Student Successes

The Power of Cultivating Genius:

An Interview with HackBAC Alum,

Simeon Sannieniola

Delonte Egwuatu (DE): As you know, our mission is to inspire and cultivate genius in young leaders of color who innovate for positive social impact. If you think back on your time, go back to where you were in high school to where you are today, how do you say that HackBAC did that–how did HackBAC cultivate and inspire your genius to where you are now?

Simeon Sannieniola (SS): So if I think back to 10th grade, when I did HackBAC the first time, it was virtual. HackBAC inspired me to pursue a business career. Obviously, I'm now entering my junior year, majoring in finance at Howard. I think high school is an excellent time for kids to discover precisely what it is they want to do. However, they'll just be scratching the surface; nobody really knows exactly what they want to do. Still, HackBAC gave me a nice formal introduction to a world I eventually pursued. 

And I say this because things like the genius conversations with professionals within the industry really helped shape what I wanted to do going forward in the future, and I think just the culmination of being able to work on teams and solve problems that are not just problems that are irrelevant to your everyday life. Still, there are problems centered around people of color in the communities in which you live and exist, so I think not only did HackBAC allow me to solve those problems, but also to work with like-minded individuals and to have the assistance of professionals within the industry. 

And even just thinking about my time, I spent some time in Philadelphia working for MetLife Investment Management. That's exactly what we do on an everyday basis–you work in teams. There are going to be some people older than others, especially for people like me, coming as an intern, the most junior person at the firm. You work on cross-collaborative efforts with your fellow peers who are in your intern class, so those are going to be the people adjacent to you. Then you'll also have your direct managers, who will probably be a little lower-level than the people on your desk or wherever you work, and your senior manager. I feel like HackBAC embodies those things perfectly.

So it gives high school students an edge or a heads-up on their peers, because these opportunities, unless you seek them out or are at certain places, you're not going to get access to them. 

And especially the part about presentation skills, I don't mean to toot my own horn, but I got my formal review from my manager. I'm at the end of my internship, and one thing he said was that my presentation skills were excellent. He also said he heard we ran two different intern projects and that, in a sense, those projects are exactly HackBAC. You have a problem, and you need to solve it for me. I work in asset management, so the issues were catered towards that industry, but the rep was able to stand up and deliver a presentation in a room full of individuals who are your age, your peers, and also people judging you.

It's completely transferable, so in terms of preparation, HackBAC is amazing: it offers high school students an unmatched opportunity you won't find anywhere else!

DE: In what ways did your mentors, would you say, if you could think back, help refine your ideas, or your approach to solving a problem?

SS: The mentors do a great job of leading us in the right direction while also letting us own our own ideas.

 I remember 12th grade, we were struggling a little bit, and for us, especially in classes or in most spaces, you lean on the older person and say I don't know what to do. 

Iman, our mentor, did a great job of preventing us from struggling too much. I think that cognitive time under tension when you're trying to formulate an idea–it's very easy to give up and take a step back–but your mentor does a great job of keeping you guys roped in and reminding you there is hope at the end of the tunnel.

So, what that looks like for my team and me is when you're formulating your idea, at first, everybody's throwing out ideas–it's brainstorming time–everybody's throwing out whatever. Your mentor might give you the pros and cons of the concept from their lived experience. 

In contrast, we only think about the pros, so I think they do a great job in that of not completely owning your idea, not domineering over you, but giving you the correct guidance and the correct motivation that you need to push through and get a final presentation that makes sense at the finish line so I think the fact that kids are not on their own.

DE: How's the HackBAC experience and skills you gained from that influence your academic and, more so, your career path? Tell me about how that was the impetus for you wanting to have a career or study business?

SS: HackBAC does a great job of giving you the skills necessary to start with nothing, formulate an idea, and make that idea somewhat of a polished product within that three-day process, and that's the business process in whatever field you pursue. 

Many times over again, if I think of my internship in Philadelphia, we had an intern project. Although the intern project might have been over two to four week time horizon, HackBAC was actually that same process, just vastly expedited, so the same skills that you're going to use as a low level analyst or as an intern in your sophomore junior year of college you're already sharpening those skills as a high school as a high school, or even maybe eighth grade 12th grade student.

And then, in terms of steering me towards business. The idea of owning your idea is very attractive. For me, that's what drew me to the field of business–the ability to be able to build an idea and speak to it as if it's your own. I think that's what entrepreneurship is all about, and then how much more so is it attractive when you're dealing with problems that benefit your community.

Those are the two big things HackBAC did for me. It helps you solve business problems that matter to you, so it's deeply personal. And then it also gives you the necessary skills to present an idea that makes sense to judges and an audience.

DE: If you had to sum up the experience, what was the single most important thing you took away from HackBAC?

SS: Oh man, that's a good one! I think: how to disagree effectively. 

DE: Tell me more. 

SS: I think going to school, which is most kids' lived experiences as you go through high school, you're submitting assignments, and the assignments have your name at the top of the paper. Whether it's a topic for an essay you want to write, or it's a topic that you decide to do a study on, you have complete control over whatever it is that you do. And, where it's very easy to think your ideas are always the best. 

In contrast, during HackBAC, you’re now a group of five/six students who are just as brilliant, or even smarter, than you! 

It's just the nature of things when there are a lot of brilliant people in the room: they have different ideas, and the ideas clash—the best rise to the top.

HackBAC showed me how to disagree effectively and how to present an argument for why your idea might be good. And then, at the same time, see somebody's idea and either submit to it if it's better, or take elements from their idea and your idea to make a perfect product at the end.

And I think that's not an exposure, many kids get within high school–it's very easy to hear somebody disagree with your idea and then be turned down. Now you're emotional, whereas the process of being within the world within the business world from what I've experienced so far is that's everyday basis right you have to be able to have an idea but at the same time, know that there's smart people around you that have equally as essential ideas, put them together and come up with a great product.

DE: I love it! So, you're in DC, obviously at Howard. You're a young leader of color. What does being a young leader of color mean to you now, especially in the context of creating social change?

SS: I think a young leader of color? Let me think on this a little bit more…What is a young leader?

DE: Because, not to say you've grown up, but you know you’re in college, now you're like an adult! You just spent your summer in Philly. The way you see the world has developed and changed since you were in high school. Now, as a young adult, how are you kind of seeing that and taking those skills and things forward?

SS: Man, this question goes back to what I believe is the crux of HackBAC: letting kids of color know in high school that you have the ability, and you are a genius. 

Although it might sound cliche, it's the most important thing because what I've seen at growing up, just a little bit within the couple of years of entering my adulthood– I'm 19 years old, so I don't know how much I've experienced so far–but I think it’s very important to understand that the ideas that you create are not less than because of what you look like. Kids who participate in HackBAC will come from many different backgrounds and excellent schools. 

It's easy for me to get into certain rooms. It's a little bit different at Howard because most people look like me. But how about when people don't? How about when you go to that top institution where everybody in your class was a valedictorian, and you may not have been?.

Are you going to think that your ideas are less than because of the places that you come from? HackBAC does a great job of letting you own your idea insofar as you know that everything that you put forward is equally ingenious as the person to your left or to your right.

So, as a young person and a leader of color, I think it's very important to know that you are not less than because of what you look like or where you come from, but that your uniqueness and where you come from are actually what you contribute to the table. 

And that's why diversity is so important: in the absence of diversity, you get the same ideas from the same people, which is never, if you look at history, right?

The best performers, and best institutions, and best everything is a conglomeration of all the most intelligent people from different places in different backgrounds, so I think that's what being a young leader of color means: it's owning your ideas owning where you come from, and not, and knowing that who you are, has everything to do with what you what you put out and that is your genius. 

DE: You're inspiring me on this Friday–I love it! I love it. I love it! 

That’s actually a good segue into my next question: What would you say to a high school student who is considering joining the program? 

SS: This might be the toughest question, not because I answer, but because I have so many answers!

What I'd say is, this is an opportunity you can't get anywhere else, or at least from what I've seen in high school. I know in 10th grade, I didn't know what a hackathon was.

I thought I was going to code, I thought I was going to do this or that… I didn't know I was coming up with fresh, new ideas.

As a high schooler, looking back from someone who's not too far removed from your seat, I'd say HackBAC has done a lot of things for me. It presents you with necessary “soft skills” to succeed in your future career, whether that be presentation skills–it doesn't matter what field you go into–whether you're a teacher, whether you're a lawyer, whether you're a mathematician, whatever you need to do you need to be able to present and HackBAC will throw you into that fire. Although it might be a little bit scary at the time, it's going to put you in an environment where you're going to sharpen your presentation skills. 

The next thing it will do is it will give you many opportunities, opportunities to speak to in your early career interviews. A question you're always going to get is: “Tell me about a time when you disagreed with a teammate, and you all had to come to a solution. Tell me about a time you had to perform under pressure or under a time constraint.” And your HackBAC experience can be your answer for every single one of those things!

But most importantly, HackBAC will give you exposure to brilliant minds at different institutions doing exactly what you want to do. Right, so if you're participating in HackBAC, there's a likely chance that you're at a great independent school or you're at a great school in your area, and you know what it means to be “smart” your whole life. Now, how much more so is it important to get exposure from people who think the same thing about themselves, and I'm a big believer in that. 

I don't think it's just a Bible verse, but I think it's also just a way of life: as iron sharpens iron, so does one man another. HackBAC is full of iron that looks just like you, that's interested in the same things that you're interested in, and by being around those people, you can form lifelong connections with people who are pursuing similar fields as yourself and get great exposure. 

And ultimately, there's the risk of not doing it, which doesn't make sense not to pursue when you know you can do it! So, if it's something you're looking into and even the littlest bit curious about, it's worth taking that step and participating, for sure.

DE: Last question. With all that you've learned to take in, where do you see yourself now, personally, Simeon, in the near future? Where are you going next? That's a loaded question. Hahaha.

SS: Right now, I'm a rising junior finance major at Howard University in DC, and I just finished a summer working at MetLife Investment Management and their public fixed income unit. Next summer, I'll be at Morgan Stanley and in the investment banking division as an intern.

And from there, God willing, I plan to return as a full-time analyst and then pursue a career in financial services.

I love intellectually challenging, stimulating work, and I think the field of finance gives me the perfect opportunity to do so. More importantly, I see myself as a trailblazer. When I looked around the room at my first internship at MetLife, there were no other interns who looked like me. There was only one other person in the office who worked there and looked like me. 

I think the only way that's going to change. When people who look like me, who look like Delonte, get within these spaces and open the door for the person behind them. So my prayer,  my hope is, that every door that I opened doesn't close behind me, but I hold it open for somebody else–I hope I'm able to cultivate and captivate an environment that is open to the others that are coming behind me.