 HBCU Dodgers Radio, welcome back to our HBCU voices of STEM excellent series profiling the best and brightest from historically black colleges and universities, working in the distinguished fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Today, our distinguished guest is Ms. Carmen Norwood. She is the vice president for the Air Mobility and Maritime Missions International Programs Line of Business for Lockheed Martin and a proud Jackson State University graduate, which if you follow this series, you know, Tigers kind of take over this show. So we are on a heavy streak of JSU folks really taking over the podcast series. So Ms. Norwood, it is indeed a pleasure to have you on today. Thank you for having me. It's a pleasure being able to share with you today. You know, I am a graduate of one of the best historically black universities on the planet, Jackson State University. See, this is why Jackson State folks take over, because only a few schools that feel like no other is better than them. Jackson State, FAMU, A&T, Howard. So that kind of, that four pillars of HBCU culture where ain't nobody better than us, that works out well. And I think the people at all core may have something to say about it, but let's talk about your beginnings of your career. How long into your childhood or your teenage years did you know that you had an interest in the STEM fields? And how did your family kind of shape that training or that excitement about those fields? Well, I tell you, I grew up in Jackson, Mississippi, you know, went to elementary school, junior high school, high school, right there in the Jackson Public School District. And my introduction to the STEM field happened as early as kindergarten. And really, you know, I had teachers along the way that introduced me to all kinds of, you know, mathematical concepts early on, and they made it fun and creative. And so I really credit a lot of the teachers that I met in the Jackson Public School District along, you know, my educational journey that really sparked the interest in STEM for me. In addition to that, my mother was an educator. And so she was big in, you know, doing your school work and excelling academically. And she's also a graduate of Jackson State University. So I remember when she was working on her specialist degree at Jackson State University, I would, you know, as, you know, an eight-year-old kid hang out at Jackson State with her while she was studying in the library. So I had a lot of people around me that influenced my desire from an educational perspective to excel, but also, as I mentioned earlier, teachers within the Jackson Public School District that really sparked my interest in STEM early on. You grew up in and around the JSU campus in the Cap City. Absolutely. West Jackson is where I lived. I went to Provine High School. And you stayed home. That is so rare for students. And you find that a lot in Mississippi, I found. A lot of these brothers and sisters don't mind staying home and going to Jackson State. Is that, was that like a family expectation? Like, you gonna go to JSU? Or it was, you wanted to because you had the exposure to it? Well, it was interesting. There was so many people within my community, whether it's, you know, my parents, people in my neighborhood, or the church that I attended who graduated from Jackson State. So as I grew up, you know, I had a lot of exposure to Jackson State, the things that they offered. I participated in summer programs at Jackson State. So I grew up being very familiar with Jackson State and what it had to offer. And it was a plus for me to still be pretty close to home, but also get a really good education as well. Reflect back on your time at JSU. How did the academic instruction, the culture of the school really excite you to say, hey, not only can I, you know, do what I want, but I can be pretty good at this. I can make a name for myself in this. Absolutely, it was pretty amazing. As I mentioned, I participated in summer programs at Jackson State. So I got to meet a lot of the teachers before I actually entered the university. But one of the things, you know, when I think about, you know, going to a historically black college, what really benefited me was not only the culture, the ability to be accepted, to walk around the campus and see people who looked like me. You know, you know, Miss JSU, you know, was an African-American female. And the teachers, a lot of the instructors were also African-Americans. And they took a vested interest in my success. And it was just a sense of community there. You know, I remember, you know, taking calculus and my instructor was a woman who was brilliant teaching calculus one, two and three. And, you know, that's just not something that you see every day. You know, females and African-American females, you know, solving problems and talking about how these problems can be applied to real world solutions and situations. And so that sense of community is one of the reasons why, you know, I felt so comfortable at Jackson State and, you know, being able to develop a relationship so that you had the study groups and those teachers, as I said before, really taking vested interest in me as an African-American female ensuring my success. And even outside of the classroom, mentoring me and making suggestions about internships and co-op opportunities, which really sparked my career as it relates to where I am today. You leave JSU degree in mathematics. You go on to George Mason for electrical engineering. Yes. When you think about the transition from not only just Mississippi to the East Coast, but from JSU to a graduate program, did you find that you were well prepared? Did you find that there was a period of catching up? What was the cultural experience like and the academic experience like? Well, well, let me just start by saying this. While I was at Jackson State, I had an opportunity to get a co-op opportunity in the DC area. And I did that on alternating semesters and it was actually with the federal government and I worked in the directorate of science and technology there. And I was able to connect what I was learning at school with real world applications. So that's one data point, which I think was very critical. After graduating from Jackson State, I had an opportunity to go and work for this company full time. And I did that and they had a program where basically I could go on a sabbatical for a year and work on a master's degree in whatever, some engineering discipline. And had an opportunity to go to George Mason University and pursue a master's in electrical engineering. Now, when you think about it, transitioning from an undergrad degree in mathematics and then moving into an electrical engineering degree, there were quite a few undergrad classes that I needed to take, electrical engineering classes that I had to take and I was able to test out of some classes. So you asked the question, did I feel prepared to enter into George Mason University and pursue a master's in electrical engineering? Absolutely. I believe that Jackson State gave me the confidence that I needed to survive in, you know, a world that was not so protected as I felt, you know, at Jackson State, but it also gave me the academic knowledge that I needed, that foundation that I needed to be successful in graduate school and the drive and commitment to also be successful. Talk about your entrance into corporate life. What was, was it a pathway that you found to get you to be in the vice president of one of the world's biggest companies when it comes to the design and engineering of airplanes and defense vehicles and instruments? Was it something you said, okay, here's a way to get there? Or did you kind of, through hard work, somebody just say, hey, we gotta come get this sister and let's bring her here? You know, I always tell people exposure is key and I'll take it right back to Jackson State when I mentioned that, you know, I had an opportunity to get a co-op position and internship with the federal government. That was the start of my journey and the way that I got that particular position was going to the career department at Jackson State and a career counselor sitting down and talking with me about potential internship opportunities. And that exposure kind of gave me an idea of what I could do and who I could become. And, you know, that was foundational, I think, to my career success. Now, after going to that particular job after graduating from Jackson State, you know, I worked there, got my master's degree, the world kind of opened up even more into, as it relates to potential possibilities of what I could do and who I could become. And I ended up having an opportunity to work at Lockheed Martin, which is the largest defense contractor in the United States. And once I entered, you know, Lockheed Martin, it has over 100,000 employees, lots of opportunity here. I knew that basically the sky was the limit but it was going to take a lot of hard work, dedication, and I needed mentors along the way to help guide me through my career. And one of my first mentors was an African-American male who was a vice president over supply chain management. He wasn't an engineer. And he kind of helped me navigate through all the political type challenges within corporate America. And he also helped me kind of lay out a career development plan. He said, hey, you know, you are an interlevel employee. Where do you want to go? So I said, hey, one day I want to be a vice president. So we talked through the types of things that I would need to do in terms of continuing education to make sure that I was competitive for the next leadership role of increasing responsibility that would set me up for a vice president job in the future. At any point in your career, did you ever find that you had to explain, defend, or expand upon the value of an HBCU education? Because we've had some people, it strikes me that a lot of industries and companies recognize how great HBCUs are. But the employees or people just are in the orbit, they don't get it. They just say, you know, why are you here? You went to it, you know, what is an HBCU? And they asked those kind of questions. Did you ever find along your journey that you had to define for people what an HBCU was? What Jackson State is? Why it's so valuable and why it was so good? Absolutely. And I have a really good elevator speech for doing so because I went to an HBCU and I know the value of it. But a lot of times, HBCUs don't have the notoriety as some of schools like, say, Georgia Tech or Texas A&M. And when you enter into corporate America, a lot of the folks sitting at the senior levels did not graduate from HBCU. They don't have the HBCU experience. They went to a lot of the larger Ivy League schools. So one of the things that we have done, we being the African-American community here at Lockheed Martin has put a lot of visibility on historically black colleges and universities under the umbrella of diversity and inclusion. And each of our senior executives here who are African-Americans have chosen an HBCU to be an executive sponsor for. And I'm an executive sponsor for Jackson State University. So because of that, there are a lot of forums where I can give Jackson State the visibility it needs and highlight the employees here at Lockheed Martin who graduated from Jackson State University. And the company here invests in Jackson State through various grants and sponsorships as well as we do a lot of recruiting there as well. So I believe that it will take those graduates from Jackson State to highlight the university or highlight the HBCU that they graduated from to give it the notoriety so that folks can see, hey, there's a successful person who graduated from a historically black university and they don't mind giving back to the university as well. And just to round out, if you had a sister or brother who was shadowing you and they said, how can I be a vice president at Lockheed Martin? How can I get from my HBCU to where you are? What is the number one piece of advice that you would give them to achieve that goal? The number one advice that I would give them is commitment, dedication and hard work is the foundation. I would also tell them to make sure that they take on experiences that make them competitive for the next job. And I'll give them an example of myself, when I take on a job, I always define those three things that I need to accomplish to be successful in that job. Once I do that, I'm ready to move on to the next potential opportunity, but I wanna make sure that I have the experience that's necessary to be competitive. Cause the higher you go up, the more competitive it becomes in the marketplace. So make sure that you're building your skills along the way to be competitive.