Hello, and thank you for this opportunity. I am Brooklyn Oliver, a second-year student at Florida A&M University, majoring in business administration. I am interested in the marketing sector of business because of its growing importance in the success of small businesses. My interest in business began in middle school, but it did not start to fully pique my interest until high school. In high school, I was enrolled in a work-study program that allowed me to attend school four days during the week and work at a job site one day throughout the week to help cover my private school tuition costs. Through my high school’s work-study program, I completed internships for companies such as Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) Chicago, The Invert Chicago, and the BP Whiting Refinery. These experiences showed me the challenges unique to small businesses, specifically black-owned businesses. There was a significant gap between the marketing resources for successful companies and those for companies that were unsuccessful in their launch. I took this into account when deciding the careers I was interested in. Those experiences taught me the importance of marketing when trying to generate new customers, revenue, and a good reputation for a company that is new to the market. Seeing the importance of marketing for these companies has inspired me to pursue a degree in business administration. I plan to use my degree to gain experience in marketing within various industries such as fashion, retail, and food service, which are very popular in the black community, so that I can understand what good marketing strategies look like and what they include. According to the 2024 Association of National Advertisers (ANA) diversity report, Black professionals represent just 7.2% of marketers, with the highest percentage employed at the admin/clerical level and the lowest in senior and upper mid-level roles. Once I am further in my career, I want to create a nonprofit organization that assists black-owned businesses with their marketing strategies and materials at a reduced rate. I want to offer clients services such as personalized social media marketing plans, bulk marketing materials at a reduced flat rate per unit, statewide conventions for members to network with each other and donors, and an in-house collaboration space that reduces cost for work meetings and events. Experience is the foundation of what makes a good company, and it is my goal to gain as much experience in the business world as possible, which I can use to pour back into the businesses I help. It is necessary to help businesses because of their economic benefit and because small-owned businesses are the heart of keeping communities together and maintaining opportunities our ancestors fought hard for us to receive. I aspire for my career to leave a positive legacy and set the tone for many future generations to pay the kindness forward.

Hello, and thank you for this opportunity. I am Brooklyn Oliver, a second-year student at Florida A&M University, majoring in business administration. I am 18 years-old; the youngest of five siblings and I am from the south suburbs of Chicago. I enjoy painting, crocheting, working out, and being an aunt to many nieces and nephews. I chose business administration as my major because I see the disparity of resources, investment and opportunity between large companies versus small businesses, especially black-owned small businesses and how it directly correlates to the success and many times failure of that business. My interest in business began in middle school, but it did not start to fully pique my interest until high school. In high school, I was enrolled in a work-study program that allowed me to attend school four days during the week and work at a job site one day throughout the week to help cover my private school tuition costs. Through my high school’s work-study program, I completed internships for companies such as Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) Chicago, The Invert Chicago, and the BP Whiting Refinery. These experiences showed me the challenges that many businesses face, and the impact marketing has on a company. My internship allowed me to do research on small businesses and I found that there is a significant gap between the marketing resources for successful companies and those for companies that were unsuccessful in their launch. I took this into account when deciding the careers I was interested in. Seeing the importance of marketing for these companies has inspired me to pursue a degree in business administration. I plan to use my degree to gain experience in marketing within various industries such as fashion, retail, and food service, which are very popular in the black community, so that I can understand what good marketing strategies look like and what they include. Once I am further in my career, I want to create a nonprofit organization that assists black-owned businesses with their marketing strategies and materials at a reduced rate. I want to offer clients services such as personalized social media marketing plans, bulk marketing materials at a reduced flat rate per unit, statewide conventions for members to network with each other and donors, and an in-house collaboration space that reduces cost for work meetings and events. Experience is the foundation of what makes a good company, and it is my goal to gain as much experience in the business world as possible, which I can use to pour back into the businesses I help. It is necessary to help businesses because of their economic benefit and because small-owned businesses are the heart of keeping communities together and maintaining opportunities our ancestors fought hard for us to receive. I aspire for my career to leave a positive legacy and set the tone for many future generations to pay the kindness forward.