Minority Voices

Kenton Hipsher Telling Black, Brown Professionals’ STEM Stories

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Speaking with his high school-aged nephew about future career aspirations, 2017 biology alumnus Kenton Hipsher recalled his career planning experience and a problem many people of color face growing up—the lack of young professional mentors and public awareness about careers, particularly in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

After all, Black and Hispanic people with a bachelor’s degree or higher make up only 17% of the nation’s STEM workforce; Black people occupy 3.2% of the senior leadership roles at U.S. large companies; and less than 1 percent of all Fortune 500 chief executive officers in the country are Black. Hipsher founded The #BlackProfessionals Project in June 2020 to inspire Black and Brown youths by highlighting YouTube and social media interviews with professionals—several of them fellow Rose-Hulman alumni (see note on page)—sharing their career experiences and journeys. He also utilizes LinkedIn and Facebook communities to connect kids with professionals from underrepresented groups, and partners with schools and community groups across America to share his professional journey. The interviews are casual conversations, recorded through Zoom from his home studio, that typically last about 30 minutes. “It has been super cool learning where these professionals have come from, what they are doing and the challenges they have encountered along the way, especially how they learned and adapted from those experiences,” Hipsher says. “I have been hyped by the love and positivity that I received from other Black and Brown professionals who saw the work I’m doing.” Hipsher has recorded more than 40 interviews, with nearly 30 being posted on The #BlackProfessionals Project’s YouTube channel. As for Hipsher’s journey, the Indianapolis native took his strong foundation in the sciences, nurtured

The #BlackProfessionals Project features 2017 biology alumnus Kenton Hipsher interviewing Black and Brown professionals about their career experiences and journeys.

by RHIT’s quality biology program, to earn a master’s degree in microbiology from the University of Georgia. He worked in a variety of technical jobs before settling in California and managing sales with Geltor, Inc., a biotechnology company. Don’t be surprised if Hipsher’s own story isn’t featured in the project soon. Stay tuned!

On The Web The #BlackProfessionals Project interviews can be viewed at: www.youtube.com/c/TheBlackProfessionalsProject/videos

Alumni Provide STEM Insights Kenton Hipsher has tapped into a familiar group to provide The #BlackProfessionals Project viewers information about a variety of STEM careers—several of his former RHIT classmates, track and field teammates, and National Society of Black Engineers chapter members. This alumni group includes Angelica Cox (MA/ECON, 2015), mathematics teaching; Jada Davis (EE, 2018), electrical engineering; Stanley Hogan (BE, 2018), process automation; Malcolm Marshall (BE, 2017), patents and innovation; Jae Murray (ME, 2018), production engineering; Isaiah Smith (SE, 2017), project coordination; Vashon Solomon (CPE, 2015), embedded systems; Marcus Tucker (ME, 2015), manufacturing; and Linnell Williams (ME, 2019), a second lieutenant in the U.S. Space Force.