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With little guidance, I felt in my spirit I needed to get out of that situation.

 

I always felt I could do more, but I never imagined that I’d be where I am today; working at Microsoft as a customer engineer, giving to causes that make a huge difference, and being a role model to people who really need someone to look up to. God gave me a second chance.

 

The path to helping others actually started with someone helping me. I was the first person in my family to go to college when I enrolled in Johnson C. Smith University, a Historically Black University in Charlotte, North Carolina. I didn’t know what I wanted to—or could—do.

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That was when I met another student who was crushing it in a class we took together. He took me under his wing and opened my eyes not only to the possibilities in computers, coding, and making apps but also to the joy of giving.

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I began volunteering in an after-school program where we taught kids about computer engineering. The kids were a lot like me—they couldn’t afford the bus fare, and some had no place to sleep.

 

They saw me as someone to look up to. Someone like them who broke from a community that lacked hope and options. It was then that I learned I could reach back and help pull others up, too.

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Young people need positive role models of people like them who have “made it.” By the power of my example, I began mentoring and inspiring others on how they can get further in life. It turned out that my background was an asset.

 

Since then, I’ve been volunteering, mentoring, starting scholarship funds, and co-founding nonprofits—everything I can, to pay it forward. I like to say I work full-time for Microsoft and full-time for the community.