For DonorsFor Applicants

Black Marketing Leaders Grant

$1,000
1 winner$1,000
Awarded
Application Deadline
May 11, 2021
Winners Announced
Jun 11, 2021
Education Level
Undergraduate, Graduate
Eligibility Requirements
Ethnicity:
African American

Talent is evenly distributed, but opportunity is not.

Inequality of opportunity is pronounced in the start-up world, where just 1% of start-ups receiving venture funding have Black founders and where the share of Black employees is around half that of the US population.

In support of building a more diverse and equitable start-up ecosystem, this scholarship is part of a series from Mechanism Ventures supporting Black students who are currently in or who aspire to pursue marketing roles at start-ups.

The Black Marketing Leaders Grant will be awarded to a Black student or recent graduate who plans on (or already is) pursuing a career in marketing at a start-up.

Students across any field of study or company are eligible to apply.

This scholarship is part of the Mechanism Ventures Impact Grants Series.

Selection Criteria:
Impact, Drive
Published June 12, 2020
Essay Topic

Please tell us a bit about yourself. What do you hope to achieve in your career in marketing, and how are you preparing yourself to achieve it?

500–1000 words

Winning Application

Morgan Smith
High Point UniversityGreensboro, NC
My name is Morgan Smith and I am a Sophomore at High Point University. I strive to become a lead person in public relations, marketing, or the advertising field. I plan to use the resources provided by my school, such as internships, in order to excel in the workforce. I have a strong analytical mind when I'm working. I am a go-getter who enjoys persuading and leading people. I thrive in decision-maker roles as well as roles that directly help people. I like to promote people’s learning and personal development and really enjoy communicating, counseling, teaching, advising, and being of service to people. I'm an enterpriser, captivated with new ideas and alert to all possibilities, and enjoy helping move new ideas forward by sometimes challenging rules, assumptions, and customs. My three main values include independence, recognition, and working conditions. My main goals for the upcoming school year include becoming more involved in on-campus activities and organizations, maintaining my scholarship by making sure I fall in the grade point average requirement and having the chance to study abroad. In order to obtain my goals, I will need to be focused, determined, and be able to manage my time and money. My main values are important as they will put me ahead in the Marketing field. Before I graduate I plank to participate in many internship opportunities to help gain useful knowledge of the Marketing field. I plan to use theses internships to help my resume look more prominent and ultimately be a more qualified candidate in my job search after graduation. After I graduate with a Bachelors's degree in Marketing, my plan is to start out as a Social Media Marketing Manager. As a Social Media Manager, I would be responsible for planning, implementing, managing, and monitoring a company's Social Media strategy in order to increase brand awareness, improve marketing efforts, and increase sales. This job would serve as the first stepping stone towards actually putting all my hard work into fruition. After much time of gaining vital skills and experience in the Marketing field, I plan to move up to becoming a Public Relations Specialist where I will, create and maintain a favorable public image for the organization they represent while also using my social media marketing experience to craft media releases and develop social media programs to shape public perception of their organization and increase awareness of its work and goals. Ultimately I want to become a Marketing Manager for a Fortune 500 company such as American Express, Cisco, Edward Jones, and Stryker. I will manage all marketing for the company and activities within the marketing department while also developing the marketing strategy for the company in line with company objectives. My tenacity, ability to collaborate with others as well as work alone and ambition, make me a great candidate for this opportunity. I believe this scholarship will take some of the financial stress of my family and I's shoulders so I can focus more on maintaining a 3.5-grade point average and have the ability to participate in more internships.

FAQ

When is the scholarship application deadline?

The application deadline is May 11, 2021. Winners will be announced on Jun 11, 2021.