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Digication Scholars Conversations...
Welcome to Digication
Scholars Conversations.
I'm your host, Jeff Yan.
In this episode, you will hear Part Two
of my conversation with Dami Akingbade,
a junior at Boston University's
Questrom School of Business, pursuing
a degree in Business Administration.
More links and information about today's
conversation can be found on Digication's
Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Full episodes of Digication Scholars
Conversations can be found on
YouTube or your favorite podcast app.
You know, feel free to talk
about this if you'd like.
I saw in your LinkedIn profile
that you have been in a number
of student organizations.
Um, an African students organization.
It looks like that you might've
been the secretary of the
African Student Organizations.
Um, can you tell us a little bit about
that and whether these types of learning
experience have helped or influenced the
way that you, um, you know, participate
in these organizations and so on?
I mean, like, it's, it seems like
the theme of what we're talking about
today is Diverse perspectives and that
really is what that club does for me.
I joined the African Students
Organization my freshman year and
then I was just an events coordinator.
I would help with planning events
and really what it was was helping
to bring people together and
celebrate the diversity of Africa,
the different countries represented
within Africa, and helping people
who came on campus find a community,
was so important to us to have people
feel like they have a safe space.
Um, it's sometimes it's really
difficult when you come, you leave
home and you can't really find that
home away from home somewhere else.
And that's really what
we're trying to bring.
Now that I'm secretary, I try as much as
I can to, um, you know, book spaces and.
Contribute to meetings and make sure that
we're thinking critically about how are
we helping the people in our community?
It's something I'm so passionate about.
I'm passionate about building
community and celebrating diversity.
We actually have an event coming up
soon, which is funny, this weekend,
which is Just a Thanksgiving celebration
since Thanksgiving is coming up.
Just a Thanksgiving celebration
and it's like basically a potluck.
And so we're going to ask people
who represent different African
countries to bring their food that
represents them and their home.
And so we're going to have people from all
over Somalia, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria,
really come and bring their food and we
all get to taste and just like have a
good time and really feel like you know,
remove the stress of exams and really feel
like we have a community here and just be
able to celebrate everything that we're
thankful for and that we have that culture
and that home that we appreciate so much.
So you said it was about diversity.
I think it's more about food.
Yeah.
Um, let's talk a little bit about other
things that, that, you know, that, Seems
to be, you know, happening in your life.
Um, uh, I saw that you, um, have
just participated in the 2024
Goldman Sachs Possibility Summit.
Um, tell us a little bit about that.
Um, what was that like and
how does this all connect?
Does this connect with all these
things that we've been talking about?
Or is this sort of the next chapter?
If I feel like everything, everything
is connected at this point.
Um, the Goldman Sachs Possibility
Summit was another place that
was celebrating diversity.
That summit was to help
underrepresented communities.
It was really Goldman Sachs way of like
giving people a head start, helping
people understand what Goldman Sachs
is and I feel like my experience is
the fact that I was in the African
students organization that I had done
diverse things studying abroad that
really came through on my resume, which
helped me when I had that opportunity.
And so the summit was really
just a way to learn more.
It represented, like, the Black community,
Hispanics, women, um, past veterans,
the LGBTQ community, things like that,
and, um, It was really just helping,
you know, bridge the gap and just help
people feel represented and feel heard.
Just giving us a space to learn more.
We learned about different practices.
We learned how to build a resume,
how to interview, and we just got
that head start that we needed.
It was really an inclusive and great
program, collaborative as well.
You got to meet people.
I connected with so many
people during that summit.
So yeah.
And I should, I know that you're
being quite humble here, but it
is not an easy one to get into.
Um, it's, um, it's a summit that
has over 10, 000 applicants,
um, every year, I believe.
And, um, and so it's a, it's a, it's
a rather prestigious Um, uh, on your
resume, but I think that this is what I,
I, I, I sometimes wanted to, you know,
I feel like that for folks who've been
looking to get ahead, like you said,
right, you have to look for these
kinds of opportunities, but also have
to realize that schools like Boston
University and many others too, right.
Have spent a huge amount of resources.
And scholarship and intellectual, you
know, prowess to figure out programs
and design opportunities that is really
professionally, that's their job, is
to get students able to have these
opportunities to learn and to, to grow.
And for, I think that, you know,
especially for those who are
listening, who might be thinking about.
What's the value of higher education?
Should I just go in and,
you know, do something else?
And by the way, I take back some of the...
for some people, you know, it's It may
be true that college is not for them.
Yeah.
It may It may well be true.
But I think that for those who are
simply going through the Actually,
rather rational, logical Um, thought
process that is, Hey, if I want to be an
engineer, if I want to be, you know, sort
of fill in your blank, like, you know,
dream job, dream, you know, like career.
I don't need all this other stuff.
Yeah.
And I think that sometimes
we just don't know better.
We don't know that actually we do.
And not only do those other things, those
other things is what's going to make the,
the job that I want possible, you know?
Yeah.
I think, you even mentioning that, it's
making me realize I didn't talk about
a huge part of the College of General
Studies program, which is the Capstone
that we have at the end, and you work
in a group with, I think, about eight
people, and you write a 50 page paper.
Some people might question what is
the relevance of that, it just seems
like added stress, but you really get
to understand what it's like to work
within a team, and we live in such a
fast paced world and the center of any
business, whether that, whether you're
an engineer, whether you're a doctor,
whether you're working in business,
you are most likely going to have to
work with a team at some point, you're
going to need to work with people and
being able to have that experience from
CGS of like writing a paper, 50 pages,
a research heavy, being able to split
that up, knowing how to communicate.
It's so important to have these
skills from such a young age to really
help you build on that, allow you to
make those mistakes when Arguably,
it matters a little bit less.
Um, and just being able to learn
more about yourself, how you work
with others is so, so important.
And you get to, you have so many options
to choose from of what to write about.
You learn so much more about yourself,
about other people in the process,
how people think, what those diverse
perspectives are, and how the,
how those apply within your life.
And How you operate as well
is just, it's so important.
So you had actually mentioned a few
times, um, about learning about yourself.
And we had also previously talked
a little bit about that from
different perspectives and whatnot.
What is, what is this about
learning about oneself, right?
So how does that apply
to a business degree?
How does it apply to your, and by the
way, you're not defined by your degree.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know, you are, there are things
in the world that you want to do.
You want to see the world in a certain,
in a different, in a certain way.
And you want to make that happen.
You want to contribute to that future.
What is the role and the significance
about learning about yourself?
Cause you talked about a few times and I
feel like there's, there's more to that.
I think the most important part
about learning about yourself is just
learning about emotional intelligence.
I actually gave a speech about this last
week to my class about the importance
of emotional intelligence and really
the first step of being emotionally
intelligent is being self aware.
And I just think that knowing who
you are as a person, knowing what
your boundaries are, what your
triggers are, what your biases are.
Being able to understand that is such
a huge skill that a lot of people don't
have, and if you do have that skill,
you are miles ahead of a lot of people.
Being able to understand
who you are as a person.
Helps you be more socially aware
because you understand, okay, this
is how I'm going to communicate
with this person because this is
how I think about this situation.
And I know when to take a step back.
I know when I want to speak passionately
about something I know when and
how to communicate effectively.
That is important in any field.
Like I said, you're going to
be working with so many people.
You need to be socially aware.
And sometimes, Well, most times, actually.
Learning about yourself
takes a difficult situation.
It requires something challenging
to happen and you take a step back
and you look at it and you say, oh
my gosh, I didn't realize that this
is something that usually upsets me.
I didn't realize that
I reacted in that way.
It was just in the moment
and I just did that.
Taking that time out to self reflect
on why you make decisions that you
make and why you do the things that
you do really helps you understand
who you are as a person more.
And understanding who you are as
a person plays a huge role in your
relationships, how you manage those
effectively, and how you manage yourself.
How you feel about yourself, how you
feel about your life, you will be
more satisfied with life and you'll
be more able to Self accept and have
a better psychological well being When
you understand who you are as a person
Understand what your weaknesses are and
you're able to work towards those as well.
Can I ask you sort of
a side question here?
So Dami, are you always this
self reflective or is it
something that you learn?
Like, what is, what is it?
Um, I definitely had to learn it.
I mean, no one's perfect.
Um, like I said, I gave a talk last week
about emotional intelligence and really
the start of the talk was when I had a
time when I wasn't this self reflective.
Um, I realize from a lot of my friends
and that that's another thing is being
able to take feedback is a huge thing
that comes with becoming self reflective.
I remember growing up, a lot of people
would tell me that I was defensive
and I never thought of myself.
I never thought of myself in that way.
So it was something that
I started to brush off.
But when I realized that people who
I care about deeply, my best friends,
my siblings, were telling me like,
we can have an argument and you can
like, you know, lay your point down,
but you don't need to fight me.
You don't need to not
listen to what I'm saying.
And that's when I realized like,
Oh my God, I had to take the step
back and be like, Oh my gosh,
I'm, I'm not listening to people.
And because I'm you know, I
want so badly to be heard.
I'm not hearing other people and I
was able to really learn the value
of being self aware, knowing when
to listen to people and knowing
that like sometimes speaking all
the time is not how you get heard.
You need to listen to people first.
Um, so yeah, there's the
self reflection journey.
It's, it's, it's been a journey.
I wasn't always like this, but I think
with time, with age, with things like
CGS that force you to be in those
positions where you self reflect, force
you to be in positions where you receive
feedback from other people about how
you responded to certain situations,
triggers you to want to be better.
And I want to just have that
self reflection of, okay,
what, what can I do next?
How can I better myself
on this journey of life?
Can I, um, I, this is so beautiful.
You just said, you know,
these are, these are amazing.
I, I, I want to, um, point out this
notion that a lot of people have.
And I don't know whether you even
agree with it because, I mean, you, you
only started college a few years ago.
So, you know, before then you,
you don't really know, you haven't
experienced what college is like yet.
And a lot of people, and this
is not young people alone.
This is across ages, across the spectrum
of people who have attended college.
Depend on when you attended college.
It could be 30 years ago.
But a lot of people think about
going to college as being this
giant sort of pressure cooker of
let's feed more, let's marinate you
more in more and more knowledge.
And knowledge, you know, is, is almost
like in, in, in, in forms of content, you
know, like, you know, I think everyone
who's listening to you today can say.
Man, she's really well spoken.
She's really can, she
really expressed herself.
So there's that language component, right?
To build the ability to carry yourself,
to be able to, to express, to be
able to, to, to, to make sense of
the world and to be able to express
that, um, you know, to others, right.
Yeah.
Um, but, but there is
actually, um, you know...
and there's, there is, by the way, a
fair amount of content, so to speak.
If we hear everything that you said
today, it's actually much more about
the experiences that you were, that were
created for you that were like, you know,
like, here's, here are the adventures.
They're well designed.
We hope you go through it.
It's not a bunch of content
that we want you to have.
We want you to have the
experience so that you have.
You're forced into doing the reflections
to examine yourself, to learn about
yourself, to learn about who you are,
what your values are, so that when
you I mean, you talked about, for
example, the value of diversity today.
And by the way, it obviously shows up
in then what you then participated in
at the Goldman Sachs, you know, uh,
uh, uh, uh, uh, summit and the fact
that they picked you out of a 10, you
know, um, you and a number of others
out of over 10, 000 applicants, right?
It's not some skills that.
Or some content, I should say,
that was read to you in a book,
like in a book, paragraph three,
this is how you work with a team.
Yeah, exactly.
They can listen all out, but
you won't, you won't understand
it, you won't learn it, right?
And I think that those are some of
those things that, it's elusive, it's
like, wait, what is college about?
And I actually think that there's
so much about education that is
It's so obscure and therefore also
so it's abstract, um, and therefore
it's hard to put your finger on it.
And people almost kind of
discount it because they go,
I don't know why I need that.
Yeah.
Right.
Because it's like, it's not this skill
that I can just check off in a box.
Actually you do check those boxes off.
It's just that it doesn't come from
reading a couple of paragraphs.
Mm hmm.
Right, it comes from actually
going through an experience
that is hard, like you said.
You know, they're hard and, and it's
like you have to face it and you
have to take courage to face it.
You have to take hard work and resilience
and all of that to face it and to then
process it and then reflect on it and
then you go, now I actually own this.
You wouldn't otherwise own it,
because otherwise, we could have just
said, Let's not worry about going
to London, it's really expensive.
Like, just read this book, right?
John, uh, Regan could just
say, Here, I wrote this book.
Read it, and you've got it all.
You don't need to go and do all of this.
It wouldn't work, right?
It wouldn't work.
And that's the difference I feel like
between sort of a learning experience
as what education is versus just a
bunch of content that you think you
can just read about and then just
Remember it and then that's it.
Yeah.
No, yeah, exactly.
I think I agree completely
with what you're saying.
I feel like there is that misconception
of college is just a bunch of,
you know, exams and studying.
And while it is that, there is that part,
but it's so much more the experience.
Like you said, I think, of course,
college isn't for everyone.
But I do believe that it's
Um, what I'm going to take away from
college, mainly, is the experience.
When I'm talking about that Capstone
Project, where we had to write the 50
page paper, I didn't even mention what
the topic was, because it almost ended
up not even being the main focus anymore.
It was, Um, More about
what we learned as a team.
I think, honestly, the project, what I've
realized now is the topic doesn't matter.
You can choose whatever topic you
want to talk about, but what is
really the main takeaway is how you
effectively worked with your team to
produce a good, well written paper.
How did you guys split the work up?
How did you communicate?
That's really what the takeaway is.
What are the skills you learn
from that that are actually
like applicable in other areas?
Not just the knowledge you
got from doing the research.
I mean, our paper was about.
CTE, um, and brain trauma.
That's not applicable for me because
I'm going into the business world,
but the experience that I got from
that, that's what's applicable.
That's what's helped me in other
team projects that I've had
working internships, working
in team projects and classes.
That's what's really carried through.
That's what the importance
of education is.
It's the experiences that
you get along the way.
You.
meet so many people in college that are
from all over the world and that's the
really the only time where you're meeting
people so many different people who are
all kind of in the same stage of life
like at the same time and And are all
commonly working towards the same goal.
And I feel like people don't appreciate
that moment enough and really take
the time out to reflect and be like,
Wow, this is the only time that I'm
going to be around 19, 20 year olds.
That all just want to get a degree that
all want to learn something from this,
even though we're all so vastly different.
I know that, uh, at CGS, you had
been building a portfolio of your
work throughout those two years.
Yeah.
Tell me a little bit about that.
What that was like.
What did you do?
What did you have to do?
And what did you get anything out of it?
So At CGS, we had to use
Digication to create an...
a portfolio of all of our work.
So we had a homepage and we also had
every single class already embedded within
the Digication once we got on campus,
it was nice that we didn't have to set
that up, but we had to really learn how
to include tabs within the Digication
site to put different projects on there.
And I really liked it because I liked
that we were able to personalize
it and customize it when you use
traditional like homework poster sites.
There's not really much personalization
that can go with this, but with
this it's literally a portfolio.
It has a picture of you, a
description of you, and it's very
personalized, which I really like.
And I like that it was
like really easy to use.
You can just put everything.
I like that everything is in
one place and so easy to access.
Um, and so.
Yeah, it was, it was nice.
I think there were about 12 ish classes
within it, and it was nice that we, we
just had it embedded within the system.
I remember, you know, seeing that
your portfolio being presented
for the first time, like for
me, it was at that conference.
And I remember, you know, Um, I
believe that you, I still remember
that you had shown, um, your
portfolio through your London trip.
And I think that's why I remember
this food assignment so well.
And I think it had, I mean, you talked
about the design, the colors, um, And
I remember, I think there was some of
that that was part of the portfolio.
Am I right or am I dreaming this up?
No, it was definitely part.
I included the pictures of the food,
the pictures I took, like, at the
place within the portfolio as well.
Yeah, and I remember thinking, you
know, I remember, um, you and John were
talking about how communication, You
know, a lot of people think about going
to college is just writing a ton and
ton of papers, you know, but it's also
about expressing yourself in all these
different models these days, right?
Being able to express yourself
through photographs, through
design, through, through how you
put a sort of web page together.
And these are some of the skills
that frankly, it becomes a today's
everyday skill for, uh, a someone, you
know, in the 21st century trying to.
You know, whether you go into business
or you want to become, you know, a
researcher or what have you, right?
Um, yeah, we're talking about data
analytics, but that's not going to be
just charts and tables anymore, right?
Yeah.
You're we're moving into such a
tech-focused world that I think
it's so important to understand, to
know how different platforms work.
Use things differently, what different
buttons mean, what different icons mean.
It's nice to have that technological
portfolio that has everything in one
place and it is applicable to Data
Analytics as well because I'm learning
how to format things and the huge
part of data analytics, especially
when working in a business field,
is knowing how to present data in a
neat, pretty, and understandable way.
And I feel like having that design
aspect of designing the portfolio in
a way that it's readable for people,
a way that it's easy for people to
understand, definitely applies now in
my major and everything that I'm doing.
It's just, How to make life
easier for people, basically.
Yeah, I hear a lot of people that go
through that process talk about the, um,
experience of being able to tell stories.
So storytelling, not purely through
the ability to write papers.
Yeah.
I almost feel like that it used
to be the case, you know, like
every, most college students just
write a ton and a ton of papers.
Um, but, but today it really
is not like that anymore.
Um, and I also remember seeing
your portfolio cause it's so rich.
You got, you know, 12 classes
worth of stuff in there.
Yeah.
That it's almost impossible to ignore
the type of interconnectedness and the
integrative nature of your learning.
Yeah.
And, and one of the things that I had
always felt that that was important
in, in education and learning, but it's
somehow seems sometimes forgotten, is
that you know, and, and I don't know
what it is because of the way that
grades work, work out in most schools
or in most classes, the culture of just
doing assignments and this assignment
is worth 10 points and this assignment
is worth another, you know, 15 points.
After the assignments over, you
kind of almost don't even think
about these assignments again.
It's episodic and transactional, you
know, whereas when I see your whole
portfolio, I remember thinking, man,
that's a body of work and a body of work
is different from a bunch of transactions,
almost like, you know, when you look
at like someone's transcript, it almost
looks like, it's just like a receipt,
it looks like a receipt, it looks like
a receipt, you know, but what we really
want to see is a body of work of someone
who's accomplished all these things,
and the sum of all of that is It adds
up to be a lot more, a lot bigger than
just, you know, a list of receipts.
Yeah.
I, that's, I think that's one of the
reasons why I really valued like having
the portfolio and because I'm such a
visual person and I really like to dig
deep and understand the value of things.
And I feel like having, like you said,
that body of work is, it's valuable
than just seeing a bunch of A's.
It's different when you get to go in and
see the different papers, the slides,
the pictures, everything in one place,
and you can really tell how the classes
are interconnected than if you just see a
class name and a grade right next to it.
It doesn't have that same
effect on you, and you don't
really see what the person did.
What buildable skills they got
from that experience as well.
So that's the reason.
Can we wrap up with a quick exercise here?
Let's see if we don't work, but let's see.
All right.
So based on some of the work
that you've done, right?
I mean, you see your portfolio
with all this rich, you know, 12
courses, word of stuff in there.
Now that you see them there,
are there relationships or
connections that you can make?
After the fact.
Either it's today or after
these courses are over that,
that surprised you, you know?
Like maybe it's something that, oh wow,
I did this in London, but I also, this
reappeared again over somewhere else or,
you know, something along those lines.
Can you think of anything like that?
Like I said, um, the experience definitely
carries over and there have been moments
where I've gone back into the Digication
because it's just so much easier to go in.
It's all in one place to go
in and look at something.
I I had to write a research paper
for one of my business classes and I
remember Professor Regan taught us like
a really good way to write research
papers and so I just immediately was
like oh okay Digication let me just go
look in there it was I'm like it's all
in there already so it's so much easier
to go from there and I think also from
London like I said the experiences we
had from there, the different classes,
the fact that we were able to learn
from experience was really what.
um, London was, because of course
Professor Regan's class, which was
the writing class, we had the food in
London critique class, but my social
science class, she really wanted
us to, my professor, um, Professor
Blaschke, she really wanted us to
have autonomy in the work that we did,
and so she told us, explore London.
Find something interesting.
You think about London, it can be
history related or not history related
and I want you guys to create a podcast.
So we actually submitted a podcast
episode as one of our homeworks and
then finally my art history class was,
um, he told us go around to, like, four
museums, find interconnected themes, and
choose from one era, either the 1960s,
1970s, and create a slideshow of that.
Depicts these images and homework
being exploring is just so important.
I think those experiences, learning
so much about the world and how
to communicate because all those
projects, what they had in common
is you're sharing your experiences.
You're learning how to
communicate experiences.
This isn't just, it's not just writing
a paper, it's communicating experiences.
So whether it's through writing, through
a slide deck, through a podcast, you're
learning the different ways to express
yourself, and I feel like that can be
applied in any field, and I've definitely
seen that show up in the work that I
do now, where I have to analyze data
and depict that through a slideshow or
in some of my marketing classes we're
talking about like marketing management,
creating a slide deck that shows how
organizations work, all that, all those
experiences I had that I might not
have had if I just went in straight
on have really, really applied as I've
gone in through my work and I think.
The Digication has been such a center
part of that because the fact that it's
all in one spot is so nice, and it's so
nice to go back and look on and be like,
I created this, like I, I made this.
This Digication was blank at some point,
no color, no design, no work embedded
into it, and I put the work into this.
I designed this, and I've really
made it my own, is what It's such
a proud moment for me as well.
That's wonderful.
Um, well, listen, I, I've, I've been
fully inspired by talking to you today.
I've been inspired for you too.
You, you, you, you know, honestly, I
think that you give a lot of, I think
that people who will be listening,
this will, will feel a sense of hope.
And also.
Hopefully a for those who
have been pessimistic.
Yeah about colleges And what it
means and what higher education does.
I hope it gives you some renewed optimism
to sort of, to appreciate that, you
know, if it was all about just learning
a bunch of skills that people just
read a lot into a, into in the book.
We would've just set
you free in a library.
Exactly.
Right.
But this, it, it, this sort of
planned experience, these going on
these adventures in a guided way
by professors who have spent their
lives trying to perfect that skill.
Mm-hmm . You know, to be able to help you.
I think that's what you are really
getting, you know, in a, in a,
in a, in a well structured, well
designed, higher education program.
And I, I really do think
that people, um, before they.
Dismiss that.
Um, they should give it a fair shake.
They should give it, they should
really look at it and understand.
Hold on a minute.
These are things that I can't
get out of reading a book.
Um, and it's, it's just hard otherwise,
you know, to, to be able to get, get that.
Um, and, uh, and you've just been so,
um, delightful to talk to and, and, and,
and it, it, by the way, it makes me want
to go back to college and be like, can
I just do that London semester, please?
I wish I could go back to
the London semester too.
Right, right.
Okay.
That's what, that's what BU
should be doing, doing a London
semester for alumni, right?
Yeah.
After you graduate, you know,
you can still go back, but
now you have to pay for it.
All right.
Hey, listen, it's been.
It's been so great talking to you, Dami.
Thank you so much for having me.
I've, I really enjoyed our conversation.
Yeah, same here.
And I look forward to
like, please keep in touch.
Mm-hmm . I look forward
to seeing what you do.
Thank you so much.
Into this next phase.
I'm sure that lots of amazing things
will come out of it and, uh, we, we,
we are so glad to have been a small
part of you know, your, your journey.
Um, so it's, it's very inspiring.
Okay.
Take care.
Thank you.
And I, uh, stay in touch.
Okay.
Of course.
Bye.
All right.
Here's a preview of what's coming
up next in my conversation with
Matthew Gomes, an ADP Systems Analyst
at Bunker Hill Community College.
But it, it is one of those things
where the more you put into it and
by more, I don't mean quantity.
But the more you put into it,
the more you can get out of it.
So it transcends just that one
class you're taking where you
want to get an A on your homework.