Are you a PhD, postdoc, MD or JD student? Apply by March 28 for Diversity Connect.
This two-day virtual event is designed to support the professional interests and growth of talented Black, African-American, Hispanic, Latinos, and Native American students interested in exploring management consulting.
I have always been inspired to solve the hidden puzzles that lay within the body ─ to understand how the tapestry of cells within the brain descend into the chaos of illness. Led by this desire, I pursued a PhD in neuroscience at Vanderbilt University and, thereafter, a research fellowship at McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School. I focused on understanding how stress precipitated cellular changes in the brain and led to mental illness. One night, while bent over a singly illuminated dish of brain slices, I looked around and realized it was time for a change.
In retrospect, what seemed like a sudden decision had been unfolding over time. The questions I was asking myself – e.g., “How could I have impact? What inspired me?” – all pointed toward pivoting my problem solving energy to more outward-facing questions.
In what felt like an instant, I confided in a friend the litany of things I was looking for in the next season of my career: challenging problem solving in the pharma and public sector spaces; intellectually curious colleagues; a variety of subject matter; exceptional teamwork with global impact; and a place where my diversity would be embraced. Among other advice, she hesitantly suggested management consulting. I say “hesitantly” because my friend felt the profession checked all but the last item on my list.
Concerned but undeterred and curious, I moved forward by exploring consulting. I thought to myself, many times before I had been the only person of color in the room. I had survived. Alone. How different could this experience be?
Months later, an email from the Harvard consulting club shared that McKinsey was hosting a session to introduce their summer advanced professional degree (APD) program. I had seen many such emails before, but with this note I paused. Alongside McKinsey’s flagship Insight program was a new internship opportunity—Diversity Connect —a program focused on advanced professional degree people in underrepresented groups who wanted to transition to management consulting. It was an open invitation to gain insight into McKinsey and see first-hand if diversity was welcomed.
I joined Diversity Connect and left excited to apply to McKinsey. As energized as I was to meet the organizers, I was even more taken aback by the essence of the program. It was clear that program’s focus was squarely on creating a safe space for APDs of color to navigate their consulting journey.
I was fortunate to have been a part of Diversity Connect’s inaugural class. True to McKinsey’s promise, Diversity Connect was not only transparent about the realities of consulting but equally transparent about McKinsey’s desire for us to thrive, irrespective of whether we choose McKinsey or consulting altogether.
Today, I call many members of that Diversity Connect class my friends. My journey to McKinsey would not have been possible without their unwavering support, advice, and prayers. This time I was not alone. That is the essence and brilliance of Diversity Connect. I am reminded of this every time I look at our class picture that now sits on my desk. We represented a hope and a promise that McKinsey has made— to embrace people as they are.
