parent wants when you move your daughter into college every parent wants to hit up the bookstore and get the proud Bennett mom proud Bennett dad t-shirts right so when we walk down into the bookstore we were a little surprised by the selection of items that we had to pick from I think there was maybe three shirts but we had high hopes that throughout the school year that they would come out with some more stuff and I would be able to get it and like send it back to my family but that didn't happen so I was like you know what I'm gonna take the situation in my own hands I know everybody on campus wants this once the clothes once the items so I'm gonna do it myself if they're not gonna give it to me I'm gonna do it myself so I went back the entire summer after my freshman year rebranded my entire business turned into an apparel line for HBC use mainly focusing on Bennett because that was my first you know my first partnership and I came back in the fall of my sophomore year and was like y'all ask for it here it is and launched my first line of clothes on I believe July 27th and then running running successfully ever since and it's been running successfully ever since growing I mean we're transferring into like rebranding into going into a market with a bunch of other HBC use and getting different connections and just making it a nationwide thing what was the process like in building that partnership with Bennett to I assume to carry a lot of your your stuff in the in the bookstore to make it available yeah to shop online what were the conversations like and what was that what was it like was it easy to build that agreement with the school it definitely was I had to go through the alumni office and they were more than supportive of my ideas and my brand and they were like if this is what you want to do we're gonna support you a hundred percent they always gave me a free booth at any event any anything like that they always gave me a free booth to be able to sell my stuff and they put me in contact with everybody that I needed to be in contact with to start working on the process to get my stuff inside the bookstore so it was they were more than helpful and it was definitely an easy transition to get them to to be on board it's so interesting that you you can tell in your voice that you have and have had such a positive experience with your HBC use which is unique in itself to be attending to at one time but one of them you know ran into a rough spot and I think it's rare that all the all the stuff that we have heard about Bennett over the last year you do hear from students and saying you know our school deserves to be here but what was it like to live and what is it like to live through this scenario of losing accreditation rallying to trying to get it back suing to have it up you know upheld you know what what is it like to live on campus during a time like this to be completely transparent with you it is the scariest thing that I have done to date like not knowing whether or not we're gonna keep our accreditation or if I'm gonna graduate with an accredited degree or if my it's schools that I want to like attend you know after undergrad are going to be like you know will this school back then went through so much stuff so are you really you know a really a contender for our program so it's been really scary definitely something that I wouldn't wish upon any other HBC you or any other HVU students to have to go through something like this but it's also really shown how strong our community of people are that surround Bennett and that are in Bennett like when the situation happened all the students came together and was like what are we going to do like this is the problem with our institution so how are we going to help like what are we going to do to bring the community in who can we reach out to so it was also a good moment to see like other HBC use and students on our campus rallying to be like okay we deserve to be here so we're going to be here and what was it like to to engage with the administration at that time because certainly you know the sisters have the you know the ear of the of the administration at a time like this where it's like okay these are the paying stakeholders that are helping us stay here by you know helping us build revenue so were they attentive to your concerns what did what did you find the administration to be like during that time I think they were trying their best there was definitely some moments where we the students and like the parents of the students kind of felt like we were what's the right word being kept in the dark about some situation and they just weren't completely transparent with all the information right of what right away or in the timely manner that we would have like but I feel like they I mean it was they didn't really have many options so I feel like they tried their best they try to do what they could do as possible yeah what they could do with the information that they had and like you know there's certain things certain steps you have to take to be in the right so they definitely try their best I can give them that try their best and you're a junior a junior at Bennett right yeah I'm rising junior rising junior and I think you're maybe what a semester too behind at AT classification wise yeah I'm rising sophomore AT so when you when you look ahead you know that your career is really in bloom now as an entrepreneur and yet you have ambitions to learn and to study as a chemical engineer how do you what do you see for your future academically is it graduate school is it a PhD program is it working in the sciences or is it hey this is where I have a working interest but this is something that I'm doing in complement to my professional or entrepreneurial interests do those two work together at all how do you kind of see your future five or ten years from now why definitely want to go into a MD PhD program after I graduate with my engineering degree that'll be the later one I see myself being a professor I want to teach and teach specifically at an HBCU to be a representation for you know women of color and stem so that's what I want to do with that aspect that's something that I'm good at but what it comes to something that I love my business is something that I love it is I feel like it's a great way for people to get you know the cute clothes that you wouldn't normally see it promotes and gives people like a conversation starter about their HBCU and at the same time it's just like it promotes like you know body positivity it's not just the regular t-shirt and sweatpants you know it's the the body suits and the biker shorts and it really promotes you know it gets people feeling comfortable in their own skin and being like okay this is cute and I can rock this when you I just see that growing when you when you look ahead at students because there are a lot of students across the country at HBCU that are just like you they have entrepreneurial spirit they're really into their studies really into earning a degree and knowing what that means when you talk to them or if you had an opportunity to speak with them about pursuing passion but having a grounded professional focus in a degree program what advice would you give them if they're trying to decide I don't know if I should stay in school should I drop out should I do both how would you advise them on what to do when you have these kind of divergent perspectives on how to how to make money and how to be happy professionally yeah definitely my mom has always told me to follow your dreams but to have a backup plan so that is something that I live by like you know owning the business and being an entrepreneur is my dream but you know anything could happen and I always want to be able to have something steady to fall back on just in case you know I have a slow time in my business or you know my business is transitioning to something else or you know things like that so I always want to be able to have something something steady to fall back on just in case like my my passion and my love doesn't take me far enough to be able to support myself and then the final question I would I would ask for you and I hope you don't read this as a tricky one with all the pride that you have how would you advise that same student to regard an HBCU and if it was a sister would you advise them that Bennett remains a strong choice okay that one that one is a little tricky yeah I'm going to say for HBCU for anyone that is looking to go to to further their education go to an HBCU I recommend it to any students of color it is the best thing that has ever happened to me just seeing the greatness of you know what other people consider or we are minorities just seeing them like the entrepreneurs the engineers the doctors the lawyers it is the most amazing thing to witness when it comes to Bennett if I'm being 110% honest with you Bennett gave me my business and has helped me grow into this young entrepreneur that I am so I will always be thankful for that Bennett is going through a shaky time right now but in a couple years I think that Bennett can be back to its place that it should be so maybe not now but in a couple years I would be I would be ready to fight for Bennett and be like yeah you need to go here