Jennifer Obike
Gambrills,MD
Summary
As a motivational leader, my mission is to empower individuals to achieve their fullest potential in both personal and professional realms. Presently serving as a program manager for Amazon’s Black Business Accelerator program, my focus lies in nurturing high-potential sellers through our cohort-based initiative, aiding them in scaling their businesses to new heights.
With over a decade of experience in education, my primary roles have revolved around guiding students from underrepresented backgrounds, assisting them in navigating their collegiate and career pathways. I take pride in fostering an approachable, relatable, and charismatic leadership style, fostering an enriching learning environment where individuals, regardless of race, gender, or ethnicity, feel inspired and empowered to realize their aspirations.
Overview
9
9
years of professional experience
Work History
Program Manager, Black Business Accelerator
Amazon
01.2024 - Current
- Owns the day-to-day program management of cohort-based programming
- Creates, optimizes and drives adoption of critical mechanisms required to ensure long term expansion and success of the program
- Plans and executes reoccurring program engagements
- Works closely with the education team to provide key data that informs program curriculum
- Collaborates with the events team to plan and execute large scale events
- Develops and oversees the communication with key stakeholders
- Tracks and reports program learnings and effectiveness to internal stakeholders
- Looks around corners to spot emerging issues and proactively lead the development and execution of new mentorship opportunities
- Creates, optimizes and drives adoption of critical mechanisms required to ensure long term expansion and success of the program
- Works with key internal and external stakeholders, to identify, drive and scale solutions that benefit Black business owners
- Influences the product roadmaps to improve the overall experience of businesses within the program.
Program Manager, Volunteer & Participant Engagement
Amazon
03.2022 - 12.2023
- Develops events/programming that fosters Amazon Technical Academy’s participants’ learning and engagement outside of the classroom
- Recruits and engages volunteer software development engineers to offer mentorship, review technical code, and deliver technical workshops/chats for learners
- Develops, implements, and continuously improves ongoing events/programming that enhances quality of participant cohort experience, builds community, and provides valuable exposure to life as a software engineer
- Maintains event calendars and volunteer recruitment plans, executes both facets with tight deadlines, budget constraints, and ambiguity
- Works with external and internal technical teams to implement streamlined volunteer sign-up portal and onboarding/training materials
- Develops and uses metrics to track efficiency, effectiveness, and quality of current events and volunteer operations; periodically auditing communications to ensure targets are met.
Marking & Social Media Content Creator
Academy Ready Consulting
09.2021 - 03.2022
- Provides one on one college coaching to high school juniors, seniors, and families for college recruitment and admissions
- Manages contracts and individualized packages for each family
- Manages all marketing and social media campaigns
- Facilitates and organizes online informational sessions
- Partners with local education agencies for collaboration with program development
- Manages fundraising and sponsorship initiatives.
Assistant Director • Recruiting • Texas A&M University, Bush School
11.2020 - 06.2021
- Responsible for recruiting inaugural Bush school DC graduate students
- Successfully met enrollment goal of 12 graduate student admits for first ever cohort for program
- Supported Office of Enrollment team in implementing an aggressive and innovative national strategy for recruiting outstanding graduate professionals to join inaugural class of 2021
- Participated in DEI Committee in order to build diverse pipeline of prospective students
- Managed DC region; and manages all communications, job postings, marketing, and other recruitment activities in this region
- Collaborated with the team in executing a high-impact marketing and social media campaign, including designing and writing monthly subscriber communications, designing fliers, and writing compelling cultivation messages.
Recruitment Coordinator • Recruiter • DC Public Schools
03.2018 - 11.2020
- Supported aggressive, national strategy for recruiting diverse instructional positions based on hiring needs of district (males of color)
- Responsible for posting job vacancy announcements online, screening, and interviewing qualified applicants, walking candidates through entire recruitment process to hiring process, negotiation of salary, reference checks, placement)
- Created pre-screening interview questions, resume review, & supplemental items
- Managed all communication with potential applicants
- I implemented cultivation strategies by supporting our candidate retention working group, where current teachers were able to meet monthly to discuss any current challenges experienced in their schools
- Successfully filled over 60 teacher vacancies in fall, and 45 in the spring
- Managed staffing plans, position descriptions, and recruitment/selection of prospective employees
- Coordinated hiring fairs, and attended career fairs on behalf of department
- Candidate sourcing via online job handles
- (LinkedIn, Idealist, Indeed, Zip Recruiter)
- Utilized Peoplesoft to enter in requisitions, and employee classifications
- Conducted national live webinars and hosts informational sessions for prospective instructors.
Assistant Director • Undergraduate Admissions • George Washington University
10.2016 - 03.2018
- Recruited for full life cycle of applications for underrepresented high school seniors in D.C
- Provided a safe space for students of color to build relationships with admissions counselors and academic resources on campus through creating intentional programming on campus for prospective students
- Recruited, evaluated, and selected 10-12 academically talented D.C high school seniors for GW’s Stephen Joel Trachtenberg (SJT), full tuition scholarship program
- Recruited freshman software engineering students for School of Engineering & Applied Science for DC/MD regions
- Represented GW at local & national college fairs to promote GW to prospective high school juniors, seniors, & families
- Presented weekly admissions information presentations for audiences of over 300 guests visiting on campus
- Managed SJT nominations, recruited and selected scholarship recipients and hosted district wide information sessions to promote the SJT scholars’ program to parents, students, high school counselors, and community-based organization leaders
- Provided professional development opportunities to current SJT scholar students through interviewing prospective scholars, information sessions, high school visits, and college fairs
- Participated on panel discussions about admissions process for high school seniors in D.C
- Evaluated admissions applications for 1400 freshman and transfer students in the D.C and Maryland territories
- Coordinated & traveled to 45 high schools in D.C to promote GW & GW access programs/initiatives for underrepresented students
- Partnered with the Flamboyan Foundation in a college readiness program serving 9 D.C Public & Public Charter schools to increase college readiness for freshmen and sophomore students and parents
- Partnered with the Office of State Superintendent of Education in the D.C College Application & Exploration Month
- Participated in college admissions and readiness workshops at local D.C schools and community-based organizations.
Community Director • Residence Life • Georgetown University
07.2015 - 10.2016
- Hired, trained, evaluated, & supervised 4 part-time student Resident Assistants
- Directly oversaw daily processes & served as main point of contact for 144 residents in The Georgetown University Hotel & Conference Center
- Developed and implemented educational plan for student living & learning program initiative & provided recommendations to manager for program improvement
- Facilitator for Diversity & Inclusion round table discussions with staff members in department
- Provided recommendations to Director of Residential Living on performance management processes
- Managed procurement & building wide budget of $2,000 for programming & professional development opportunities
- Coordinator for Faculty engagement program: manages budget of $3,000, manages & approves student application process, creates & distributes assessments to student & faculty participants
- Performed evening and weekend duties as needed, provided on-call, campus-wide emergency response for 4,000 students.
Education
Certificate - Educational Policy & Program Evaluation
Georgetown University
01.2016
Master of Science - Educational Leadership
Old Dominion University
Norfolk, VA01.2015
Bachelor of Science - Dental Hygiene
Old Dominion University
Norfolk, VA01.2011
Skills
Program/Project Planning
Volunteer Management
Event Planning
Recruitment
Community Engagement
Public Speaking
Presentations
Amazon’s “Represent the Future Summit”, 2022, Speaker/Panelist, Shared insight about Amazon Technical Academy’s pathway to train and develop employees from historically excluded backgrounds as entry level software development engineers and how mentorship plays an integral role in this career upskilling opportunity., https://www.amazonrepresents.com/agenda/session/983640
Projects
Beauty & Wellness Expo, 2022, Founder/Director, Project/Program Manager for Black women’s beauty and wellness expo in the D.C metropolitan area.
- Discussed the importance of becoming your own self advocate when it comes to healthcare and self-care.
- Managed end to end program creation, implementation, vendor contracts, speaker recruitment.
She Believes Scholarship, 2017-Present, Founder/Director
- Program Manager for fully funded laptop scholarship to underrepresented high school senior girls in DC, MD, or VA. Organizes committee of volunteers to review and select scholar recipients.
Beautiful Believers Non-Profit Organization, 2017-Present, Founder/Director
- Serves as a project manager for a variety of team-based projects.
- Manages activities of the team; including scheduling meetings, preparing agendas and official records of meetings, tracking tasks and project milestones, and holding project briefings with external parties. Plans annual women’s conference for ages 16 and up to empower, educate, and develop leadership skills for black women.
Timeline
Program Manager, Black Business Accelerator
Amazon
01.2024 - Current
Program Manager, Volunteer & Participant Engagement
Amazon
03.2022 - 12.2023
Marking & Social Media Content Creator
Academy Ready Consulting
09.2021 - 03.2022
Assistant Director • Recruiting • Texas A&M University, Bush School
11.2020 - 06.2021
Recruitment Coordinator • Recruiter • DC Public Schools
03.2018 - 11.2020
Assistant Director • Undergraduate Admissions • George Washington University
10.2016 - 03.2018
Community Director • Residence Life • Georgetown University
07.2015 - 10.2016
Certificate - Educational Policy & Program Evaluation
Georgetown University
Master of Science - Educational Leadership
Old Dominion University
Bachelor of Science - Dental Hygiene
Old Dominion University