When Alyssa Keith ’24 was 7 years old, she had a Hello Kitty notebook in which she wrote down her entrepreneurial ideas. In another room, the booming voice of Jim Cramer’s “Mad Money” wafted through her childhood home. Additionally, I was inspired by this concept of how business can help make simple doodles a reality.
Even as she grew up, went to school, played sports, volunteered at the North Shore salt marshes, and became an award-winning student, the notebook remained mostly closed. As I prepare for her graduation, her little diary suddenly pops into my mind.
“I was always so focused on school that I never really put any ideas into practice,” Keith says. “I wish I could have taken something from it and run with it, but I had an academic mission since middle school.”
That calling led her to Babson College, where she felt her professional goals and sense of self began to take shape. Her accomplishments at Babson, of which she is most proud, do not feel tangible to her at first. They are the community she has built with her fellow runners. It’s her growing passion for sustainability. And it’s about finding her voice, her ability to express herself and her thoughts in her words.
She says that she used to create by hiding behind the keyboard, as if watching, without relying on her physical voice. of little mermaid vice versa. Now she feels it is more powerful than ever.
“I had a lot of ideas, but I didn’t know how to get them out,” says Keith. “I’ve created a way to focus on who I am and how I want to communicate that. Sell yourself, as we often do elevator pitches here. Think about yourself. I developed an identity through that.”
Keith, who will be the student speaker at the 2024 Babson Undergraduate Commencement on May 11, is ready for her voice to come out from behind the scenes.
run your own way
If you’re familiar with Brook Pass near campus, you may have seen Keith running there. A track and cross country athlete at Babson, she usually runs with her country music playing or with her teammates.
I was originally drawn to the sidewalk because I liked the self-competitive nature of running, but at Babson College I realized that it was a time for self-reflection and one of the best ways to make friends on campus. I noticed. She cited coaches Russ Brennan and Brent Szytalski as supportive figures who helped her overcome her injuries and find her own identity beyond being a student-athlete.
“I’ve always loved the outdoors, so long-distance running allowed me to get into the woods for longer,” says Keith. “In other sports, there’s a lot of noise and whistles, but with running, you just have to be with yourself for a while. I’ve never really felt in the head space that I felt in some of my best runs. Thanks. , helped me get through some of the more difficult days.”
Establishing an identity beyond schoolwork and pursuing self-described “boring perfection” has led her to more than Wellesley Wood. She is a Resident Assistant (RA), a Presidential Scholar, and a Frank & Eileen™ Center for Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership (F&E CWEL) Scholar. Those activities gave her a sense of community and support.
“I had a lot of ideas, but I didn’t know how to bring them out. I created a way to focus on who I am and how I want to communicate that.” Alyssa Keith ’24
In particular, F&E CWEL events such as sessions with Precious L. Williams, owner of Perfect Pitch Group, helped Keith find ways to express herself and overcome her fear of speaking imperfectly, especially as a woman in business. It helped me.
“Women are seen as having less important business stories,” says Keith. “I remember hearing in sessions that we were giving up so much of our power because we thought we couldn’t say the right thing. We should be afraid to say it because we have so much to say. It taught me that it wasn’t.”
Speak up for sustainability
Sustainability is something Keith is passionate about using his voice. Raised in Newburyport, Massachusetts, she spent her summers pulling invasive pepperweed from the local Great Marsh salt marsh (“I wore waders up to my knees”) and upcycling furniture. I spent my time doing so. During another F&W CWEL event, she met someone involved in impact investing. As with the ideas written in her notebook, she focused on that career path, but she continued to focus on her studies.
But after taking a class on “Financing and Sustainability Evaluation,” she fell in love with the intersection of business and sustainability.
“On the weekends, I would meet with my professors and have coffee and talk about purchasing contracts and water efficiency,” she says. She said: “She was researching environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing and realized there was a path for her that focused on investing and sustainability.”
Last summer, she interned as an ESG investment researcher at Pollen Capital, an investment management firm in Boca Raton, Florida. She plans to return to the company full-time after graduation. Sustainability One of the first members of her team, she says this is a dream job.
A lifelong Massachusetts resident, he’s ready for a change of location. As for the recovering perfectionist, she’s ready to see what happens next.
“I had a notebook full of ideas and I was excited to have some free time and use this audio for myself and actually implement one of them,” says Keith. Masu. “I have all these labels and I’m very grateful for them, but it’s time to think about what I can do outside of focusing on school and getting good grades.”
Maybe she’ll crack open that old notebook in the Florida sunshine.
Posted in the community
More from the community »
