Impact Portfolio: We Are MLT
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Impact Portfolio ❯❯ Antonia Singleton

Antonia Singleton


ORGANIZATION

Vanguard Group

EDUCATION

Undergraduate: Cornell University
MBA Program(s): Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

MLT PROGRAMS

Career Prep 2010, MBA PD 2016

Complete this sentence, "If not for MLT..."
If not for MLT...we all would not be where we are today! We’re breaking barriers and meeting new heights that our ancestors could only dream of.

Please describe the impact MLT had immediately upon completing your program.
I would say that about 90 percent of the students in my class at Wharton were a part of MLT—either through Career Prep, MBA Prep, or MBA Professional Development—and they were my rock for my entire two years at Wharton. If it wasn’t for them, I am not sure how things would have gone given everything I was managing with my family and my mother’s illness.

How has MLT changed the financial/economic trajectory for you and your family?
By giving me the initial tools and network to build, grow and evolve professionally and personally, MLT has increased my social capital and financial earning potential. From my very first internship with Teach For America to my current role at Vanguard, MLT has really set the pace and paved the way for me to be exactly where I am today and I am forever grateful.

How has MLT's community helped advance your personal and/or professional happiness?
WE ARE FAMILY...no but seriously! Over the last decade, some of the strongest professional and social bonds that I have created post-high school stemmed from my MLT family. Every major personal and professional decision I have made since 2008, involved leveraging my MLT peers, staff, and alumni. My MLT family directly influenced my decision to:
1. Go work at Goldman Sachs full-time after my second year of teaching.
2. Level up and apply to business school.
3. Go to Wharton.
4. Stay in school and graduate after my mother passed away.
5. Work at Vanguard and continue to give back the way I know how.
I am not me without my MLT family.

Speak to a challenge MLT helped you overcome and how did that help your trajectory (i.e. confidence that you belong, growth mindset, vulnerability).
It was Fall 2008, the start of my sophomore year at Cornell in their undergraduate business program. I was dead set on pursuing something financial services related but was torn, because I really enjoyed mentoring students and helping people overall. Then, the Great Recession hit. I went to my MLT Career Prep coach trying to figure out what this meant for me and my future. She was bold enough to call me out on not being true to myself and my passions. She said if helping people or mentoring kids was my passion, follow that and everything else would fall into place. So, I took a leap of faith and followed my passion as a Teach For America – Metro Atlanta 2011 corps member, which has opened so many doors for me ever since. My desire to help people—from the classroom to the board room and back again, as a donor—has truly evolved over time and I honestly cannot thank Coach Angie enough for her tough love.

Share 2-3 ways you've been able to accelerate your organization's journey toward greater diversity and inclusion.
As The Wharton School Ambassador for the Vanguard MBA Leadership Development Program, I have made it my business to share my story and my experiences at the firm with the hope to recruit more black and brown people, and even more specifically, women of color. As of this spring, I have helped to increase the women of color in our MBA internship class by 200 percent. Additionally, this past fall, I worked very hard to create the very first official sponsor partnership between the Wharton African American Student Association (AAMBAA) and Vanguard, where we donated $5,000 to the student club and increase our Vanguard/Wharton black alumni presence and influence on campus by 300 percent. I am proud to share that this partnership will be renewed for the 2019-2020 school.

Share your favorite song, movie, or book, and why it appeals to you.
“Ain’t No Stopping Us Now” by McFadden & Whitehead. "Ain’t no stopping us now! We’re on the move! Ain’t no stopping us now! We’ve got the groove!" I play this song at least once a year, and it reminds of how far I have come to be where I am today mentally, physically, emotionally, financially, and spiritually. My dad introduced me to this song when I was really young. He reminds me often that while I am on this journey called life, I must take time to reflect on how far we have come from that studio apartment in the heart of Harlem.

What is your superpower?
ConversationalistIt's tough to hold a genuine and deep conversation nowadays.

What gives you hope?
The youth! Honestly, in the last couple of months, I have had the time to speak to today’s youth of all walks of life and I am really hopeful for the future of this world.

This content has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Published in 2019

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