Courtesy:Frazier_Arnika
Arnika D. Frazier-Jackson did not plan on becoming one of the most influential architects of Black professional opportunity in America but a corporate door that closed in her face changed everything. After watching a healthcare company benefit from her research and work without extending her a full-time offer, she pivoted with purpose, channeling her experience into something far more meaningful: making sure the next generation of Black professionals never has to walk into a boardroom uninvited or unprepared.
As the director of student professional development programs at the United Negro College Fund, Frazier-Jackson has built a robust ecosystem of internship pipelines, leadership conferences, and career exploration experiences that are connecting HBCU students to Fortune 500 companies and global opportunities. A proud Florida A&M University alumna with a master’s in integrated marketing and communication management from Florida State University, she brings both lived experience and professional expertise to every program she touches. From the Walt Disney Company’s Disney Enhanced Scholars Program to UNCF’s annual Student Leadership Conference now in its 17th year and largest cohort yet Frazier-Jackson is not just opening doors. She is making sure students know exactly how to walk through them.
What was your journey to becoming the director of student professional development at UNCF?
The journey was really a lot of taking chances on myself. I started on the highest of seven hills at the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, majoring in public relations. I got my master’s in integrated marketing and communication management from Florida State University. I actually started off working for a healthcare insurance company. I was a business analyst — it was 2011 — trying to figure out what over-65 products would look like. When it was time for me to come on board full-time, I wasn’t hired. And I didn’t understand why, because I had helped build this amazing program. We had done all of this research, and they used what I had created and built an entire platform.
From there, I really had to take a step back to see if I really wanted to be in the corporate world, and the answer was no. I started as an Inroads intern, and so I went back to my roots. I started to do some research on what it meant to really go through those trainings as an intern and working with these Fortune 500 companies, and so I decided that I wanted to turn this for-profit into nonprofit — to figure out how I could level the playing field. So I started working with the Gates Millennium Scholars Program at UNCF.
From there, I just kind of took a trajectory on betting on myself. I worked on their Empower Me Tour for a little while and then brought them into the new century with doing online community learning for students. From there, I landed the PandaCare Scholars Program, which gave me an opportunity to build robust programming for students from their freshman year to their senior year, learning more about what career trajectory looks like. A lot of the career paths that I knew, coming from very humble beginnings, were a preacher, teacher, lawyer, or doctor and there are so many other opportunities out there that we just don’t know about. So we started to do career exploration. Students were learning about going into the entertainment industry, seeing that location scouting if you love to travel is actually a very lucrative job, or looking into aviation and learning what to do in that field. It kind of took off from there, and I started getting a little bit more recognition and landed as director for student professional development programs. The genesis really started with me wanting to figure out how to give back and to get more people that look like me into boardrooms to make decisions.
What does your role as director of student professional development programs at UNCF look like day to day?
I work on building out the actual programming that we offer for students. Think about anything from our online community, where students are learning to upskill, manage up, and develop the soft skills that are needed in industry, to actually managing a couple of programs myself — one being with the Walt Disney Company, with the Disney Enhanced Scholars Program.
This year marks year 17 of the UNCF Student Leadership Conference. What does that kind of longevity say about the evolving needs and the power of HBCU students today?
The program actually started in the K-12 space, so it was really to help educators go into the classrooms and be better prepared. As it has evolved, it really has become an inspirational learning environment. Students are being able to sit down with executives to learn from them in our Meet the Executives panel. They’re able to do a business simulation where they think they are working on a presentation to present to the executives, but actually we’re putting them through some of the things that they will experience during their internship things like the multi-generations that are in the workforce now, changing on projects and budgets and different things of that nature. At the end, we bring it all together to share with them what they’ve been through and to give them kudos for the things that they were able to accomplish.
It has been amazing seeing how well these HBCU students show up in that space. That’s really what has led to the growth of the program we’re able to put corporate executives in the room not just to tell them about the HBCU student, but for them to actually experience what it’s like working with a student that attends an HBCU.
This year’s theme is “Leadership beyond the title: voice, influence, and impact.” What inspired that theme, and how are you challenging students to redefine leadership on their own terms?
We wanted the students to think about themselves as a brand. Not just thinking of, “okay, I’m holding a title of intern” what does the brand of you say? That’s one of the meanings of going beyond the title. But then also, with social media and now all the things that are happening in the country, these students really do have a voice. We’re helping them to cultivate that voice so that as they are going onto these platforms, they’re being impactful and intentional about what they’re sharing and how they’re sharing it, because the words that they have to provide are very powerful.
We are leaning into that as we work with them, even before they get to the actual conference. There’s some pre-work that we’ll do with them to better prepare them as they get on site because now it’s a global environment. It’s not just something that you look at from the U.S., and we’re learning that in real time.
How do students find out about this program, and what are the qualifications?
In order for students to be eligible for the Student Leadership Conference, they would have had to have applied for one of our internship programs or be a part of one of our flagship programs at UNCF. In the fall, we have a heavy recruitment season multiple partners, over 20 partners, are looking for internships through UNCF. We open up those different applications, as well as a general internship application that students can apply to. Most of those applications open on August 1st of every year. Once the students are selected, which is normally during the holidays, we start to get them prepped and ready in the new year to come to the actual conference.
How do your programs go beyond traditional internships to truly transform a student’s trajectory?
We do the holistic approach. We look at mental health and wellness for students. We also do immersion in the cities that they’re in. It’s not just going and doing the internship and going back to your residence. We try to get them to go to baseball games that are in the city. We have professionals that are in the area come and do different symposiums with the students, so they can really understand what it means to be a full-time professional and actually hear from folks that are working in that particular industry and beyond in the city. So if it’s something that they’re looking to be hired into and going to that particular company, they’ll be well-versed in the areas that they’re interning in.
You are a proud graduate of Florida A&M University. How did your own HBCU experience shape the leader and architect that you are today?
I have to give credit to one of my professors who recently just retired. Her name was Gina Kinchlow, and she really made us think beyond what was in the book. I think that’s something that any person that attends an HBCU will tell you — the experience that you get goes beyond the text. You have professors that really care about you.
When I got to FAMU, I was actually majoring in broadcast journalism. I had a class with Professor Kinchlow, and she asked me what I wanted to do, and then asked me why I was majoring in broadcast journalism when it actually was public relations. It’s things like that that give you what you need. It’s a community. What I love about being a proud alum of Florida A&M University is that there’s always someone in wherever you’re going not even in the States. If you go abroad, there’s someone wearing orange and green who is there to help you, a community that you can lean on.
The experience that you get at an HBCU helps you understand that you have the expectation of excellence. You cannot go in thinking that you can dress any kind of way. Professors mandate that you dress up and show up the way that you want to show out in that classroom. C’s are not an option A’s and B’s only, especially if you want to be involved in a campus activity. And then making sure that you really are being the person that you want the world to see at all times, because you never know who’s watching. That’s what I would say about my HBCU experience and it goes beyond just those four years.
As this year’s conference ends and those students step into their internships, what does success look like for you — not just for them, but for the legacy of this program?
Success looks like them understanding that this opportunity is not just for them, it’s for the person that comes after them. Success looks like them being able to hold their ground when they’re going into meetings and speak assertively, understanding that what they have to offer is needed, because they were hired to be there. Success is making sure that they understand that they can show up as their authentic selves, and that they have a superpower that nobody else has and no one can take away from them. And then, going beyond that, it is potentially getting hired with that particular company, or being offered to come back as an intern.
Where to find Arnika and UNCF:
Visit opportunities.uncf.org for internships, fellowships, and scholarships. Follow UNCF’s Student Professional Development Programs on LinkedIn at SPDP, and follow Arnika Jackson on Instagram for updates on her HBCU campus travels and the next cohort of students.
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