March 29, 2022 • 32 mins
Today host Louis Carr speaks with Forest Harper, President and CEO at INROADS. INROADS is a non-profit organization founded in 1970 by Frank C. Carr to fix the lack of ethnic diversity in corporate America. INROADS originally launched with only 25 interns working at 17 sponsoring corporations in the Chicago area.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
I'm Loosecar, host of the Blueprint Connect podcast. The Blueprint
Connect podcast is an extension of a blueprint man, something
where we have consistently given men a prescription for growth,
not just for themselves, but also for their families and
their communities. During these podcasts, we will educate and motivate
our listeners about entrepreneurship, careers, finance, and health and wellness
(00:28):
and even relationships. Today's guest is President and CEO Forest
Harper of Inroads, the nation largest internship program for students
of color. Welcome for us. Thank you, Lewis. It's a
pleasure to be here in this game. Change your UH
(00:51):
scenario that you've created over time. I really appreciate it
and I'm humbled to the opportunity well for us. I've
been looking forward to this because we're gonna talk about
something to day which is is a passion for me,
and that is giving UH students of color not only
opportunities but mentorship for the future, shaping their lives in
(01:16):
a very special way. And in Roads have been doing
it for over fifty years. That us about the in
Road program and and how it got started and where
it exists, and because you know some people have heard
of it. A lot of people have it, but we
want to educate the way, make our audience on the
(01:38):
opportunity and exactly what you guys are doing for several
reasons today. Sure you know, imagine this Lewis off the
campus of Princeton University, watched this tall, stately white gentleman
in the middle of the early forties. He goes into
(01:59):
the Navy, he comes back, and now in the sixties,
he doesn't like what he sees. He's from a very,
very wealthy, well to do family, but he had a
consciousness about what was right and what was wrong in
the country at the time, and what that was was racism.
Not only was it racism, but it was poverty for
(02:22):
those who are underrepresented in black and brown communities. So
he decided to do something about it. He took a
busload of black and brown kids, African American, his fan
and kids to a little small rally in Washington, d C.
Lewis called the March on Washington. He wanted to hear
Martin Luther King Jr. Speak against his family's wishes, but
(02:45):
he did it anyway. And once he heard Martin Luther King,
I have a dream speech he had a vision. Let
me go back, let me figure out how we can
build a pathway with trading and development and mentor against
students in underserved communities, particularly African American Hispanics, to get
them in roads into corporate America. Because what he knew
(03:09):
at the time was that if he could get him
into a corporate job, he could at least get them
on an economic mobility to get to the middle class
and earnings. And so he could his job in advertise him.
Family was upset with him, but he did it. Even
himself was a waymaker. Right. Not only did he quit
(03:30):
his job, it took him seven years to build it.
He went to twenty seven companies and he asked them
that they would sponsor a student for an internship. This
is not just your normal internship. This is a paid internship. Right.
These students got in G. E. A, T. N. T.
Bell South, different companies, Procter and Gamble that were stalwarts
(03:53):
in corporate America. Not only did they intern, but he
taught them how to lead, problem solving, soft skills, learning
skills skills, how to greet people, how to dress success,
how to eat appropriately when you're out, all those fundamental
we call them now power skills right. Not only did
(04:13):
they flourish, but that was in nine. Now today where
the nation's largest nonprofit that produces over fifteen hundreds of
these superstars a year. Fast forward, we have over thirty
thousand alumni walking around. You probably know their names if
I call some of them the Sun, the Duckett, one
(04:34):
of only two African American females leading a fortune. One
of the company the Sun, that is the CEO of
T I. A. A. That's just one sample. Sterling Brown
Hollywood star came through in Roads, and there's plenty more.
That's just the beginning. Um so so force to tell
our listening audience why are internships so import from their
(05:01):
journey towards a career. But we've known this all alone,
louis that a paid internship actually starts you off with
good economic balance. You get paid for your skills. We
also know that when students in turn, they get to
(05:22):
prove their skill sets and make them good opportunities for
job offers for full time work. And then when they
get full time work, they get benefits, they get full
one K plans, they get bonuses, They begin to get
on the economic train from mobility and to higher income.
(05:45):
And that's why internships pay the way to economic independence
by starting off with paid internships. Because I'll be honest
with you, when I was in school, I didn't understand
the importance of of internships. Trying to us getting on talking.
I told you, uh, and my friends keep telling me
it will stop saying that you didn't want to go
(06:07):
to college, but I didn't. I didn't know the importance
of going to college. Then once I got to college
and people started talking about internships, I'm like, I don't
have enough hours to do all the things I want
to do. I'm struggling with class. You know, I'm an athlete.
Now you're trying to get me to work on the
(06:28):
top level. Right, I've been there. I worked at I
worked at UPS at night from eleven to five in
the morning. It was not an entrance. It was loading trucks.
But I understand exactly where you're coming from. But today
most students still don't know. Particularly I start athletes. I
start athletes are so busy from swimming, the basketball, the football,
(06:52):
and guess what, they don't get to do paid internships.
But many of them don't go in the NFL. They
don't go in the NBA. They're stuck. So what would
be better for them to do but to have a
paid internship to get those skills, get that resume built,
and do what else and then get that job offer
before they even leave the campus. For us, let's back
(07:16):
up a little bit. You know, we started talking about internships,
but we know uh COVID nineteen and all of its variants,
and also the racial and cultural uprising of the last
twenty four months have hurt the Black community worse than
any other community, and a lot of our young people
(07:38):
have sort of paused to pump the brake or are
avoiding college right now. Talk to those students who are
saying it's not necessary or they don't want to do it,
talk to them about the importance of being in college
at this particular time in our cultural in society. Absolutely well.
(08:03):
First of all, there are really two key things that
you want to have as a human being. You want
to have access and opportunity equal to you, just like
anybody else. Unfortunately, the playing field is not even for you.
It's not let's be realistic about this, it's just not.
(08:25):
You can have as much as talent as you want,
but education gives you a chance to get up the bat. Right,
you get educated, you graduate from my school, you graduate
from college. That's giving up the bat. Okay. The internships
give you a chance to not only get up the bat,
but around the basis, to come home, to get the
(08:46):
kind of check you want. But most importantly, I'm gonna
talk to you about your lifestyle. You all have dreams
of what kind of lifestyle you want. It doesn't matter
to me. If you want to be a lifestyle you
want to be a superstar, If you want to be
an entertainer, you want to be the best in the
world of celebrity. That's a lifestyle. Well, lifestyle costs money.
(09:08):
So if you want that lifestyle, one of the things
that I want to encourage you to do is to
get that education. Get it. Get that education so that
at least you're up the bat. Now you've got that education,
you can be there. I know you've been discouraged over
the last three years. We actually did some research Lewis
(09:30):
and when schools let out during March of that year
in COVID, we did a survey. Afterwards, black and brown
students said two things that they were most concerned about
their finances. They no longer can work at the restaurant
at night because they're out of college. The second one
had to do with their g p A is their
great point averages went down. So we understand you've been
(09:52):
through a lot. You've been through a lot disengaged with
your friends. Don't be discouraged. Look up, get involved in
things now that people can help you out with. I
think it was Denzel that said, if you're gonna fall,
fall forward, fall backwards, and this is one way to
do it is to get engaged and get involved. There
(10:14):
too many of us around to help you out. Please
be encouraged. And one way you can be encouraged is
contact us at in Roads. We have an opportunity for you.
We talked to over five thousand students a year, and
we surely have some programs we can help you out with. Okay,
(10:35):
we'll be right back with more of my interview after
this quick break. So far as you know, you got
this big title President and CEO, tell us your journey
to the position you have today. It didn't happen overnight.
(10:58):
Tell us tell us your journ. Well, now it didn't.
And by the way, uh, those titles don't mean anything. Uh.
The first thing, My title is a servant. I'm a
servant and this job, this is not a job, this
is a ministry for me because it's about my purpose
and what I do. It all started in a little
(11:20):
little neighborhood in the projects, the southeast town called Fort Pierce, Florida.
You probably know that town for two reasons. Zora the
great Renaissance writer is from my hometown. I'm from her
hometown and also one of the number one defensive backs
in the NFL, the Chicago Bears Khalil mac that's his
(11:43):
home down and so I from that little town called
Fort Pierce. When I grew up, my sister and I
we lived in the projects and our fund for the
day was when the sun went down, time on top
of the project building with a bag of oranges and
dream dream about where we were gonna go and we
could we could actually watch the movies there, I write,
(12:04):
because there was a drive in theater. Right there's a night.
We can't understand anything, but we watched the movies. But
behind us is what we really would watching. That was
we were only sixty eight miles from Cape Knavel where
the rockets took off. Luis and guess what we would
play with each other. We go, when I grew up,
I'm gonna be an astronaut, my sister with chilengships. When
(12:25):
I grew up, I'm gonna be the first African American
female astronaut out of space. I would come back and go,
oh yeah, I'm gonna be the first African American male
out of space astronaut with the Miami Dolphin helmet on.
I mean, we just dreamed. We just dreamed. But I
had a dream of leaving and going to college, and
so a mentor of mine, just like those nineteen you
(12:47):
told me about who made a difference in your life,
Louis said to me, go north. So I left Florida.
I passed Florida and him my pets put. I went
straight to Baltimore to Morgan State. And I had a
wonderful experience at this historical black college called Morgan State University.
(13:08):
Not only did I go out to sports and hurt myself,
but I was in r OTC. I was in the
reserves officer training, which I became a lieutenant. I'll never
forget the coaches told me you could leave this university
with two degrees. So how do you do that as
a freshman, well, you can get your degree and you
can get a lieutenant in an army. So I went
(13:31):
through that journey. I had a degree in social work
and I had a commission as an officer. I served
eight years in our army, um in the eighty second
Airborne and the number one units in this world, and
I love that experience could have taught me how to
lead any and everybody. Then I went into the pharmaceutical industry.
(13:51):
It wasn't just by accident. Definitely, I wanted to do
something that will make a difference. And being in the
pharmaceutical industry, I didn't know what a farmer noorceutical was,
But what I didn't know it was about discovering and
helping people with medicines that kept them live longer. And
so yes, I worked for Visor for thirty years, the
(14:13):
same company that has the vaccine today that you know of.
I had the privilege of being in pharmaceuticals for thirty years.
I've had eight promotions within my first twenty years Advisor.
And I looked in the mirror one day, Lewis and
I said to myself, for us, there's nothing you can
do about being the first, but there's always something you
(14:36):
can do about being only. So from that point on,
my purpose became I've got to make sure I help others,
not just be the only, but be more. And so Louis,
that is what I did. And then one day I
knock came at my door and said, hey, we want
to focus on give you the opportunity to transform Inroads
(14:59):
in its next fifty years. And I went like, okay, Lord,
you gave you this assignment no one else. And the
last ten years I've been the leader and the servant
leader of Inroads. Uh. And what a pleasure, what a
humble experiences has been for the last decade. Congratulations. Of
course you are audience the idea of a typical internship
(15:26):
through in Roads. What happens, length of time, what type
of companies they may find themselves? Sure, well remember this.
The internships are targeted for undergraduate students in a four
year college or a community college, and the focus is
(15:47):
taking your skill sets, your passions, and what career aspirations
you might have. You may not know which one you
want to be in. You may want to be an accountant,
you may want to be a marketer, you may want
to be an inn engineer. But it's all about discovery.
So what we will do is take you, get you ready,
get your resume ready, send you to mock training. We
(16:09):
videotape you, get you live, give you instructions, we coach you,
We give you a mentor, we get you ready for
the interview. Then you interview with a major fortune fire
in a company like a JP Morgan Chase or like
a United Healthcare or Kaiser from an inte And once
you get that internship paid internship, we coach you along
(16:32):
the way, We give you evaluations, We there to help you,
and you get the experience of a lifetime. So you
do an internship that's paid for eight to ten weeks.
On average, you can make about eight to ten thousand
dollars a summer. And then when you finish that summer,
that company will offer you to come back the next summer.
(16:52):
So you go back on campus, you walk in tall.
Everybody's looking at you. Why are you walking tall? Because
I just got an internship and I'm gonna get another
one next summer because you proved yourself. Then the next
summer happens, So three to four years in a row,
you're putting your resume I have work experience and I
got paid for it, and then at that point they
(17:14):
make you a full time job offer Lewis, and that
is what catapults you into what good earnings because now
you're in the upper middle class and earnings and earning
even more. From that standpoint, that's the internship experience. And
we get so many comments coming back from students saying
that they met people, they increase their network, and not
(17:37):
only that they proved themselves, but they also discovered things
about themselves they didn't know. They could lead, they could
have a conversation, they could problem solve. It really really
is that's the experience. So what are the kind of
stings on that point there? What I sort of like
the top three or four things that you guys sort
(18:01):
of you know, create the program for intern to learn.
Let's say that first year. That first year we've focused
on what we call the power skills. They used to
call them the soft skills lots. We don't call them
soft skills. We call them power skills, like the power rangers, right.
And the reason we say, if you get these skills,
(18:24):
you can do just about any job, no matter what
the specialty is. One is communication skills both written and verbal.
Can you have a conversation? Can you write that conversation
and have people correspond with you. The second one is
problems problem solving skills. It is so fundamental, but companies
(18:49):
hire people to solve problems and be creative. And then
the third really is about how you the eat and
leadership skills is felt so fundamental that if you can lead,
if you can problem solve, and if you can communicate,
you can basically do write your ticket doing just about anything.
(19:13):
So we put students to what we call real world
examples Lewis during the summer. We will bring you into workshops.
We'll give you a case from your community. We'll say,
in this community there's bad water, what solutions do you have.
We'll put you in a group, come out with a plan.
If there's crime in your in your area, we'll focus
(19:34):
on that area to see what happens from there. Okay,
So to that end, we are really focused on real
world life experiences and those three skills problem solving, communicating skills,
and leadership. So when when when people graduate, are most
of your interns getting jobs right away when they come
(19:57):
out of the Inroads program? Eighties six percent of our
students get job offers of them accept those job offers.
That's twenty higher than a national average period. And these
are these are minorities, these are underserved, underrepresented students, and
(20:17):
that's pretty high. That's what drives our track record. So
on an annual basis, about how many students is that
like the fifteen hundred that you mentioned, average is about
a thousand students. It depends on you're doing COVID. It
went down. We're now back up on what we talked.
We'll be projecting students will get those offers, and we're
(20:39):
not satisfied with that number. We believe we can do
over five thousand. Companies are now starting to knock at
the door um and saying we want to make a
difference in changing the composition of corporate America in the
board room and in the c suite and in the
middle of the organization. But we gotta start at the pipeline.
So we're gonna see steady growth in this area. And
(21:04):
since the tragic murder of George Floyd and you know,
all of that racial inequities of have you seen corporations
step up and commit more, whether that's through resources or
through interns or through jobs. Have you seen them really
(21:25):
step up? I gotta tell you, Lewis, we have, We
really have. And I've been around a long time and
I've seen us react and put a band aid on
certain things and the statement of the moment. But not
like since the unfortunate death of George Florida, Brianna Taylor
and Amari and others throughout the country, Corporate America step forward.
(21:48):
Mackenzie just reported in January that since that incident, Corporate
America has pledged over seventy billion dollars for social and
racial impact strategies and initiatives. That's a lot of money.
And with that, what have they done. They have stepped
(22:09):
up their hiring at the pipeline level. HPCUS historically by
college and universities have received all kinds of funds that
will lend itself to getting the pipeline ready. Now that's
a good start, Corporate America. But guess what, let's see
you finish it. And what that means is, let's now
(22:29):
hire them. And so we've seen the spending, we've seen
the commitment, Louis, Now let's go through with the hiring
and we'll see that in a couple of years. We'll
be right back with more of my interview after this
quick break for us, how competitive is it for the
(22:55):
internship slots that you have or on a ag old basis, Oh,
it is highly competitive. Um, for every position that we
get a call about, we send to students and those
two students got to compete for that one role and
it should be that way. We want you to put
your best foot forward. Well eventually eventually put every student
(23:19):
out there. But it's competitive. Is not guaranteed. Nobody makes
a promise. You have to go out and earn it,
just like you would in sports. It's like would anything else.
But it's highly competitive. So so let's say I'm a student.
How do I prepare myself to be able to compete
(23:40):
for intern ship through in roads? How do I prepare? Well,
the first part, we're gonna give you a playbook. That
playbook is some of the fundamentals I talked about a
little bit before, and that was we're first gonna get
your resume ready. We don't believe in perfect resumes. We
believe in about getting resume because the rest of it
(24:02):
they won't read. Okay, So first of all, we'll get
you a standard resume that people can read quickly. The
second thing we'll do is we'll coach you on getting
ready for the mock interview, and we mock interview every student.
We put you on the film, we go back and
we coach through that film so you can see yourself,
and then we'll get film you again until you get
(24:23):
it right. But the rest is on the student. The
rest is on the student. The best way to prepare is,
first of all, get a good night's sleep before the interview.
Don't take that for granted. That sounds basic, but I
just we see the mistakes all the time before that
good night's sleep. Practice for someone that's important to you.
(24:45):
It could be by phone, it could be by by FaceTime,
whatever it may be. It doesn't hurt to practice. The
next thing is that know your company that you're going
to interview. For too many times we see students come
in and go, oh, I'm interviewing for GE. Well, what
is our focus at g what are the pillars of
(25:06):
our priorities? I don't know. No, you can't come in
like that. You gotta come correct. You've got to bring
it to know about that company. And then the next
thing is that be prepared to give the answers about
your unique abilities. Lewis. Every human being is born with
(25:27):
unique abilities. It's just like a birth mark. Not one
is the same. No, your unique abilities. If you've got
great communication skills and they're unique, use them. If you've
got great on presents, use it. Everybody has unique skills.
Wrap those unique skills around. Are the way you interviewed
for the job, and then um layout examples of how
(25:51):
you've proven yourself over time. Have at least two to
three When someone says have you ever based adversity? Have
at least okay, and think about the worst and how
you work your way through it. Practice it. You know
what I mean? A broken leg and then I went
out and I wanted to track me. That's fine. Have
(26:13):
those ready? So those are some of the things lose
We hope I would encourage students to be prepared for.
So so forest Uh, I'm in college, I'm sitting around.
I never thought about an internship. How do I apply
uh to in Roads? How is that done? Oh? It's
so simple and most of all, Louis is free. It's free.
(26:37):
So you just go to in roads dot org. You
click on it, and you click on students. When the
box drops down, it just stick on the application. It
will take you maybe fifteen minutes to fill out, and
then you send it along with a copy of your
UM transcript for your for your grades, and that's it.
(26:59):
We take a two point eight g p A and
above UM to apply for in Roads and we take
you here from us. Within like seventy two hours, you'll
get a letter back saying that you've qualified for the program,
and from that point will begin the training and get
you ready. Simple as to go to in roads dot org.
Student dropped down box and put in the application. Okay,
(27:22):
next one. I'm a corporate executive and I'm listening to
this and I'm like, Wow, I need to do something.
I need to give back. I need to be awaymaker.
How do I do that? Oh? To be away maker
in this? And you're in corporate America. Know what your
environment is? First ask questions to HR, and your environment says,
(27:46):
tell me about our internship program. How many interns do
we have here at corporation eight? Oh? We have five?
We have five? Okay, Um? And then look at your department.
What are some of the projects and skills in your
department that you'd like to have a student come in
and participate in to bring value to your department over
(28:10):
eight to ten week period, select a couple of projects,
build out the job descriptions, work for HR, and then
contact in roads go to that same drop down box
or contact me on LinkedIn. Go to for as our
on link that you can contact me and say for us,
I'm interested in bringing interns to my company UM and
(28:31):
I'm interested in making a commitment and a contribution to
building out a workforce that has um more black and
brown and students of color and lewis the region we
want to do that that you have a social conscious
about it is that according to NICE, the National Association
of Colleges and Employers, last year long of the top
(28:56):
two earner companies in corporate America, there were forty two
thousand paid internships. Of that forty two thousand, Blacks made
up less than six percent, hispanish less than four That
should be reason alone you should be on the front
lines of wanting to make an impact of bringing in
(29:17):
interns of color in your corporation. And the final one
for us, I'm a successful entrepreneur or I'm a successful
executive and corporation and you just made me feel bad
because I'm not enough. How do I make myself feel
better by contributing the inroads? How do I do that well?
(29:41):
First of all, entrepreneurs are a part of what we do. Too.
Of our thirty thousand alumni in rows unsuccessful entrepreneurs. So
there's a pathway for you here, or there's a pathway
for you to support a student who wants to become
an entrepreneur. The same fundamental skills Lewis I just talked about,
(30:02):
they'll get them in in roads. So the way you
can contribute as an entrepreneur is a sponsor student. Even
if you have a small business sponsor student to help
you out as a small business owner, or if you
have a chance to mentor that is a big value
to us. Give us your name will include you and
(30:24):
our volunteers of mentors to mentor a student for a
summer and that student you, as an entrepreneur could help with. Third,
you can make a donation. All of our students don't
come with all the like you said, with all of
the assets that every student had. It could be something
we contribute to a scholarship. It could be the students
(30:45):
got to pay a lad fee that they need to
graduate from college. So as an entrepreneur, you can help
out a lot. Your time, your treasure, and your talents
can also help these students as well. There's always a
way to help voluiteer for us. This has been great. Uh,
(31:07):
this has been very informative and educational to the Waymaker audience.
We appreciate what in Rows is doing for our community.
We appreciate you being a way maker, and we hope
that this interview not only helps the students but also
(31:29):
the support ecosystem that inter Rows needs to continue to
do the important work that our community needs and our
students of color needs. So thank you so much for
participating in the Waymaker prid Sight chat today. We're gonna
come back to you at a later day to see
how uh the internships did this year. But we wish
(31:52):
you well and we wish in Roads well. So thank
you so much. Thank you, Louis. I appreciate it.
I'm Loosecar, host of the Blueprint Connect podcast. The Blueprint
Connect podcast is an extension of a blueprint man, something
where we have consistently given men a prescription for growth,
not just for themselves, but also for their families and
their communities. During these podcasts, we will educate and motivate
our listeners about entrepreneurship, careers, finance, and health and wellness
(00:28):
and even relationships. Today's guest is President and CEO Forest
Harper of Inroads, the nation largest internship program for students
of color. Welcome for us. Thank you, Lewis. It's a
pleasure to be here in this game. Change your UH
(00:51):
scenario that you've created over time. I really appreciate it
and I'm humbled to the opportunity well for us. I've
been looking forward to this because we're gonna talk about
something to day which is is a passion for me,
and that is giving UH students of color not only
opportunities but mentorship for the future, shaping their lives in
(01:16):
a very special way. And in Roads have been doing
it for over fifty years. That us about the in
Road program and and how it got started and where
it exists, and because you know some people have heard
of it. A lot of people have it, but we
want to educate the way, make our audience on the
(01:38):
opportunity and exactly what you guys are doing for several
reasons today. Sure you know, imagine this Lewis off the
campus of Princeton University, watched this tall, stately white gentleman
in the middle of the early forties. He goes into
(01:59):
the Navy, he comes back, and now in the sixties,
he doesn't like what he sees. He's from a very,
very wealthy, well to do family, but he had a
consciousness about what was right and what was wrong in
the country at the time, and what that was was racism.
Not only was it racism, but it was poverty for
(02:22):
those who are underrepresented in black and brown communities. So
he decided to do something about it. He took a
busload of black and brown kids, African American, his fan
and kids to a little small rally in Washington, d C.
Lewis called the March on Washington. He wanted to hear
Martin Luther King Jr. Speak against his family's wishes, but
(02:45):
he did it anyway. And once he heard Martin Luther King,
I have a dream speech he had a vision. Let
me go back, let me figure out how we can
build a pathway with trading and development and mentor against
students in underserved communities, particularly African American Hispanics, to get
them in roads into corporate America. Because what he knew
(03:09):
at the time was that if he could get him
into a corporate job, he could at least get them
on an economic mobility to get to the middle class
and earnings. And so he could his job in advertise him.
Family was upset with him, but he did it. Even
himself was a waymaker. Right. Not only did he quit
(03:30):
his job, it took him seven years to build it.
He went to twenty seven companies and he asked them
that they would sponsor a student for an internship. This
is not just your normal internship. This is a paid internship. Right.
These students got in G. E. A, T. N. T.
Bell South, different companies, Procter and Gamble that were stalwarts
(03:53):
in corporate America. Not only did they intern, but he
taught them how to lead, problem solving, soft skills, learning
skills skills, how to greet people, how to dress success,
how to eat appropriately when you're out, all those fundamental
we call them now power skills right. Not only did
(04:13):
they flourish, but that was in nine. Now today where
the nation's largest nonprofit that produces over fifteen hundreds of
these superstars a year. Fast forward, we have over thirty
thousand alumni walking around. You probably know their names if
I call some of them the Sun, the Duckett, one
(04:34):
of only two African American females leading a fortune. One
of the company the Sun, that is the CEO of
T I. A. A. That's just one sample. Sterling Brown
Hollywood star came through in Roads, and there's plenty more.
That's just the beginning. Um so so force to tell
our listening audience why are internships so import from their
(05:01):
journey towards a career. But we've known this all alone,
louis that a paid internship actually starts you off with
good economic balance. You get paid for your skills. We
also know that when students in turn, they get to
(05:22):
prove their skill sets and make them good opportunities for
job offers for full time work. And then when they
get full time work, they get benefits, they get full
one K plans, they get bonuses, They begin to get
on the economic train from mobility and to higher income.
(05:45):
And that's why internships pay the way to economic independence
by starting off with paid internships. Because I'll be honest
with you, when I was in school, I didn't understand
the importance of of internships. Trying to us getting on talking.
I told you, uh, and my friends keep telling me
it will stop saying that you didn't want to go
(06:07):
to college, but I didn't. I didn't know the importance
of going to college. Then once I got to college
and people started talking about internships, I'm like, I don't
have enough hours to do all the things I want
to do. I'm struggling with class. You know, I'm an athlete.
Now you're trying to get me to work on the
(06:28):
top level. Right, I've been there. I worked at I
worked at UPS at night from eleven to five in
the morning. It was not an entrance. It was loading trucks.
But I understand exactly where you're coming from. But today
most students still don't know. Particularly I start athletes. I
start athletes are so busy from swimming, the basketball, the football,
(06:52):
and guess what, they don't get to do paid internships.
But many of them don't go in the NFL. They
don't go in the NBA. They're stuck. So what would
be better for them to do but to have a
paid internship to get those skills, get that resume built,
and do what else and then get that job offer
before they even leave the campus. For us, let's back
(07:16):
up a little bit. You know, we started talking about internships,
but we know uh COVID nineteen and all of its variants,
and also the racial and cultural uprising of the last
twenty four months have hurt the Black community worse than
any other community, and a lot of our young people
(07:38):
have sort of paused to pump the brake or are
avoiding college right now. Talk to those students who are
saying it's not necessary or they don't want to do it,
talk to them about the importance of being in college
at this particular time in our cultural in society. Absolutely well.
(08:03):
First of all, there are really two key things that
you want to have as a human being. You want
to have access and opportunity equal to you, just like
anybody else. Unfortunately, the playing field is not even for you.
It's not let's be realistic about this, it's just not.
(08:25):
You can have as much as talent as you want,
but education gives you a chance to get up the bat. Right,
you get educated, you graduate from my school, you graduate
from college. That's giving up the bat. Okay. The internships
give you a chance to not only get up the bat,
but around the basis, to come home, to get the
(08:46):
kind of check you want. But most importantly, I'm gonna
talk to you about your lifestyle. You all have dreams
of what kind of lifestyle you want. It doesn't matter
to me. If you want to be a lifestyle you
want to be a superstar, If you want to be
an entertainer, you want to be the best in the
world of celebrity. That's a lifestyle. Well, lifestyle costs money.
(09:08):
So if you want that lifestyle, one of the things
that I want to encourage you to do is to
get that education. Get it. Get that education so that
at least you're up the bat. Now you've got that education,
you can be there. I know you've been discouraged over
the last three years. We actually did some research Lewis
(09:30):
and when schools let out during March of that year
in COVID, we did a survey. Afterwards, black and brown
students said two things that they were most concerned about
their finances. They no longer can work at the restaurant
at night because they're out of college. The second one
had to do with their g p A is their
great point averages went down. So we understand you've been
(09:52):
through a lot. You've been through a lot disengaged with
your friends. Don't be discouraged. Look up, get involved in
things now that people can help you out with. I
think it was Denzel that said, if you're gonna fall,
fall forward, fall backwards, and this is one way to
do it is to get engaged and get involved. There
(10:14):
too many of us around to help you out. Please
be encouraged. And one way you can be encouraged is
contact us at in Roads. We have an opportunity for you.
We talked to over five thousand students a year, and
we surely have some programs we can help you out with. Okay,
(10:35):
we'll be right back with more of my interview after
this quick break. So far as you know, you got
this big title President and CEO, tell us your journey
to the position you have today. It didn't happen overnight.
(10:58):
Tell us tell us your journ. Well, now it didn't.
And by the way, uh, those titles don't mean anything. Uh.
The first thing, My title is a servant. I'm a
servant and this job, this is not a job, this
is a ministry for me because it's about my purpose
and what I do. It all started in a little
(11:20):
little neighborhood in the projects, the southeast town called Fort Pierce, Florida.
You probably know that town for two reasons. Zora the
great Renaissance writer is from my hometown. I'm from her
hometown and also one of the number one defensive backs
in the NFL, the Chicago Bears Khalil mac that's his
(11:43):
home down and so I from that little town called
Fort Pierce. When I grew up, my sister and I
we lived in the projects and our fund for the
day was when the sun went down, time on top
of the project building with a bag of oranges and
dream dream about where we were gonna go and we
could we could actually watch the movies there, I write,
(12:04):
because there was a drive in theater. Right there's a night.
We can't understand anything, but we watched the movies. But
behind us is what we really would watching. That was
we were only sixty eight miles from Cape Knavel where
the rockets took off. Luis and guess what we would
play with each other. We go, when I grew up,
I'm gonna be an astronaut, my sister with chilengships. When
(12:25):
I grew up, I'm gonna be the first African American
female astronaut out of space. I would come back and go,
oh yeah, I'm gonna be the first African American male
out of space astronaut with the Miami Dolphin helmet on.
I mean, we just dreamed. We just dreamed. But I
had a dream of leaving and going to college, and
so a mentor of mine, just like those nineteen you
(12:47):
told me about who made a difference in your life,
Louis said to me, go north. So I left Florida.
I passed Florida and him my pets put. I went
straight to Baltimore to Morgan State. And I had a
wonderful experience at this historical black college called Morgan State University.
(13:08):
Not only did I go out to sports and hurt myself,
but I was in r OTC. I was in the
reserves officer training, which I became a lieutenant. I'll never
forget the coaches told me you could leave this university
with two degrees. So how do you do that as
a freshman, well, you can get your degree and you
can get a lieutenant in an army. So I went
(13:31):
through that journey. I had a degree in social work
and I had a commission as an officer. I served
eight years in our army, um in the eighty second
Airborne and the number one units in this world, and
I love that experience could have taught me how to
lead any and everybody. Then I went into the pharmaceutical industry.
(13:51):
It wasn't just by accident. Definitely, I wanted to do
something that will make a difference. And being in the
pharmaceutical industry, I didn't know what a farmer noorceutical was,
But what I didn't know it was about discovering and
helping people with medicines that kept them live longer. And
so yes, I worked for Visor for thirty years, the
(14:13):
same company that has the vaccine today that you know of.
I had the privilege of being in pharmaceuticals for thirty years.
I've had eight promotions within my first twenty years Advisor.
And I looked in the mirror one day, Lewis and
I said to myself, for us, there's nothing you can
do about being the first, but there's always something you
(14:36):
can do about being only. So from that point on,
my purpose became I've got to make sure I help others,
not just be the only, but be more. And so Louis,
that is what I did. And then one day I
knock came at my door and said, hey, we want
to focus on give you the opportunity to transform Inroads
(14:59):
in its next fifty years. And I went like, okay, Lord,
you gave you this assignment no one else. And the
last ten years I've been the leader and the servant
leader of Inroads. Uh. And what a pleasure, what a
humble experiences has been for the last decade. Congratulations. Of
course you are audience the idea of a typical internship
(15:26):
through in Roads. What happens, length of time, what type
of companies they may find themselves? Sure, well remember this.
The internships are targeted for undergraduate students in a four
year college or a community college, and the focus is
(15:47):
taking your skill sets, your passions, and what career aspirations
you might have. You may not know which one you
want to be in. You may want to be an accountant,
you may want to be a marketer, you may want
to be an inn engineer. But it's all about discovery.
So what we will do is take you, get you ready,
get your resume ready, send you to mock training. We
(16:09):
videotape you, get you live, give you instructions, we coach you,
We give you a mentor, we get you ready for
the interview. Then you interview with a major fortune fire
in a company like a JP Morgan Chase or like
a United Healthcare or Kaiser from an inte And once
you get that internship paid internship, we coach you along
(16:32):
the way, We give you evaluations, We there to help you,
and you get the experience of a lifetime. So you
do an internship that's paid for eight to ten weeks.
On average, you can make about eight to ten thousand
dollars a summer. And then when you finish that summer,
that company will offer you to come back the next summer.
(16:52):
So you go back on campus, you walk in tall.
Everybody's looking at you. Why are you walking tall? Because
I just got an internship and I'm gonna get another
one next summer because you proved yourself. Then the next
summer happens, So three to four years in a row,
you're putting your resume I have work experience and I
got paid for it, and then at that point they
(17:14):
make you a full time job offer Lewis, and that
is what catapults you into what good earnings because now
you're in the upper middle class and earnings and earning
even more. From that standpoint, that's the internship experience. And
we get so many comments coming back from students saying
that they met people, they increase their network, and not
(17:37):
only that they proved themselves, but they also discovered things
about themselves they didn't know. They could lead, they could
have a conversation, they could problem solve. It really really
is that's the experience. So what are the kind of
stings on that point there? What I sort of like
the top three or four things that you guys sort
(18:01):
of you know, create the program for intern to learn.
Let's say that first year. That first year we've focused
on what we call the power skills. They used to
call them the soft skills lots. We don't call them
soft skills. We call them power skills, like the power rangers, right.
And the reason we say, if you get these skills,
(18:24):
you can do just about any job, no matter what
the specialty is. One is communication skills both written and verbal.
Can you have a conversation? Can you write that conversation
and have people correspond with you. The second one is
problems problem solving skills. It is so fundamental, but companies
(18:49):
hire people to solve problems and be creative. And then
the third really is about how you the eat and
leadership skills is felt so fundamental that if you can lead,
if you can problem solve, and if you can communicate,
you can basically do write your ticket doing just about anything.
(19:13):
So we put students to what we call real world
examples Lewis during the summer. We will bring you into workshops.
We'll give you a case from your community. We'll say,
in this community there's bad water, what solutions do you have.
We'll put you in a group, come out with a plan.
If there's crime in your in your area, we'll focus
(19:34):
on that area to see what happens from there. Okay,
So to that end, we are really focused on real
world life experiences and those three skills problem solving, communicating skills,
and leadership. So when when when people graduate, are most
of your interns getting jobs right away when they come
(19:57):
out of the Inroads program? Eighties six percent of our
students get job offers of them accept those job offers.
That's twenty higher than a national average period. And these
are these are minorities, these are underserved, underrepresented students, and
(20:17):
that's pretty high. That's what drives our track record. So
on an annual basis, about how many students is that
like the fifteen hundred that you mentioned, average is about
a thousand students. It depends on you're doing COVID. It
went down. We're now back up on what we talked.
We'll be projecting students will get those offers, and we're
(20:39):
not satisfied with that number. We believe we can do
over five thousand. Companies are now starting to knock at
the door um and saying we want to make a
difference in changing the composition of corporate America in the
board room and in the c suite and in the
middle of the organization. But we gotta start at the pipeline.
So we're gonna see steady growth in this area. And
(21:04):
since the tragic murder of George Floyd and you know,
all of that racial inequities of have you seen corporations
step up and commit more, whether that's through resources or
through interns or through jobs. Have you seen them really
(21:25):
step up? I gotta tell you, Lewis, we have, We
really have. And I've been around a long time and
I've seen us react and put a band aid on
certain things and the statement of the moment. But not
like since the unfortunate death of George Florida, Brianna Taylor
and Amari and others throughout the country, Corporate America step forward.
(21:48):
Mackenzie just reported in January that since that incident, Corporate
America has pledged over seventy billion dollars for social and
racial impact strategies and initiatives. That's a lot of money.
And with that, what have they done. They have stepped
(22:09):
up their hiring at the pipeline level. HPCUS historically by
college and universities have received all kinds of funds that
will lend itself to getting the pipeline ready. Now that's
a good start, Corporate America. But guess what, let's see
you finish it. And what that means is, let's now
(22:29):
hire them. And so we've seen the spending, we've seen
the commitment, Louis, Now let's go through with the hiring
and we'll see that in a couple of years. We'll
be right back with more of my interview after this
quick break for us, how competitive is it for the
(22:55):
internship slots that you have or on a ag old basis, Oh,
it is highly competitive. Um, for every position that we
get a call about, we send to students and those
two students got to compete for that one role and
it should be that way. We want you to put
your best foot forward. Well eventually eventually put every student
(23:19):
out there. But it's competitive. Is not guaranteed. Nobody makes
a promise. You have to go out and earn it,
just like you would in sports. It's like would anything else.
But it's highly competitive. So so let's say I'm a student.
How do I prepare myself to be able to compete
(23:40):
for intern ship through in roads? How do I prepare? Well,
the first part, we're gonna give you a playbook. That
playbook is some of the fundamentals I talked about a
little bit before, and that was we're first gonna get
your resume ready. We don't believe in perfect resumes. We
believe in about getting resume because the rest of it
(24:02):
they won't read. Okay, So first of all, we'll get
you a standard resume that people can read quickly. The
second thing we'll do is we'll coach you on getting
ready for the mock interview, and we mock interview every student.
We put you on the film, we go back and
we coach through that film so you can see yourself,
and then we'll get film you again until you get
(24:23):
it right. But the rest is on the student. The
rest is on the student. The best way to prepare is,
first of all, get a good night's sleep before the interview.
Don't take that for granted. That sounds basic, but I
just we see the mistakes all the time before that
good night's sleep. Practice for someone that's important to you.
(24:45):
It could be by phone, it could be by by FaceTime,
whatever it may be. It doesn't hurt to practice. The
next thing is that know your company that you're going
to interview. For too many times we see students come
in and go, oh, I'm interviewing for GE. Well, what
is our focus at g what are the pillars of
(25:06):
our priorities? I don't know. No, you can't come in
like that. You gotta come correct. You've got to bring
it to know about that company. And then the next
thing is that be prepared to give the answers about
your unique abilities. Lewis. Every human being is born with
(25:27):
unique abilities. It's just like a birth mark. Not one
is the same. No, your unique abilities. If you've got
great communication skills and they're unique, use them. If you've
got great on presents, use it. Everybody has unique skills.
Wrap those unique skills around. Are the way you interviewed
for the job, and then um layout examples of how
(25:51):
you've proven yourself over time. Have at least two to
three When someone says have you ever based adversity? Have
at least okay, and think about the worst and how
you work your way through it. Practice it. You know
what I mean? A broken leg and then I went
out and I wanted to track me. That's fine. Have
(26:13):
those ready? So those are some of the things lose
We hope I would encourage students to be prepared for.
So so forest Uh, I'm in college, I'm sitting around.
I never thought about an internship. How do I apply
uh to in Roads? How is that done? Oh? It's
so simple and most of all, Louis is free. It's free.
(26:37):
So you just go to in roads dot org. You
click on it, and you click on students. When the
box drops down, it just stick on the application. It
will take you maybe fifteen minutes to fill out, and
then you send it along with a copy of your
UM transcript for your for your grades, and that's it.
(26:59):
We take a two point eight g p A and
above UM to apply for in Roads and we take
you here from us. Within like seventy two hours, you'll
get a letter back saying that you've qualified for the program,
and from that point will begin the training and get
you ready. Simple as to go to in roads dot org.
Student dropped down box and put in the application. Okay,
(27:22):
next one. I'm a corporate executive and I'm listening to
this and I'm like, Wow, I need to do something.
I need to give back. I need to be awaymaker.
How do I do that? Oh? To be away maker
in this? And you're in corporate America. Know what your
environment is? First ask questions to HR, and your environment says,
(27:46):
tell me about our internship program. How many interns do
we have here at corporation eight? Oh? We have five?
We have five? Okay, Um? And then look at your department.
What are some of the projects and skills in your
department that you'd like to have a student come in
and participate in to bring value to your department over
(28:10):
eight to ten week period, select a couple of projects,
build out the job descriptions, work for HR, and then
contact in roads go to that same drop down box
or contact me on LinkedIn. Go to for as our
on link that you can contact me and say for us,
I'm interested in bringing interns to my company UM and
(28:31):
I'm interested in making a commitment and a contribution to
building out a workforce that has um more black and
brown and students of color and lewis the region we
want to do that that you have a social conscious
about it is that according to NICE, the National Association
of Colleges and Employers, last year long of the top
(28:56):
two earner companies in corporate America, there were forty two
thousand paid internships. Of that forty two thousand, Blacks made
up less than six percent, hispanish less than four That
should be reason alone you should be on the front
lines of wanting to make an impact of bringing in
(29:17):
interns of color in your corporation. And the final one
for us, I'm a successful entrepreneur or I'm a successful
executive and corporation and you just made me feel bad
because I'm not enough. How do I make myself feel
better by contributing the inroads? How do I do that well?
(29:41):
First of all, entrepreneurs are a part of what we do. Too.
Of our thirty thousand alumni in rows unsuccessful entrepreneurs. So
there's a pathway for you here, or there's a pathway
for you to support a student who wants to become
an entrepreneur. The same fundamental skills Lewis I just talked about,
(30:02):
they'll get them in in roads. So the way you
can contribute as an entrepreneur is a sponsor student. Even
if you have a small business sponsor student to help
you out as a small business owner, or if you
have a chance to mentor that is a big value
to us. Give us your name will include you and
(30:24):
our volunteers of mentors to mentor a student for a
summer and that student you, as an entrepreneur could help with. Third,
you can make a donation. All of our students don't
come with all the like you said, with all of
the assets that every student had. It could be something
we contribute to a scholarship. It could be the students
(30:45):
got to pay a lad fee that they need to
graduate from college. So as an entrepreneur, you can help
out a lot. Your time, your treasure, and your talents
can also help these students as well. There's always a
way to help voluiteer for us. This has been great. Uh,
(31:07):
this has been very informative and educational to the Waymaker audience.
We appreciate what in Rows is doing for our community.
We appreciate you being a way maker, and we hope
that this interview not only helps the students but also
(31:29):
the support ecosystem that inter Rows needs to continue to
do the important work that our community needs and our
students of color needs. So thank you so much for
participating in the Waymaker prid Sight chat today. We're gonna
come back to you at a later day to see
how uh the internships did this year. But we wish
(31:52):
you well and we wish in Roads well. So thank
you so much. Thank you, Louis. I appreciate it.
Host
Louis Carr
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