“Reaching Your Dream” series tells stories of Northwestern alums who found their dream careers thanks to Chicago Field Studies (CFS), an academic internship program that matches over 500 students every year with over 250 employer partners. CFS participants receive guidance on choosing internships based on their passions and values, navigating applying and interviewing, and succeeding in the professional world. While interning, students process their experiences in weekly CFS seminars, where they reflect on the place of work in their lives and the role of their industry in society.
By Nina Wieda
Alexis Barber ‘20 is an Associate Product Marketing Manager at Google in New York City. A Northwestern 2020 alum with a degree in Political Science, she has been accepted to the Wharton School of Business via deferred admission and is planning to start her studies there in a few years. Today, the world is open to Alexis and her talents. This success, however, had not always been guaranteed.
When Alexis was born in rural Missouri, her mother was only 16. In a deeply segregated town, Alexis’s very existence put her in the midst of racial and social tensions. Her mother could no longer see her best friend: the friend’s parents would not allow their daughter to spend time with a woman expecting a biracial child. Nevertheless, her mother got her GED and went to college to study early education. Alexis grew up between her grandma’s trailer, her mom’s college apartment, and the projects. She remembers not understanding why she couldn’t invite her friends over to her house. When Alexis was in third grade, the family moved to St. Louis. They could only afford to live in a neighborhood with heavily underfunded schools. For a year, her grandmother homeschooled her in her trailer.
Finally, Alexis had a stroke of good luck when she gained admission into City Academy, an independent private elementary school in St. Louis that provides scholarships to 100% of its students. “If I hadn’t gone there, I would not be where I am today.” City Academy paved the road for Alexis to get into a high-ranking boarding school outside of St. Louis, and, eventually, into Northwestern. “My high school had no other people who looked like me or understood me. I wanted to study at a place where I could be myself. I visited Northwestern my senior year, and the campus felt like a breath of fresh air. My high school administrators were not supportive of my interest. They told me that I shouldn’t dream of a school like Northwestern.” Nevertheless, Alexis applied and was accepted.
Finding her professional self has been a journey for Alexis. During her junior year of high school, she was living just a few miles away from Ferguson when Michael Brown was killed by police. As protests and unrest unfolded around her, Alexis was grasping for a way to make a positive change. She watched Being Mary Jane – a TV drama about a female news anchor, created by a Northwestern alum Mara Brock Akil – and learned about the power of journalism. Alexis enjoyed writing; she decided that journalism would be her path.
However, when she came to Northwestern in 2016, political shifts in the country left her thinking that journalism was futile. She no longer felt enthusiasm for writing. “I was lost,” Alexis recalls. “Many of my classmates got professional development advice from their older friends and family members.” Alexis, on the other hand, had seven younger siblings. Without the personal support systems that many of her peers enjoyed, she was not sure how to apply herself. “I knew that I wanted to build a future for myself and lift my family out of poverty,” Alexis remembers. “My knowledge of how to do it was limited, though. I knew the jobs that were considered good: doctor, engineer, lawyer. I couldn’t stand blood and wasn’t great at math. Law seemed like the only possible path for me if I wanted to start building my own generational wealth, but I didn’t necessarily want to be a lawyer or felt excited about law school.” The summer before her sophomore year, Alexis worked as a tour guide on campus while feeling very confused about her future.
The situation changed when Alexis joined the Chicago Field Studies program. “I came to my CFS advising feeling very lost, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. Karen Allen was so nice to me. She really listened to me and focused on my interests. I felt so supported. At that point, I had not been around many adults who paid attention to me and were interested in my success. It made a huge difference to talk to someone who was enthusiastic and dedicated to finding something that would help me.”
Alexis Barber ‘20 is an Associate Product Marketing Manager at Google in New York City
Alexis interned with Dana Rebecca Designs, where she learned marketing and sales – the skills she is using in her current job at Google. Even more importantly, she learned the dynamics of a professional environment and made her first professional connections. The head of the company became her mentor: she noted Alexis’s talents and recommended that she goes into consulting. Inspired by her advice and by the positive internship experience, in general, Alexis applied to intern with Accenture for the following year. Each opportunity expanded Alexis’s professional horizons and eventually led to her current position at Google.
Now, Alexis works on the YouTube team in a growth marketing role with small and medium businesses. In addition to that, she works on a start-up within Google as her 20% project (Google’s initiative to allocate a fifth of their employees’ paid time to work on personal projects to inspire innovation). Alexis also produces a podcast called “Too Smart for This” and creates content for social media. With deferred admission to Wharton School already secured, she wants to try out different roles in business before starting her MBA. Thanks to her talents, her resilience, and to some helpful people along the way, Alexis has many options for building her future.