Sydney Montgomery’s Post

So excited for this panel happening tonight! Major thanks to Haynes and Boone, LLP and Robin Ladd for being wonderful and consistent supporters of our mission here at Barrier Breakers®, Inc. If you haven’t already registered for our free panel tonight featured phenomenal Black attorneys in the Black Laywers Alliance program at Haynes and Boone, LLP there’s still time! You can register at bit.ly/bbhaynesboone Also I love anytime I get to share the stage with a fellow Tiger as well! Khalil Bryant Janet O. Eyimofe Wyse

Last week, I had the opportunity to travel back to Halcyon for their 10th Anniversary Homecoming. Day 1 started with Alumni Day and Day 2 had the Innovation Summit and Reception. Words can’t express how full my heart was to be reconnected to my Halcyon family. I was reminded that being an entrepreneur isn’t a label you have confined to a specific venture or business. Being an entrepreneur is part of who you are. It’s the understanding of what it means to take an idea to market and the belief that you can turn it into scalable impact. It’s belonging to a community of people who believe they can be part of making the world a better place and at halcyon that community has at its core the value of social impact, equity, and accessibility. I am grateful too to be reminded of the friendships I made that are still enduring and the strength of my cohort in supporting each other. To have a sisterhood of Black women entrepreneurs (and a brother in Tony!) who remind me that they are there for me, are praying for me, and are available to me was the reminder from God that He puts people in your path to support you on your journey. Of course, I cannot say enough how grateful and blessed I am to have the continual support of Kate Goodall, Dahna Goldstein, Daniel J. Barker, Mercy Erhiawarien, and Marcelo Homrich. It’s a special organization that says and fully means that they support the entrepreneur first, no matter the venture. I am blessed too that Barrier Breakers®, Inc. can continue to receive support from Halcyon for years to come through my access to mentors (thank you Helen Manich and Shalonda Ingram) experts in the field, other fellows, and resources as we help thousands of students access higher education across the country. So, Halcyon, thank you so much for what you do for social impact entrepreneurs across the world. Thank you for your vision. Thank you for your heart. And thank you for continuing to shape my life for the better. Tyde-Courtney Edwards Ruby Taylor, Tony McCright Múkami Kinoti Kimotho (she/her) Mariah Barber, MPH, CHES, RPCV Shenita-Ann Grymes MaBinti Y.

So excited to go back to the organization that first believed in my entrepreneurial dreams and supported me with financial backing, workshops, mentorship, and community. Without Halcyon and Visible Hands believing in my potential as an entrepreneur to impact students across the country, even when we were still figuring out exactly how and even through all the pivots, Barrier Breakers®, Inc. would not be where we are today. Kate Goodall thank you for always seeing and believing in my potential and encouraging me most importantly to follow my heart and stay true to myself and my passion.

I am thrilled that my latest piece for the Forbes Nonprofit Council is finally out! This is the most personal piece I have written as a member of the nonprofit council. As many of you know, I am a huge champion for first-generation students and first-generation professionals, but my relationship to the label for myself has always been complicated. As I was preparing for my TEDx talk this past April, I realized that I wanted to take the time to address the difficulties of having an experience that doesn't neatly fit into a label. I hope that this piece challenges you to think about the labels we use to place students in categories, even when we do so in an attempt to help them, and who gets left out when we make those categorical decisions. Major shout out to my parents who have always done their best to help me navigate higher ed when they themselves did not have a roadmap or experience a traditional path.

I'm so thrilled to announce the recent grant Barrier Breakers®, Inc. received from the Community Foundation of New Jersey! And a huge shout out to our Grant Writing volunteer, Simra Ahmed, who helped make this happen! This $10,000 grant will go toward our Barrier Breakers Scholars Program, which provides free college and law school counseling to students with high levels of financial need. Specifically, this grant will help us kick-off our partnership with HomeWorks Trenton, a supplemental residential after-school program for marginalized girls. HomeWorks Trenton provides a boarding school experience to its students, preparing them for their higher education journey. Barrier Breakers®, Inc. will provide free comprehensive college counseling to these girls over the next two years, staying with them from the beginning of the 11th grade until they graduate high school. We hope this is the beginning of a very long and fruitful partnership between our organizations, and we could not be more excited. When I met HomeWorks Trenton Co-Founder Natalie Tung last year, a fellow Princeton Tiger and phenomenal woman entrepreneur, I knew God had intentionally caused our paths to meet. Even without the promise of a grant, I knew that God would allow us to walk alongside the girls at HomeWorks Trenton and be part of the groundbreaking work that Natalie and her team are doing. With the school year (and our partnership!) starting at the end of the month, this grant came right on time. I know this is just the beginning, and I'm so excited to see what else God has in store! To learn more about HomeWorks Trenton please visit: https://lnkd.in/dszQFA3C To learn more about how you can support Barrier Breakers® please visit: https://lnkd.in/d9yhq2e4

I cannot say enough times how proud I am of Barrier Breakers®, Inc. student Aaron Owusu who is competing TOMORROW in the Men's 50M Free for Eritrea in the Olympics Paris 2024. Aaron, know that we are all rooting for you! You are such an inspiration to African-American swimmers across the country, African swimmers across the continent, and a role model to all. You can follow Aaron's journey @owususwimming on Instagram! Aaron will be attending The Ohio State University in the fall on a full-tuition academic scholarship. He represents Quince Orchard High School in Montgomery County, Maryland. Edward Owusu, Root Teklemariam.