Feyisola Akintola, MSUS+MBA ‘16, is working for a more equitable Pittsburgh
Talk about having a job that makes a difference. Feyisola Akintola is Special Initiatives Manager in the Office of Equity for the City of Pittsburgh, and here’s just some of a day in her life:
She starts her day in a meeting with some members of the Welcoming Pittsburgh steering committee (Welcoming Pittsburgh is a city initiative aimed at ensuring that immigrant and international residents feel welcomed and have access to what they need), going through proposals that have been sent in. Going through proposals might not sound exciting, but the project is.
“We’re hoping to create a cross-cultural training for first responders,” Akintola says, “to educate them about the various international groups we have in the city and the surrounding municipalities, so they’re equipped with the best ways to interact and engage with our diverse communities.”
Akintola explains that immigrant communities have different experiences when it comes to first responders. “There are some that would say ‘In our country, we never had this because issues were resolved with elders’, and in others you’d hear that they were corrupt individuals. And there are cultural norms, so if people don’t look you in the eye, it’s not because they’re guilty, it’s because in certain cultures, you don’t look elders in the eye as a sign of respect. We’re hoping to get a consultant who can help us integrate these things into our training program.”
“The process is taking a little longer than planned,” continues Akintola, “so we need to report to the foundation who gave us this money, so we then met with our grant officer to talk about some of the challenges we’re facing and figure out how we can mitigate those issues.”
To follow, a marketing meeting: Akintola also manages the city’s Census 2020 work in partnership with Allegheny County. “We’re trying to promote why it’s important for all residents in all our communities to be counted in the census,” she says. “So many things in our everyday lives, from taking public transportation to grants in schools to nutritional programs, housing, and infrastructure—support for all of that is based on the census. We had a marketing meeting with our partner, Allegheny County, to work on what our marketing strategy will be.”
Then Akintola had a conference call. Again, it doesn’t sound exciting, but wait: “We did a World Square program in Market Square in September,” she says. “It was a global celebration, bringing together different community groups to promote vendors, to promote their businesses, for entertainment—just being able to show that we have all these diverse communities here. And everyone really needs to know that. We need to embrace that we’re becoming more and more global. So we had a conference call with some of our partners to kind of debrief on that, to talk about what were the challenges, what do we want to see going forward, and how can we make sure it’s a great experience for everyone.”
Akintola also attends community meetings, programming, or other events. “It’s important that I let our communities know that local government is going to be there for them in whatever capacity we can,” she says.
“The master’s degree in sustainability taught me that for things to work, you need to work with different partners. You couldn’t move an initiative on your own, you need to work with government, education – it’s when you work collectively is when you’re able to move and push boundaries, and I think that was something that was key that stood out in my resume.”
Originally from Nigeria, Akintola emigrated with her family to Atlanta in 1999. She did her undergraduate work at the University of West Georgia, where she studied economics, then started looking for an MBA program. “Brandeis had a dual degree MBA and Sustainable International Development program, and that was the first time I was exposed to sustainability in a business sense,” she says.
Prompted to explore further, she found Chatham’s Master of Sustainability+MBA program, and enrolled in 2014. She started working in Student Accounts, and immersed herself in her classes.
“I think my classmates found me to be very quiet, because sustainability wasn’t something I had studied before, [but my professors] made it easy for me to interact in that space. I didn’t feel like I had to have a depth of knowledge in this area prior to coming.”
“I was happy to be learning what I was learning, and it was good to be at a small school, so things were more intimate. I found myself having different opportunities in different classes, so my interests kept changing. It was maybe a little bit intimidating! But ultimately it was great to meet the professors and my classmates, and the overall experience has contributed to the person I am,” she says.
Coming to Pittsburgh—and Chatham—was a little bit of a shock for Akintola. “Being from Atlanta, you take for granted how cosmopolitan and diverse a city it is. But being in a classroom where that wasn’t necessarily the case, I had to train myself to think ‘Hey, there’s my friend Brian who’s the only person in the Marines right now. Here’s my other friend who came from Germany’, so I wasn’t feeling like I was the only one who has a different experience.”
After she graduated, Akintola applied for a policy analyst position with the City, which she got, and was promoted to Special Initiative Manager shortly afterward.
“Working in this space (local government) has made me so proud of Chatham, because Chatham’s name comes up in so many different conversations. When we talk about sister cities that are interested in learning about the work we do around sustainability, Eden Hall Campus comes up. When we talk about the work we do around entrepreneurship and small businesses, the Center for Women’s Entrepreneurship comes up. Chatham comes up in the gender equity conversation, especially the fact that a Chatham employee is chairing the gender equity commission. Just to know Chatham is very much part of the fabric of this city and contributing in so many different ways, I’m definitely a proud alum.”