#HBCUsAtState: The Making of A Young Diplomat

Sitting in front of a room of college students during the State Department’s annual Historical Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) conference, transported me back to what once seemed like a tumultuous period during my last few years as an undergraduate. As I joined a panel of fellow Department colleagues and HBCU alumni, I realized how this event brought together the two institutions that have had a substantial impact on my current career as a U.S. diplomat.

Our decision to join the State Department, particularly the Foreign Service, was an unfamiliar story to many of these students; one they thought intriguing enough that they traveled, some for hours by bus, to learn more in person. They came seeking real-life examples of diplomats like Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Assistant Secretary of the Africa bureau. She shared how they could become involved in foreign affairs right now just by interacting with exchange participants like the Young African leaders who visit their communities. The conference participants were also able to learn, from young diplomats like Krystle Norman, how the State Department partners with their schools to increase educational outreach in the Caribbean. By explaining how the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs is working to encourage more minorities to take advantage of exchange opportunities, Jacqueline Mourot then provided valuable information on how study abroad opportunities could jumpstart a lifelong love of travel and a career in foreign affairs.

As the afternoon progressed I was encouraged as students came forward with thoughtful questions about how my fellow panelists and I decided on this career path and if our time at HBCUs had adequately prepared us for it. Thinking back on my own experience, I understood their thirst to learn more about what seems like an exotic but foreign career track. As I shared during the panel, it was only after a stark realization while sitting in a constitutional law class that my long-held hopes of a potential career practicing law simply did not match up with the reality of my passion or interests. It was this initially anxiety-laden moment, however, which led me to one day wander into Howard University’s Ralph Bunche International Center where a Diplomat-in-Residence opened my eyes to a whole new career path in the Foreign Service.

As the students continued to address the panel they raised insightful questions on the terrorism threat in sub-Saharan Africa and how the State Department employs social media, questions of concern around safety working abroad and facing discrimination in the workplace, and frank questions about work/life balance and maintaining romantic and familial relationships as a diplomat. Given the candor of their inquiries, I hope my colleagues and I succeeded in offering these students an unvarnished picture of how we have grown as foreign affairs professionals. In the spirit of transparency, I shared how I started out a self-professed “nerdy Nile Valley Afrocentric." I shared how I made plenty of mistakes in my transition to the workforce, but with a willingness to embrace challenging work, seek out guidance from strong mentors, and stay true to my values I carved out a fulfilling career with an unapologetic focus on Africa, innovation, and public outreach. 

I hope hearing these stories from a professional, who like them, chose to attend an HBCU because I valued the legacy of an institution founded with the express goal of expanding educational opportunities to all, helped them see our field as a realistic and attainable way of forging a future after graduation. After all, it was these values that led me to an HBCU -- a desire to help develop holistically as a scholar and a civically-engaged and culturally-aware citizen -- that then drew me into public service and international affairs. While Howard’s motto of “Truth and Service” gave me an ethos that shaped my academic and professional career, the State Department has provided me a solid foundation to demonstrate what “leadership for America and the global community” looks like in practice.

Even after the conference ended, I spent about an hour chatting and answering questions from lingering students. I made this investment because it is not lost upon me that I grew up in the DC Metro area, made dozens of visits to the national mall, never knowing I was a stone-throw away from the State Department. As a student I lived in Washington for years, I likely walked directly in front of the Harry S. Truman building, and never knew the career possibilities that existed behind its facade. Like many students of color, I simply did not know these opportunities existed. At least not until I was engaged by people who worked at State but who got outside of that building to reach out to a more diverse swath of the American public.

Now years later, as I walk the halls of the Department and have the opportunity to speak to student groups, I am grateful for leaders like Ambassador Thomas Pickering who continue to push for greater diversity in foreign affairs, recognizing while we have made great progress we still have much further to go. If CEOs of tech giants are starting to see the urgent need for diversity in Silicon Valley, how much more do we need it in Washington where we set and execute public policy with global implications? So I am glad to see programs like the HBCU conference and the United States Diplomacy Center, which are bringing Americans face-to-face with the people who help shape our foreign policy. I hope in time these initiatives with help to ensure that its practitioners begin to look more and more like the face of America.

About the Author: Jaclyn A. Cole serves as Co-managing Editor for DipNote, the U.S. Department of State’s official blog. She is a Pickering Fellow alumna.