America’s youngest leaders gathered in Detroit for the acclaimed Forbes “30 under 30 summit” also featuring top scholars from various universities including Florida A&M University. The Forbes Under 30 list portrays trailblazers from various industries such as retail, technology, food and beverage, media and healthcare.
Participants were selected by explaining why they wanted to be a Forbes scholar and how they embody the the under 30 tenants of leadership and innovation. Several FAMU students attended the summit and had raving reviews. Headlining the summit were power houses of different sectors like champion tennis player Serena Williams, grammy nominated artist Quavo and managing partner of Harlem Capital, Jarrid Tingle.
Senior public relations student, Crichanni Watson, was in attendance and was vert impressed. “The conference was amazing! It was definitely the motivation I needed as I’m coming to the end of my college matriculation.” Watson said.
Watson found out about the Under 30 Scholar program on LinkedIn. She saw multiple colleagues post about it and began researching.
“It’s important to surround yourself with like-minded individuals,” Watson said.
Watson’s trip was sponsored by the School of Journalism and Graphic Communication dean. Watson began to blossom in her professional career through her experience working on Capitol Hill with the U.S. Department of State and being an invitee to Wells Fargo in St. Louis.
“I spent most of my time at FAMU in the shadows,” Watson said. Magdalenda Delacruz, a senior biology
major attended as a scholar and found out about the summit on Linkedin as well. “The Forbes summit was a celebration and networking opportunity for all the hard work I’ve done in college,” Delacruz said.
Delacruz stood out among majority of business students. She started her non-profit, Magdalena Delacruz Foundation, which is dedicated to healthcare education for minorities, empowering women and “Why FAMU” book scholarship.
To prospective scholars, Delacruz said “do the things that you love and not as a checklist… I was worried about GPA yet still got picked out of 1,000 students worldwide. Write out your why and you’ll get it.”