Don't just stand on the street. OWN IT.
In 2007, five students at the University of Virginia started "Get on the Street," an organization focused on creating opportunity for other talented minority students within the business industry.
Who are the founders?
- Debola Badejo
- Stephanie Durden
- Morènikè Mougni
- Nicholas Jordan
- Whitney Wilcher
How did it get started? How long did it take to launch it?
We created Get on the Street during the fall semester of 2007 after completing successful internships at five of the most prestigious financial firms on Wall Street: Barclays, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch. During the internship-recruiting season, we realized the difficulty of securing these competitive internships and wished to improve the process for minority students by building relationships with firms and mentoring students. What initially started as a forum to exchange information from various investment banks turned into a mentoring, training, and networking program called ‘Get on the Street’ sponsored by many top financial companies as well as successful entrepreneurs.
Where are you based?
University of Virginia—Charlottesville, VA
What are the goals of your project?
Get on the Street endeavors to:
- Offer a platform for minority students to interact and network with alumni working
at financial institutions
- Disseminate information about scholarship opportunities, internships and career development programs in the financial services industry
- Provide mentors with relevant internship experience
- Conduct resume critiques and mock-interviews in conjunction with the University Career Services
- Partner with financial firms to support their existing diversity recruiting efforts
Do you feel that your project will be an inspiration to others?
We hope that our project will be an inspiration especially to financial services firms to expand their existing diversity recruiting efforts.
Do you plan to expand to other business ventures upon completion of this project?
We are graduating fourth years, but we all plan on working together to help sustain and grow this program, not only at The University of Virginia but also at other colleges and universities. Right now we do not have specific plans for future ventures but perhaps our paths will cross in the future and we will have the opportunity to start another project!
What inspires your entrepreneurial spirit?
Our entrepreneurial spirit was inspired by the opportunity to help our fellow students.
For more information check out www.getonthestreet.com
