 Greetings to all of you HBCU students. On behalf of President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Tony Blinken, and our entire administration, it is my great honor to welcome you to the 12th Annual HBCU Foreign Policy Conference. This conference represents the faith we have in you, the investment we have in you, both as students of today and as leaders of tomorrow. As many of you know, I attended an HBCU, Howard University, which is not far from the White House where I now work. This conference wasn't around then, but I was on the debate team and joined a sorority and interned on the Hill, and I actually ran for my first political office at an HBCU at Howard. I ran for freshman class representative of the Liberal Arts Student Council. And so you see, I like you now that when we attend an HBCU, we learn not only that we have the capacity to be great, but that we have the responsibility to live up to that potential, and you have the responsibility to live up to that potential, and you will to cultivate your talents, to lead with purpose, to make a difference in our nation and in our world, which is why I am so excited to be with you here today. Our world faces incredible challenges, climate change, racial injustice, economic instability, and, of course, a global pandemic. On these challenges, on all things, our foreign and domestic imperatives are intrinsically linked. Our strength at home depends on what we do abroad, restoring our alliances, leading with diplomacy, and supporting international institutions. And that's why we need the brightest minds to forge new partnerships, to advance new policies, and to help solve these challenges. In short, we need you. And you know, the first time Secretary Blinken and I met after we were both sworn in, we talked about you, the students of HBCUs. We talked about how you are the future of the United States State Department, how you are the future of foreign policy. As HBCU students, you have likely learned about the African diaspora. You have likely studied about W.E.B. Du Bois and the Pan-African Conference. You care about civil rights and human rights. You care about lifting people out of poverty. You care about empowering all people, including ethnic minorities, including women, including LGBTQ people. And that's why you are the leaders we need today. As you participate in this conference and continue this work, you will carry on the legacy of Ralph Bunch, a black diplomat who helped craft the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Of Ambassador Andrew Young, who served as executive director to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference before he served as ambassador to the United Nations, and of Ambassador Linda Thomas Greenfield, who will hopefully, by the time you see this, be confirmed as our administration's ambassador to the United Nations. We are counting on you to carry on their legacy, to shape the future with the ideals we all share, democracy, human rights, and the rule of law. We are counting on you to lead. Your nation is counting on you to lead. So thank you for all you have done and all you will do. Enjoy the conference. May God bless you and may God bless the United States of America. Hello, everyone. I'm Tony Blinken, your Secretary of State. And I'm delighted to join you for this year's HBCU Foreign Policy Conference. As you may know, this is the 12th year the State Department has held this conference. I wish we could be together in person, but today's virtual program is terrific. So whether you're joining us from your dorm room, living room, home office, kitchen table, welcome. Vice President Harris and I are thrilled that you're here because we believe deeply that the United States needs the strongest possible foreign policy and national security workforce. We need America's top minds and most committed public servants. And that means you. Historically, black colleges and universities have been raising up generations of American leaders for nearly two centuries. They do outstanding work, mobilizing change in their communities, across the country, and around the world. They're mission-driven institutions, and so are we. That's why we make a good team. For more than 200 years, the State Department has represented America to the world. It's a privilege and a huge responsibility. And it's been possible because of generations of foreign service and civil service employees, including many proud HVCU graduates, some of whom you'll hear from today, who've done the hard work of formulating policy, carrying it out, communicating with other countries, finding solutions to problems, and helping make the United States a more perfect union. At our best, the State Department has been a place where people of all backgrounds, races, ethnicities, genders, religions, and nations of origin have been able to contribute and lead. Diversity makes any organization stronger. And for the State Department, it is literally mission critical. We are representing the United States. We need a workforce that reflects the diverse country that we are. And the challenges we face are significant. We need to make the most of everyone's talents, ideas, and experiences. If you're a student, you'll learn more today about whether a career in diplomacy is right for you. Our diplomats do everything from working with foreign governments on political and economic issues, to helping Americans dealing with problems when they're traveling abroad, to fostering cultural and educational exchanges with people around the world. Whatever you're passionate about, science, law, business, the environment, the arts, there's a good chance you can pursue that passion at State. And if you're here today as faculty, your institution may already have a partnership with the State Department. If not, we'd like to change that and this conference can help us get started. No matter what brings you here, I hope you leave with an even deeper understanding of how foreign policy works and why it matters. Even if it may sometimes feel disconnected from your life, it is actually all about you and your future. Will this planet be safe and healthy for you and your kids? How will we handle the next potential pandemic? What will the global economy be like in 10 years? Will it be providing growth and jobs? How can we protect ourselves from countries or groups that would do us harm? These are just some of the questions foreign policy seeks to answer. The Biden administration has major challenges on our to-do list, bringing an end to COVID-19, addressing the climate crisis, creating a humane and effective immigration system. And we know this, not a single one of these challenges can be met by any one country, even the United States acting alone. We need to find ways to cooperate with other countries. And that's exactly where diplomacy, where diplomats, where the State Department comes in. That's our job, that's our responsibility. And we're committed to delivering results for you and your families. We'll lead with our values because ultimately, foreign policy isn't just something we do. It reflects who we are and who we wanna be. So thank you for your interest in diplomacy. It's a great field. I've dedicated my career to it. We need people like you on our team. So I hope you have a great experience today and I hope to see some of you in the halls of the State Department in the not too distant future. Thank you. Hello everyone and welcome to the HBCUs at State Alumni Panel discussion. My name is Danielle Hawkins and I am a campaign manager in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, Office of Public Affairs and Strategic Communications, a proud alumna of Hampton University and I will be your moderator for today's discussion. I will say that this is a full circle moment for me as I used to be an attendee to this conference as an intern at the State Department and a student at Hampton University. And you all are in for a treat. Today we have four awesome panelists who are here to share with us how their HBCU experience has prepared them for the big stage here at the State Department. They will also provide advice for those who are interested in pursuing a career in international affairs. And for those, this may be an introduction as to what international affairs and diplomacy is. So have no fear. We are also going to be betting questions from the chat box. I have a few questions to get the conversation going but this conference is for you all. So please do not hesitate to share your questions in the box and we will be sure to try our best to answer as many as possible. Things are obviously different this year as we are in a virtual setting due to the COVID-19 global health pandemic. But I think we can all be grateful for this type of platform that allows us to connect with hundreds of HBCU students throughout the country. So grab your pen and paper, your notes app if you're like me and your iPhone or your Android, whatever you use and we are going to go ahead and get this conversation started. Some of the notes that you take today could be helpful for your journey or also a friend, a colleague or faculty who could not attend with us today. So without further ado, I am going to launch the first question for our panelists. So for our panelists, please briefly tell us about yourself. What HBCU did you attend? What is your current role here at the State Department and what is your Bureau's foreign policy, excuse me, foreign policy priorities? And we are going to kick it off with the Fuwa, then we're going to go to Minyang, then we're going to go to Clifton and then Tau'u. And also as we have learned in this virtual setting, don't forget to unmute. Okay, I had the triple check that I was unmuted. Good morning, everybody. My name is a Fuwa River Sim. I hail from the DC, the Washington area. I currently serve as the Bureau of African Affairs digital media coordinator. And what that means is I have the pleasure of training our staff across the continent on all things regarding digital media and social media in order for us to create messaging that's relevant culturally to folks around the continent. I also have had the pleasure of serving in a number of internships across the State Department as well, very much like Danielle. I received my bachelor's in political science from Virginia State University, so Go Trojans. And the Bureau of African Affairs has a few objectives. One of them is to collaborate on health and security issues with our African partners, as well as to advance trade and commercial ties with a number of African states on top of strengthening democratic institutions. So with that, I'll pass it on to Min Young. Hi, thanks, Fuwa. Hello, everyone, and thank you for attending. It is very special for me to be here. I graduated from Winston-Salem State University, but I come from a family that all attended HBCUs, so North Carolina, A&T, Central. My parents went to Johnson C. Smith in Virginia State, cousin to Livingstone in Hampton. So it's really, really special to have HBCU students here today and talk about foreign policy. I joined as a U.S. diplomat in 2006. So I've been serving in the Department of State for about 15 years, eight of those years I served overseas. I've worked in U.S. embassies and consulates in Guadalajara, Mexico, and Younday Cameroon in Manila, Philippines, and my last assignment being the Deputy Public Affairs Officer in Cape Town, South Africa. I've also worked in Washington covering peace issues in Sudan and South Sudan and 21 Caribbean countries as the Western Hemisphere's diplomatic officer for the desk for public affairs. And so they had a range of different experiences in the Foreign Service. It has been a fantastic career opportunity for me. As Afua mentioned, working in the Bureau of African Affairs, we are focused on advancing partnerships between the United States and Africa in health and education, security, and economic development. And so we continue to work towards a safe, secure, and prosperous African continent and partnership between the two of us, between our nations. It has been a real circle for me to become a member of the Foreign Service. My professor at my university once asked me, what did I want to do with my career? And at that point I was a journalist major. I thought I wanted to be a reporter. And his question to me was, do you want to report the news or do you want to make the news? And I thought at that time I could do both. And he said, I really need to think about it. And that question has launched me to where I am now. And so I really attribute my career path to my HBCU and I'm happy to discuss more about what I do as a Foreign Service Officer. So thank you. Good morning, my name is Cliff Jeffery. I'm originally from Mississippi. I am a diplomatic security special agent. Currently I'm assigned to New Orleans as a resident agent in charge of our criminal investigations office. I've been with the department for roughly 13 years. I joined in 2007. Since that time, I've served in Pakistan. I've served in Botswana. I've served in Iraq, Eritrea, Houston, Boston and Syria. So very eclectic, you know, array of the world. So, you know, what diplomatic security does is we're the law enforcement and security arm of the State Department. You know, what we do can be summed up quite easily that we, you know, we allow for the security of foreign policy to be conducted around the world. But what that really looks like in reality can be very different and very robust. The thing that I love about DS is that it simply gives you the opportunity to do so many things throughout your career from criminal investigations to protection, to PII, you can serve in just liaison positions with our DOD colleagues. So it's just, you know, you can spend 20 years in this job and really diversify and not do the same thing very often. So that's been the beauty for me. Once again, I'm a Tougaloo College graduate from Mississippi and my parents also attended an HBCU, All Corn State University. So I like to give them a shout out as well. I just look forward to taking any questions and telling you more about diplomatic security. I'm very passionate about recruiting more minorities than HPC students into the foreign service and diplomatic security in particular. Thanks. Morning everyone. My name is Tyler Shenkel Roberts from Washington, D.C. I attended Morehouse College. My parents actually are HPCU graduates as well. They both attended our university for grad school. I currently am in the Bureau of Southern Central Asian Affairs, I've been in the Foreign Service for about 10 years now. I've worked abroad in Mexico City and Hong Kong and I've had a number of assignments here in Washington, D.C. Again, I mentioned, I've mentioned I'm currently in the Bureau of Southern Central Asian Affairs. There I do, I'm the Public Diplomacy Desk Officer for in the Office of Pakistan Affairs. The Bureau of Southern Central Asian Affairs headed by the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Dean Thompson, deals with U.S. relationships with countries in the Southern Central Asian region, which include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. And it's a very interesting assignment and I'm very happy to be with you all today to kind of share my experience from going to HPCU to join the Foreign Service and my experiences within the Foreign Service. Thank you. Awesome. Thank you all so much for those great introductions. And one may hear our introductions and even read our bios, it may think, what does it take to get there? So that leads me to my next question is, what are some practical goals and tips that people can set right now in college to get to where you all are in your careers? And so this time we can start off with Manyang and then we can go to Clifton and then Tau and then Afua. Sure, that's a great question. Thank you, Danielle. I would say when I attended Winston-Salem State, I tried to involve myself in everything. I double majored, I studied abroad, I cheered all four years, I pledged Delta, I was in SGA, my senior year I was Miss Winston-Salem State, Miss CIAA, I did everything I could. And I recall, you know, folks will tell you college, you know, those are the best four years of your life. And during that time, I would have said that. But now as a US diplomat, I can honestly say this career has been so incredible. It has been far beyond anything I could have imagined. And yeah, so I just wanna start off with that. I would say for me, I was not an international affairs major. I double majored in mass communications in Spanish. And so when I thought about the foreign service and their fellowships that will pay for graduate school, I'm sure we'll touch on that a little bit throughout the day. I applied for one of those fellowships to see if I received the fellowship then it would pay for graduate school. And then I would be dedicated to serving five years in the foreign service. If you pass the foreign service exam, you can continue on into the service. And so that's the path that I took. That being said, I did have to prepare because I wasn't familiar with international affairs and foreign policy or US foreign policy for that matter. So I did a lot of reading of the economist. I audited an international affairs class. The regions that I'm interested in covering Latin America and Africa, I really familiarized myself with their influencers. So really following their news at that time, it was the news but what their leaders were saying, what sort of words they use when they describe their country and what they're doing politically and their partnerships bilateral or otherwise. And so nowadays you can look at Twitter, you can look at Facebook, you can follow influencers in that country. You can sort of take the online foreign service, practice exams and those sorts of things. But I think really familiarizing yourself with the language that's used in foreign policy, staying up to date on what the spokesperson for the White House and the State Department, what do they say when they answer questions about US foreign policy? Those are, I would say my biggest tips for preparing yourself at this point. And I concur with all of that. I do this, I speak to a lot of college students through my collateral duty as a recruiter, especially down around Mississippi and Louisiana. And I'll say that what I consistently tell people is what's really important is getting involved in things in school leadership because oftentimes students will ask me, how can I be competitive coming straight out of school when I'm competing against people who may have been in the job career for five years or 10 years? And what I consistently say is, take advantage of the opportunities that college offers, opportunities for leadership. When I joined the State Department, and they started asking about leadership, it was a little bit easier because I'd served in the reserves in the military. So it gave me the opportunity to take on leadership opportunities. But you can't undervalue opportunities in student organizations, in double-ACP, your fraternities, sorority, student government, residential housing association, and all of those because those leadership experiences are really gonna translate into quantifiable assets for the State Department when you get ready to apply. Secondly, what I generally try to tell people is get involved in fellowships and study abroad programs, things that are going to kind of expand your horizon. And nowadays, DS Public Affairs and State Department Public Affairs, they have gotten so much more robust than they were 10 years ago. And when people say, what can I best do to prepare to be a DS agent? I say, there are so many resources that are on the internet and that are available that are straight from the Department of State because what I tell people is the best and the most prepared candidate is gonna really have a really good appreciation of what we do and what we don't do. Too often people may come away and think, oh, DS agents are intelligence agents. That's not what we do or that we're simply federal law enforcement, but we do so much more. So I think that being a college student, the best thing you can do to prepare yourself is take on leadership opportunities at school, know and learn as much as you can about what the State Department is or whatever, and what those particular offices are that you may wanna be involved in and to take advantage of study abroad programs and things that your school might offer. Yeah, I agree with everything that Cliff and Neil said. I would just add that because you're not a policy or international relations or econ major, does it mean that you can't pursue a career in the foreign service? I think that foreign service officers and civil servants that work at the State Department come from very diverse backgrounds and kind of represent a knowledge base that is diverse as well. So have come and studied a multitude of things in their undergraduate careers. And so if you are an art major or if you are studying some other social science that is unrelated to international relations, I think you still have a lot to offer to the State Department and a profession within foreign affairs. I totally agree with my colleagues. I sit on the civil service side, which pretty much means we're more based usually on the United States. Of course, we have wonderful opportunities to do rotations and travel abroad. But I think just being open on your campus, I remember sometimes you go to the student union and apart from the jumping parties, that little bulletin board on the side where they're like a million pieces of paper about really cool things like study abroad or even just taking an internship locally. So I know at Virginia State we had a really great connection, for example, Congressman Bobby Scott which I was able to do a cool internship through his office, which is, again, more on the local side but all of these kind of little quote unquote things matter all the way to just being a resident assistant. That was probably one of the most helpful preparations to join the government I believe ever because you're already by nature a problem solver, right? Somebody's running and there's like a back door going off someone's sick and you are that leader. You have to lead hundreds of students and be a problem solver. And I honestly still use those skills today, day to day. And so I just wanna make sure that folks sitting on the other side that are HSU students don't discount your experiences and don't belittle them as well. I promise you, I promise you more than likely you've already done some part of form policy whether it's connecting with digital diasporas. For example, the recent Ansar's movement in Nigeria, you just sharing a post and reading more about what's happening on the ground and how that is connected to America. Those are all things that really help you for just to understand kind of what we do here within our roles at the State Department whether you serve on the civil service side or the foreign service side. And I think it just prepares you again way before you have to take any test or send in any application for a really exciting career that you could take part in here at the department. Perfect, thank you all so much. Those were great answers. And I will also like to add that you may be on campus and you may feel like there's not a club for me. I don't see anything that I'm interested in. Boom, that is the opportunity for you to create the change that you would like to see. And that is something that any hiring manager will love to see as well. And also as it relates to internship, do not hesitate to start early. You don't have to be a junior. You could be a freshman. People are starting earlier on. And even if it's just something for two weeks or if it's a summer abroad somewhere or as Afua mentioned, somewhere locally any experience is experienced. Do not discount yourself and thinking, hmm, well, this may not be what they're looking for because it very well may be something that the hiring manager is indeed looking for. And so so far we've discussed like the goals and how to get there. And then so we graduate, we get our degree and then it's like, okay. It's time to move as a big girl, a big boy whatever you want to call it and pursue our careers. And so how would you all explain what that transition looks like between your HBCU to the State Department? Because at our HBCUs, we can look around and we see a lot of people who look like us and very well in the, when you're at work you may be in meetings where you may be one and that's it. So how does that look like? And was there a culture shock in any way? So we can start off with Tahu. Yeah, there was a bit of a culture shock. I grew up in Washington, DC, which is, you know when I was growing up majority black I went to DC public schools and then went to Morehouse. And then my first kind of experience in a predominant white environment was when I studied I did my graduate degree at Princeton. And so that was like the first taste of something outside of kind of something like an experience or an environment that I wasn't used to in terms of the racial makeup of the folks that were there. And then joining the foreign service, you know I joined the foreign service right after being at Princeton University. So it was kind of my first career my first professional opportunity. So not only had to kind of learn how to maneuver navigate this kind of environment that is much different than the ones that I grew up in but had to learn how to kind of speak and find my professional voice within that space as well. And so there were some challenges that I faced in terms of trying to kind of understand kind of how I maneuver and navigate within that world. But I would say that my experience at Morehouse and your experiences before that in DC public schools with while they weren't they didn't have the same kind of racial diversity or makeup that one might experience in an institution like the State Department. They did teach me about myself, my history in a way that kind of made me proud made me understand kind of my seat at the table my value at when I'm in spaces that may feel uncomfortable or just kind of generally kind of what I offer or bring to the world, right? And so while the cultural makeup of the institution that I work in now is much different than the ones that, you know, in which I grew up, you know, I think I, you know, my experience at Morehouse kind of, you know, kind of gave me the confidence I needed to be able to show up in a way that has made me successful within the foreign service. Awesome, Min Young. Sure, I love that answer. I think that's absolutely right. And I want to touch on something, Daniel that you mentioned when it comes to taking initiative. You know, I often talk to young individuals who are interested in the foreign service and they may have studied abroad. They may have been a part of an organization but they didn't take on any leadership roles. And what I find now is joining the foreign service is so competitive. You know, they're looking for individuals who have not only traveled to Mexico but maybe you started a drive to collect sanitary pads for young women and collected over a thousand and gave them out to small communities really showcase your impact in everything you do. What did your role in that position do for the people around you? And that's what the foreign service and the State Department is looking for when we talk about joint different initiatives not just participate but how did you impact that position? For me, Winston-Salem State was a great launching pad. I mean, as a U.S. diplomat you're working all over the world. You're working with communities from different ethnic, religious, a social economic backgrounds. And so coming in as a young person, I started when I was 26, coming in I really felt like when we're talking about how do we message about Ramadan this year? How do we talk about the issues that happened? You know, the death of George Floyd. How do we discuss female genital mutilation in Cameroon? What do we need to say publicly about this issue? Being a woman who attended the HBCU I really felt comfortable and confident like Tows had sitting at those tables offering suggestions on how we as the U.S. government represent ourselves on those particular issues. And so I have found that serving as a U.S. diplomat, you know, if we don't have people who attended HBCUs at that table, oftentimes issues that affect communities that look like ours or that are minority communities can get missed. In Cameroon, for instance, I'll give this one example. We had the opportunity to provide a grant to the country that would support the development and preservation of culture. And I discovered that in Cameroon, after talking to some of my local colleagues, there was a slave port in Cameroon. I never knew that. I thought all the slave ports were in West Africa, but the slave port had, you know, been dilapidated. The buildings were down. They had shackles and they had different things, but they were under a lot of brush and brush and it just wasn't at par for people to come see it. So I wrote the grant, I received the funding and we worked closely with the minister of culture and two years later, that slave port is now available for individuals in the United States who traced their ancestry to Cameroon to go see that slave port. And it's also a place of economic development for the country. These are the sorts of initiatives that you can support in a country that help build partnerships between the United States and that country. And I think having our voice at the table allows us to take advantage of those in ways that other people may not see value. Clifton, you can jump in if you like. Yeah, I'll give it from a different perspective if you're asking about culture shock and transitioning from an HBCU to the State Department. I looked at it as being in an HBCU really built my confidence but when I got ready to start working in State Department and especially working overseas with colleagues I looked at my HBCU experience and just the experience of a minority in America really as an asset because through life we really learn how to navigate a society as a minority. I've had colleagues who came out to AF in African countries and it was their first time being a minority in a country and you could see the disconnect and as a minority it was kind of like, oh, I'm used to this. I've spent my life being the minority in a room so I don't have the same level of discomfort because that's what I was raised in. So I think that that is a benefit. And also I will say one culture shock that I did get is once again, serving in AF as a black American is just seeing so many black people in that country in leadership positions, whether they're the president, the foreign minister and you're saying you see people that look like you who are running countries and running governments and from an academic standpoint, you know sitting in New Orleans, I know that there are people in Botswana or Eritrea who are running governments but to actually be in that environment and interact with them, I mean, it was a much different experience. So I would say, if I had to talk about the other kind of culture shock simply being in a place and knowing your value that you contribute because I think as black Americans we're often kind of, and it may be even subconsciously pushed into thinking that we don't offer or we can't offer as much as the guy who went to Princeton or the guy who went to Yale but you do, you offer, you know you are, you know, I think an HPC really emphasizes that you have that same level of education you have that same level of intellect and your decisions and your opinions while you're sitting at that table whether it's with a foreign country or with country team at an embassy your opinions are just as valid and just as important. So that's kind of what I would take on kind of the transition from HPCU to working in state. Alrighty, if you have anything. Definitely, everyone raised amazing points. I definitely would say, you know on the campuses of all of these HPCUs I think some of the reasons why I chose them were because they provided a nurturing that I just I didn't kind of get that same energy on a variety of other campuses that I personally had toured. And so within that nurturing environment I feel like the professors, staff, et cetera really help you just understand kind of and be grounded in your blackness at a rate in which maybe you weren't able to do before depending on what city or area you come from. And so I think that confidence has definitely kind of allowed me to just kind of live my truth whether that's, you know again, whether it's speaking in a professional manner and a personal manner as a diplomat whether you're a civil servant or a foreign servant you are considered a diplomat wherever you go. And so interestingly enough after undergrad after Virginia State I actually had an opportunity to intern at our US Embassy in Mauritania in the walk shop. My family is from Ghana, West Africa, I'm first generation and I had never even heard of Mauritania. I remember like my college advisor at the time Dr. Baker was just like he like Googled it one day in his office. He was just like, do you know what's happening? Like, is it safe and da da da da da da da da da da da da? And I don't know. I think the rebel in me was just like, let's go. Like there, you know let's definitely take on this opportunity. You know, I had that same encouragement on the campus of Virginia State University. So, you know, I kind of again embodied that. And I think I've, I mean I've had a wonderful experience in Mauritania. I think I found a little bit more about myself during that internship in the sense that it was just an amazing and almost like surreal opportunity to be able to see almost a melding of African-West African culture as well as kind of the Maghreb culture. And it wasn't anything I had learned about prior in particular, but I will say, you know whether I was an intern, you know being able to, you know escort our ambassador or our deputy chief of mission on a trip. Every time they would see kind of this short you know, African-American woman and be like, oh, like what's your story? How did you end up here? And then, you know, just being able to, you know just connect on a level of just being again from African lineage, you know they're asking me about, oh do you know about Kwame and Kruman all of these amazing leaders? And, you know, of course thanks to my amazing family but also kind of further strengthen at, you know institutions like Virginia State and in particular HBCUs where we learned that I mean, as soon as we come in, right? Freshman year, some of that knowledge really, I mean, began conversations with diplomats from under other countries which I never thought I probably would have used but yeah, I think just again being open to new opportunities even if you're scared, I also will say you know, as you are transitioning from your HBCU into whatever it is you're going to do next for example, if you're coming over to the State Department I like to say that like there's always a connect. So I say that in the sense of whether it's you going to your alumni affairs office or you through maybe a sorority or fraternity even through a church reaching out and saying, hey do you know if there's any alum from X, Y and Z institution and or HBCU that you could connect me to prior to me starting and just you making that connection up front even before you start you already kind of you already have kind of that previous information just in terms of, you know what's the language, what's the culture what's how should I dress the first day things of that nature the HBCU community is strong and we know that I mean, we can swag surf anywhere, right? Like so, you know, utilize it to your benefit professionally and personally. Awesome. Those are amazing answers and I do want to continue to encourage our students to put their questions in the chat. I'm going to ask one more question and then I will fill questions from the box. So in this new social media day and age oftentimes millennials and Generation Z may find themselves reading comments about HBCUs versus PWIs and how sometimes we may hear that our degrees don't hold as much value as those who may have attended Princeton or Harvard. So what advice would you give to someone who is feeling like, did I make the right decision? Does my degree hold value? I think this will be beneficial for a lot of people as this discussion even me seeing on social media pops up multiple times, maybe a month and throughout the year. So we can kick it off with Minyang and then we can go over to Clifton. Absolutely. I mean, I think speaking of this social media world we live in we are all on equal footing no matter where you go to school when it comes to receiving information. I mean, Harvard isn't going to get any more information on what's going on in South Sudan than I would at Winston-Salem State. So I would say no matter where you go to school it's important to really get involved and take on positions that will allow you to stretch yourself and grow. In the foreign service in particular you're often speaking in front of foreign audiences you're speaking to the press as a public diplomacy officer. I speak a lot to journalists in Cameroon it was in French, in Mexico, it's in Spanish. And so really honing in on your language skills honing in on your ability to communicate about US foreign policy will serve you no matter where you go to school. And what I've noticed is that when you're sitting on a table and you're the only one who attended an HBCU as long as you can talk about the policy you have been keeping up with the news you can anticipate what's going on in the country. One interesting story a friend of mine would get her hair braided in Ghana and because she was getting her hair braided she's getting her hair braided. She's there for six or seven hours. And so she's listening to conversations from local women that are talking about something that's coming up something political that she should know about. She went back to the embassy and she could report on that. And so I think any experience as long as you can really advance yourself in becoming an expert in a language become an expert in a region become an expert on different topics or issues whether it's security or educational policy or human rights or climate change you're gonna be valuable no matter where you go. That's the State Department or anywhere else. Yeah, I'll chime in on that. And it's an interesting question because I actually transferred from a PWI to Tougalou and that's where I got my degree from. It was an HPCU. Minyong was spot on especially where their point about Harvard is gonna teach you the same thing that Tougalou is gonna teach you. At the end of the day what I found in my experience is it's about leveraging your network. And so if I were speaking to some undergrads what I would let them know is it's important to reach out to your alumni. And because we are all HPCU grads you really have more of an extensive alumni because I guarantee you any graduate of an HPCU is going to be more than willing and helpful in helping you achieve whatever your endeavors are whether you decide to come to the State Department or whatever you wanna do. So coming from an HPCU one you have a huge network of people who are there and wanting to support you. Secondly, coming from a PWI to a HPCU it was night and day for me. I found an environment where my professors really wanted me to learn and they were invested in my success. I remember Dr. Rosman telling me, hey, did you apply for this? Did you apply for that? Did you meet this deadline? So they are pushing you to exhale. I told my political science department found out that I was interested in foreign affairs and we had never done the Model United Nations Conference at Tougaloo. But he said, hey, if you're interested in doing that let's put it together and that's what we did. And so we put together a team that went up to New York and participated in Model United Nations Conference. I just think that an HPCU gives you so much in relation to support network that if you leverage those resources you can get to wherever you wanna get to. I don't think that an HPCU when you're sitting in around that country team table or you're sitting in a meeting in the State Department nobody's gonna look at you and say, oh, he went to an HPCU. I think that the real key is using those HPCU contacts to get to the goals that you wanna achieve. Awesome, thank you so much. And so I'm seeing a lot of questions from the chat box about study abroad opportunities. And I do wanna let you all know today that at 1.15 p.m. the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs will be able to provide more information about study abroad opportunities, which there are a ton. This is the Bureau I work in and there are a lot of opportunities that I think would be beneficial for you all as students. So as I go to the box we have a specific question for Afua. She says that at Howard we have 450 students taking African language courses this semester and another 400 plus taking African study courses. How can we engage with your office to help create digital media campaigns for the US embassies that really connect with African publics? That's an amazing question. That is a phenomenal question. And first Kudos to Howard first and foremost my father went there, first PhD. So I'm a bison by lineage I think that's what I tell myself at least. But I mean, I love the language program at Howard especially because again being first gen it's kind of easy to kind of easy to see on kind of the state side. We're coming from various countries our parents are at least and sometimes they don't have the time and are the full resources to truly get into teaching us from being learning written, for example, Chi or Amharic or things like that. So to be able to strengthen your African language knowledge at Howard phenomenal. I personally would love, love, love to connect with you to carry out this digital campaign that hopefully can really just inspire the world and let folks know all around the world especially within our community about not only just the importance of African languages but how we kind of allow those to live on, right? And so I am happy to share my information in the chat and I'm also on LinkedIn, feel free to slide my DMs there. I'm always happy to connect with folks that are eager and willing to contribute to our foreign policy as it pertains to anywhere but especially as I work in the Bureau of African Affairs right now. Awesome. And so our next question is, I'm assuming that this person is interested in pursuing a career in the foreign service and they're asking, how did you go about preparing for the test? So Tau or Mignon, if you would like to take that on, go ahead. Tau, there you go. Yeah. So I studied for it. There's a number of resources online that can help you prepare for it. I'd like to note that I joined the foreign service through a fellowship program called the Thomas R Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship. And so it had a number of resources as well that kind of helped me prepare for the foreign service test both the oral and the written portion of the exam. But I think that the stuff that you learn in school is very helpful for preparing you for the exam. You can read in the newspaper is also really helpful because it asks you about current events, not just in terms of things happening in the international relations sphere, but in pop culture as well. Watching television, though that's dissuaded or not encouraged, but your parents potentially could be really helpful watching the news and understanding kind of how conversations are happening around particular issues. But as I mentioned online, there's a number of resources that will share approaches to preparing for those two exams that are a part of joining the foreign service. And they kind of outline in very good detail kind of what to expect when you get to those tests. I mean, I would just add to what Tal said. The website careers.state.gov covers all the information you need to know about a specialist, civil servants, and foreign service. As a foreign service officer, the first step is to choose a career path. You wanna be a public diplomacy officer, a consular officer, an economic officer, a political officer, or a management officer. As foreign service officers in the field, there are five cones or career tracks that we can choose. So really look at all five and decide which one is best for you. They're three times a year when the written exam is how mentioned are scheduled. I believe it's February, June, and October. And so you would sign up to take the written exam during one of those months. It's, I think, offered for a period of time during those months. Tal covered some of the things that will be on the written exam. They'll ask you sort of human resource questions. They'll ask you questions about American culture, American policy, geographic questions about the world, not being a foreign service sort of specialist when I came in, you know, being a communications major. I really outlined a timeline in US politics, you know, starting from the presidents, which president chronologically focused on which type of domestic and foreign policy goals. So then if I got a question about what happened in, you know, sort of 1864, then I could say, okay, this was this administration. They were likely focused on this issue. So I could sort of determine based on that the multiple choice, what, how to answer that question. So just developing that timeline for me was helpful. So it painted a better picture for me, not being someone who was an international fair student. Once you pass the written exam, you're then invited to go on to take the oral exam. The oral exam, and it's an exam where you're in a room with several other interested young people, older people who are thinking about the foreign service, they'll group you together and ask you questions that will really ascertain what we call the 13 dimensions, your judgment, your ability to analyze different information, your ability to look at different patterns and trends, your interpersonal skills, your communication. And so during the course of that oral exam, which is about five hours, if not longer, they'll look at you in a group setting and an individual setting and then give you a writing prompt. And so, you know, there's lots of information on careers.state.gov that goes over the written exam and the oral exam. If you're interested, after the oral exam, if you pass it, you'll then be asked to take a security clearance, look at your medical background and your medical clearance to make sure you can travel around the world and your health will not be impacted if you travel and live in different places. And once those two are clear, I would say when you think about your security clearance, really think about what you're doing online, what you're posting online, if you have a previous DUI or any trouble with the law, it is less likely that you will pass a security clearance. So keep your social media clean, watch what other people tag you in, what you send to people. That's all important when they do that background check because they'll talk to your friends, your family members, your school teachers, and often you might not know who they get in contact with. So if you're known as a person who gets drunk at every party, that's not gonna look good on your security clearance. So really try to keep that in mind. And once you pass your security and medical clearance, then you are asked to be a part of the register, depending on how well you did on the exams, you'll be higher on the list. If you come in with a hard language that can speak Mandarin, if you speak Farsi, you'll be a little higher on the list. And if they need you that year, you have 18 months to be called into the Foreign Service once you're on that list. So during that time, you can continue working, you can continue studying in graduate school, whatever you might be doing until you get assigned a position to start training as a U.S. Foreign Service Officer. But all of these things as Tal and I mentioned are on careers.state.gov if you want more information on that. Thank you. Oh, go ahead Tal. Yeah, I was just gonna add that when you register for the test now, we asked us to submit six personal narratives and between the written and bold exams, those narratives will be kind of reviewed through like a qualifications evaluation panel. So those are really important as well because you can pass the written test and be, and I guess not be invited to take the oral based off of the information that you provide in those personal narratives and on the essay that you write during the written exam. Awesome, thank you all so much. And I do believe that check the program schedule, there will be, I believe a panel or a discussion of one-on-one about careers at state. Our next question I would like for one of our panelists to answer, somebody is asking, would you say attending graduate school is beneficial for someone who is seeking a career in international affairs? And Clifton, you could take this one on. Well, specifically for, I'm gonna let my FSO colleagues kind of speak the FSO world, but for diplomatic security, it's not required. I think that there are people, there's a percentage of people who go that route. I went to law school before joining on with state and joined state fairly shortly after graduating from law school. But I know that for diplomatic security, it's not. I think that the things that graduate school might offer you are gonna be one, writing exposure. I can't underestimate or I'm sorry, understate the importance of good written products. And I think that's one thing that law school gave me, analytical skills, critical thinking skills. For us, graduate school is really only going to probably give you the additional skill sets that you might need that would make you a competitive candidate, but it's not required in and of itself. And Maynion, did you wanna add to that as far as it be, okay. No, I mean, it's the same. It's not required to join the foreign service. I would actually encourage young people before they jump into a career in the foreign service to think about going to law school to get your graduate degree, to work in the field to have some other experience. Because once you start, it's often sort of hard to stop a career in the foreign service and go back and get that law degree or that MBA. So I would encourage you to continue with your field of study, but it is not required. Awesome. Our next question is for Clifton specifically. Is there an age limit for diplomatic security? I am a retired law enforcement officer. Yes, yes, there is. The age limit for DS is you have to be 21 by the time of appointment or under the age of 37. There is an exception for military in essence. If you served four years active military, you can buy back four years for retirement purposes and come in four years later so you can extend that 37. And that's really just because it's federal law enforcement. So all federal law enforcement is generally going to be between the ages of 21 and 37 unless you have that military exemption or unless if you are transferring from another federal agency with what we call 1811 status. Awesome, thank you. So for our next question, we are currently in a virtual setting, which has almost been a year when you think about it as kind of crazy. And so a lot of times students may think, how can we network in this virtual setting? And so I wanna ask Afua if you can share with us some advice that you would share to students who don't know how to go about networking in this virtual setting. It's not as easy as seeing an email or seeing somebody face to face at a career fair. Now we have to utilize technology. So over to you. For sure, thank you. No, it's a great question. I kind of consider myself a digital nomad, especially because I work in kind of social media and digital media, but I think although we're unable to, for example, have conversations over coffee or kind of meet with others at kind of conferences and things like that, I honestly say, use this opportunity to your advantage. And so for example, there have been a number of conferences just like this that have gone virtual. And through that, you are more than likely in some cases potentially able to connect and or just see kind of names of folks and kind of hear about their stories a lot more compared to you, maybe just being able to network with five people at an in-person conference, right? And so folks also, as we know, kind of our society has kind of shifted a lot more online, just even through our personal lives. So I think almost like every family member might have like their own Zoom, my three-year-old niece probably has her own Zoom, who knows. And so that just makes everyone a lot more accessible. And so I think that allows folks to kind of hopefully just create a level playing field, right? So you may not feel as if you can write a director of a particular office that you might have a niche understanding in, but try LinkedIn and just see what happens. Potentially they have more time to read your messages now compared to prior, when before COVID, right? Folks were running around and traveling a lot more, but we are listening to CDC guidelines and trying to stay in and quarantine and things of that nature. And so folks might have a little bit more time on their hands, I know I surely do. So definitely, definitely, definitely use this time to your advantage. I know we culturally say, slide in people's DMs, but professionally do it. LinkedIn, sometimes Facebook, what have you. Use your resources, use your networks to the best that you can while we are kind of hunkered down, trying to kind of ride through the wave of COVID. Awesome. My next question is for Mignon. Are there any conversion programs for civil service to foreign service? That might be a better question for a civil service officer, but yes, there are several. I'm not sure there's still the Pathways program, but maybe I'll hand it over to a viewer to speak more about that. Yeah, yeah, now there thankfully has been an increasing number of opportunities for not only students, but also folks that come in through the civil service, I guess, type of employment to actually transition into the foreign service. So one way I was actually a Pathways intern. So during my graduate studies at George Mason University, they created an internship called the Pathways program and that allows you to work as well as go to graduate studies, mine were at night to get your education. I think that was a wonderful opportunity for me to really learn and be able to do things such as writing papers on topics that maybe I wanted to dig up a little bit more on on a particular foreign policy theme and get some critique on it. During graduate school, some Pathways internships are, excuse me, paid. So definitely a wonderful way to kind of just help transition yourself again from being a student into kind of a young kind of adult within kind of beginning your career. So please, please, please look at them because they're wonderful opportunities that I think are usually, for lack of a better term, slept on. And so there's also a program that they kind of used to call the Mustang program. I think they've kind of opened it up now, but recently, I believe a few months ago, they actually increased the number of folks that are able to transition while being a civil servant and to kind of transition into the foreign service. This wasn't an opportunity as such a great percentage before. And so, I know folks sometimes may get a little nervous in terms of trying to come in through the civil service side because USA Jobs might seem like a galaxy of its own. However, trying to enter the civil service, of course you have to go through USA Jobs and submit an application to get rid of some of those nerves, kind of a side tip. Again, lean on that network, right? Do you know anyone who might be in government service of any kind that might be able to help you through understanding how the platform works and understanding how the application works. And so, doing kind of little things like that to ensure that along the way, your nervousness doesn't take over and you really take in some of these opportunities because we truly need you. So, yeah, that's what I say. Awesome. And I would also like to add that there are opportunities that if you do pursue foreign service and you think, huh, you start to build your family and it's getting a little challenging moving your family from country to country, there are opportunities that people pursue civil service so they can kind of be stationary for a little bit. So, there are opportunities for both situations. Our next question is for Clifton. This person wants to know, did you take the bar exam before joining the foreign service? Yes, I did take the bar exam. I actually applied for a DS my third year before my third year of law school and I ended up interviewing. I took the bar in July and ended up interviewing in later July. So, yes, I did. Awesome. And so, we're almost, well, we're at our last question. These have been great. We received a lot of questions from the chat box. So, I have one more question that I would like all of the panelists to answer and that is when you look at yourself and where you are now, what would you tell your college age self? And we can start off with Tau, we'll go to Clif and then we'll go to Minyang and then we'll complete with Afua. I'm actually going to start by kind of talking about pathways to join to the foreign service. I mentioned earlier one of the responses to the questions about my being a Thomas, our Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellow and I don't think we've spent enough time talking about those different fellowships. So, there's two, there's a Pickering Fellowship and then there's the Charles Rangel Fellowship, they're both administered by Howard University and they are meant to attract, prepare outstanding young people like yourselves to careers in the foreign service. So, I would look more into those opportunities at careers.state.gov, if you're interested in joining the foreign service because they're wonderful opportunities that will help pay for school, both undergrad and grad school, I'm sorry, and then guarantee you a spot in the foreign service after a number of other program components. So, I'm sorry, and my response to that, I forgot the question. No, you're fine, that was great information because oftentimes people are not aware of those programs and the affordability that comes along with it. So, thank you so much for adding that. The question is, as you look at where you are now in your career and all of the experiences that you've had to get to this point, what would you tell your college age self? What is some advice that you will provide to yourself in undergrad? Just to keep hustling, keep grinding, know that you're worthy, know that you're enough, that you're about, that you're opinion and your perspective is valued and that you deserve a seat at the table, period. All right, Cliff, you can go next. All right, I think, says I'm unstable. I hope you can hear me. One thing that I would say is the most important thing that I've realized is the value of mentorship. When I was in undergrad, I didn't have a lot of mentors, I didn't reach out to try to solicit mentors, but through this job, I realized that mentors are critically important. I didn't come from a family or a network of people who were involved in the State Department. So, just learning how to navigate the State Department required mentorship, people who could tell you what you should be doing, what you shouldn't be doing. If to talk, to kind of aim that toward college students, I would say, look at where you wanna go and have a mentor at every level along that journey. So, if you're looking at a certain career and it takes going to med school or going to a graduate program, have a mentor that's in graduate school, have a mentor that's early in their career of whatever chosen career field you want, have a mentor that's mid-career, have a mentor that's seeing your career because they're all gonna provide very, very different perspectives and it's all gonna be valuable. I would also say piggybacking on Mignon's point, I've gotta kind of throw this pitch for the law enforcement and security side and also DS is the Bureau that does background investigations. When I was growing up, social media wasn't as big of a thing as it is now and nothing on social media dies. So, I won't say, I won't recommend and tell people what they should or should not post online. I would simply say, whatever you post online, be prepared to support that in the open should you get called on it because I can tell you that often times, whether you're going to a new office or whether you're applying for a job, people are looking at your social media profile because your social media profile can actually become a liability for that company or the US government. And lastly, as it was already stated, build networks, your network is gonna be important. I think that in this COVID environment, she was absolutely right. It's a perfect time in network because you can stay in touch with people. I used to do recruitment events where I would go and speak to 50 people at a college and once you walk away, then that's it. That's the last contact that you get with that recruiter or that employer. But now, if you talk to someone on LinkedIn or you talk to someone on Facebook or whatever these platforms are, you have the ability to stay in touch. So leverage your networks. Now, I absolutely agree with everything that was said. I would say interesting enough, when I was in college, I attended a Peace Corps meeting and thought to myself, oh, two years abroad and the Peace Corps is way too long. I'm from a small town in North Carolina. I'm very close to my family. That's too long for me. And then I studied abroad for a semester and realized, you know what? I can do this. So I would say, no matter what you're thinking about doing as far as your major, your career, take on internships and opportunities outside of that just to test yourself to see if, is that actually what I wanna do? Am I actually fearful of this? But that's not really the reality. So really broaden. This is a time while you're in college to just say, I'm interested in engineering, but also a little bit of law. Let me take on some internships in both so I can decide if this makes the most sense for me. I would say, one of the things that I wish I had done differently is I used to think I was such a big child, I was giving people my business card, I was sending people my resume, but often what I've learned over the years as someone now who looks at hiring individuals is I'm not looking at your whole list of accomplishments. I wanna know what you can do for me. You have to really sell yourself, but in order to do that, you have to do the research on what that company needs. What is the foreign policy of the United States right now under this administration? What are their top priorities? What are they looking for? Do you have the skills in your back pocket and the experiences to be to offer something to this current administration, to this foreign policy? And I think that's where we, I know I fell short because I thought I was just sort of selling all of my great things that I've done, but that's not narrow enough for what a lot of companies are looking for. How can you help them? How can you fill their gaps? And so that requires research on your end. What are they looking for? What are their mission goals? What are their objectives? And do I have that background? And if not, how do I feel that background so that I'm prepared? And just reading, I mean, in graduate school, you know, you're so busy with so many things that you often say, oh, I'm gonna put off reading that book I'll just read the clip notes or the short version, but honestly, you only hurt yourself. So read as much as you can, your assignments that elsewhere and otherwise I would say that's what I probably would have focused on a little more if I could go back and tell my younger self. Awesome, yeah. And I definitely agree with my fellow panelists. I'll also say, you know, something I would tell my college age self would be to, you know, kind of step out of my comfort zone, as a lot of folks said. You know, I thought that, you know, being first gen, you know, I would greatly understand the entire continent of Africa and every day that I come to work, I am learning something new. And so just because, you know, you have spent time kind of honing in either on a particular region or topic, always be open to new opportunities. I'll also say hashtag secure the bag. You guys, there is so much free money to study abroad for internships and really cool things that honestly, I mean, you can find on our college campus right now. I promise you, you can. Whether it's through your career center, them knowing about study abroad programs, sometimes it's just going to your department chair and saying what opportunities that, you know, might have funding already that I could take part in or apply for. So please make sure you guys secure the bag and be your own plug. Another thing I would say is, you know, when you're applying to these positions and these opportunities, you know, Isare said, you know, network across, right? And so something that I, you know, have been so grateful for at the State Department is to be able to have friends and colleagues such as Tau and Danielle, who, you know, are always just like, you know, I'm applying for this thing. Let me know if I can look over this thing. Or if I'm ever having imposter syndrome, you know, them hyping me up or something in the back of the office. Those things matter. Those things matter so much. So don't only get yourself through the door. Bring your friends along as well. It doesn't matter. You know, I like to say at the State Department, we have a position for everybody. So we need nurse practitioners. We need doctors. We need security specialists. We need teachers. We need so many people, including our folks in the IT sector. Like, come, come, come. We need all of you guys. And so even if you're not majoring in policy or public policy or what have you, there is a home here for you. And I know, you know, I kind of will commit to my fellow colleagues, you know, we are used for us, you know, through our LinkedIn's and social media, et cetera, to help you find what that path could look like for you. And with that, yeah, I say, thank you. Awesome. It is our hope that you all have just really felt empowered from today's panel discussion. And if there is one thing that I could tell my college age self is, go after it all. You may not get every accomplishment. You may not get every job, but when you, the first step that you can take is just submitting the resume. And even if you don't get it, you still have exposed your name to another network and you never know how that opportunity could come full circle where somebody says, you know what, I remember your name from this position. Here's another opportunity. So sometime, and I'm speaking to myself, we psych ourselves out and we're thinking that we aren't qualified, but we are more than qualified. And it's just about taking that first step that will open a door of opportunity. So it's applied to as many internships, as many scholarships, and you just never know what doors may open. And so as we close here today, all of us are available on LinkedIn. We're very active there. So you can see our names on the program schedule if you would like to reach out on LinkedIn. We would love to hear from you. Mentorship is probably one of the reasons why we've all excelled in our career. So we have no problem paying it forward to our fellow HBCU students. And I will also encourage you all to please follow Engage State on Twitter. Also use the hashtag HBCUs at state, even if it's on Twitter or Instagram or if you're posting to your Instagram story, share with your peers what you have learned today. You never know how the information that you received today could be impactful for someone else. So with that being said, thank you so much to our awesome panelists. This was amazing. We're still thriving and striving even in the midst of a global pandemic. So this has been great. Thank you everyone. Thank you. Take care. Thank you, Danielle. Bye everybody. Bye. Take care. Yeah.