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TECH Freire Charter + Brian Young · AccessCo Leaders Career Conversations

• Vinessa Gingrass: Welcome TECH Freire Charter High School and Brian Young. Thank you all so much for being here. Excited to get into it, Brian. So let's hear a little bit from you. Can you tell us in one to two sentences what you guys are doing at RS&H and what your role is as Associate Vice President and Maryland Transportation Leader? Brian Young: Thank Sure. RS&H is a full service engineering firm. kind of specialize in transportation, whether that's highway design, aerospace, aviation, any of those things, facilities, we do all that kind of stuff. And my role is I try to grow the business here in Maryland. Vinessa Gingrass: Okay, so you're kind of the outreach, the connector person then, huh? Okay. And where did you grow up? And ⁓ I guess we know where you're living now, ⁓ if you want to speak to how you got from where you started to where you are. Brian Young: Yes. I'm from Baltimore County, Maryland. I've been here my whole life. Went to ⁓ year college. I went to Morehouse College down in Atlanta and actually got sick and had to transfer and ended up back here in Baltimore at Morgan State. So I've been here and enjoying it. I've lived in probably about a 10 mile radius, which is kind of interesting, but I'm happy with it. Vinessa Gingrass: All right, Baltimore through and through. And you're already pointing to some adaptability that you've had to conquer in your path. So we'll get into that a little bit more. But in middle school and high school, what was keeping you busy? Were you active in sports or already studying the sciences or what were you up to? Brian Young: Yeah, so high school, classes kept me busy. ⁓ I definitely more of a math and science kind of focus. I was a track runner, ⁓ team captain that. ⁓ between that ⁓ school, those the things that kept me busy. But I also got involved in a lot of other extracurricular activities, whether it was student government, honor future business leaders of America, Pretty much anything and everything. Senior year yearbook. I'm in pictures for a lot of stuff. Vinessa Gingrass: Okay, and what was driving you to get a part of so much stuff? Brian Young: I think some of it was just the people that I surrounded myself with. We were all involved in a lot of different things. And so it made it a lot of fun. And I just wanted to kind of be a leader in the school and ⁓ kind see where some of these things could take me. Just grab as many experiences as I could and ⁓ use those in life. Vinessa Gingrass: I love it. So of all those organizations that you were a part of, what would you say like stands out most as impacting or helping you in your career path or your work today? Brian Young: Ooh, that's a good one. obviously doing the science stuff helped just in school because I do engineering now, so that helps. But I think, truthfully, one of the things for me was two things. The track helped. ⁓ And other one was foreign language, French. I took French for, I think, three years in high school, two years in ⁓ middle school, years in middle school, something like that. And it was the teachers ⁓ and coaches that I had. and the ways that they did things and the way that they impacted, I think, not only my life, but other lives as well. I think those are the things that have carried me on, not just in my field, but just in life. Vinessa Gingrass: Okay, people showing you early on how to make an impact and then you feeling how much that can last and resonate with you. So was it like the competitive nature of track or the race or what are you bringing from there? Brian Young: ⁓ yeah, I'm very competitive. I did not like to lose. so that was definitely one. I think it was, our was, guess would be considered old school. so it was very much regimented. and, and he had rules and we had to follow them. I remember my, I think my freshman or sophomore year, the best hurdler in the state was on our team. And our coach had a rule that if you get suspended from school for any reason, you're off the team for that season. And the best hurdler ⁓ in the state. got suspended for doing something stupid. It wasn't that big of a deal. was just he was talking back to a teacher and you know, it just it wasn't in his character. Everybody said it wasn't in his character, but it was you know, suspendable offense. He got suspended right before the state championships ⁓ coach like, you know, know the rules, you're off the team. ⁓ what I liked about it was that that young man came to the state championships to support his team and kind of look them in the face like sorry that I put us in this situation and still won without them. So I remembered that and be consistent and follow rules ever since then. Cuz I know it hurt my coach's heart to do that. He did not wanna do that, but. Vinessa Gingrass: Okay, but yeah, you're seeing that accountability firsthand. You saw it, you felt it, you respected the decision, but something that you're carrying with you today and probably the standards you're maintaining for the people you're leading. Brian Young: Absolutely. Yep, and that person became a coach and he coaches, actually coached at the college that my son ⁓ at now and he's been coaching for 25, 30 years now. So ⁓ think that that standard stayed with him as well. Vinessa Gingrass: Okay. Okay, yeah, maintaining those high standards. He was taught early on. I'll just one more question for me. Did you always know you wanted to be in civil engineering? Brian Young: Nope. It was funny. actually between my junior and senior year, I went to a program up in Boston. It was for, it focused on minority students and it was called What is Engineering? And they took us up there and we learned about all the different types of engineering. And when I left and came home, I told my mom my dad, was like, I know one thing, I don't want to be an engineer. And year later, majoring in engineering, I don't know how that happened, but it was a very good decision. Vinessa Gingrass: man, that is a funny story. Exactly what you said you didn't want to do is what you ended up ⁓ doing for a long career. ⁓ right, let's turn it over to students. Jamiyah, let's hear from you first. What question did you have for Mr. Young? Jamiyah: So this is more so about the company. ⁓ just want to say like what is your message about your company so far? Like what is it that you guys are striving to do right now? Brian Young: Ooh, that's a good question. So I've only been with the company for about a year. ⁓ of the things that I do like about the company is it's an employee-owned company. And have something, we kind of have some pillars. It's called IACT. ⁓ It's integrity, curiosity, and teamwork. And, you know, we obviously, have a function that we're trying to do. We're trying to get clients and do projects in transportation, but it's the way in which we do it now. You know, there's a focus on employees being owners, being part of the business and trying to do things in the right way so that we can continue to grow as a business. One of the things that I saw, I used to work for the state for about 23 years and I remember going and meeting with the small municipality and they had this consultant to come with them and they wanted a speed camera in their town and the consultant knew better. They knew they weren't going to get one but they still charged them $25,000, $30,000 for this study. And here's a small municipality coming in talking to us like, hey, we have this study. And I'm like, I'm sorry, it's going to be denied. It doesn't meet any of the criteria. And they're looking at the consultant like, why did you make us pay you this money if you knew we weren't going to get it? And that kind of just stuck with me. we try to do things the right way. There are a number of times when we meet with people and I'll tell them, look, I'll do the study if you want. But it's not going to get approved. And I don't want to take your money. I'd much rather do things the right way and build a long term lasting relationship with somebody instead of just trying to get the money right up front. And I think that's the thing that I've learned from this company. They try to do things the right way. They try to build positive relationships with the community, with the different municipalities, with the state governments to be a trusted resource for them. And that's kind of the way we do business. Vinessa Gingrass: Okay, great question, Jamiyah. So that something you like sought out specifically kind of in contradiction to what you ⁓ experienced previously? Did you know that ⁓ acronym they use and that kind of thing, the culture of the workplace or? Brian Young: I not, it's funny, actually, worked for the state for 23 years, then I actually went to another firm that's where met Eileen. I worked with Pennoni for about six and a half years. And then ended up just, it was again, a freak accident that I ended up ⁓ meeting somebody from company. I got contacted by a recruiter, they told me about this company, I was like, hey, let me just And I talked to them ⁓ and after talking to... who is now my boss and his boss, just got a really good feeling about it. ⁓ Learned a lot about the company. And I was like, yeah, this is a place that I think I'd like to be and not be, but also contribute to and continue to make the company better. Vinessa Gingrass: so yeah, having those strong tenants of your, ⁓ you work, ⁓ those opportunities to come to your door knocking. So thanks for sharing that. Hope, let's hear from you. What question did you have for Mr. Young? Hope Bruce-Rackley: What types of transportation projects do you oversee? Brian Young: So I oversee, so for us transportation is in a section called infrastructure. And infrastructure, it's transportation. So there will be highway design projects, bridge projects, things like that, whether they're on for state DOTs, counties, municipalities, but also an infrastructure. We also have aviation. So we do a lot of airport work across the country. And we also do aerospace. So anytime you've seen a space shuttle go up, when look up and see the space shuttle go up, that's NASA. If you look back down, everything on ground side, RS&H has designed that. So we designed it for, we've been a part of every space shuttle launch that's happening. ⁓ you hear about Artemis II rocket that's about to go up, we designed a lot of the stuff ⁓ to actually make that happen. Not the rocket itself, but all the stuff ⁓ land So, know, a lot of things that we do are, you know, just major projects, highway projects in terms of, know, widening, turn ⁓ be small It could be building a new interchange. It could be working for the DOT as an owner's rep. if they're going to do a project and it's a major, major project, they do something called design build, where they, instead of designing it fully and then handing it to a contractor, it's designed to a certain point and then hand it to a contractor who has their own designer on. And they design it and build it kind of at the same time. But we work with the states to make sure that all of the specifications are in there so that they kind of have parameters to work in. So any type of roadway project we work on, type of aviation project we'll work on, any type of aerospace we'll work on. Also transit, railway, all that kind of stuff we do. In Maryland, ⁓ specifically work ⁓ on roadway and bridges, just because that's ⁓ section small right now, but as a company we do everything. Vinessa Gingrass: That's so cool and you can like totally hear the enthusiasm about your work even you know decades into your career you're still maintaining that and have that same excitement. Is there one area ⁓ all that you were talking about that kind of interests you the most? ⁓ Brian Young: like working with small municipalities. What like is being able to, somebody tell you we have a problem and then you go in to research it ⁓ and something and actually give a solution within a fairly short period of time. And it could be something as simple as, we just wanna put speed ⁓ bumps in our ⁓ city. well, where should they be placed? And where it gives the most bang for the buck? ⁓ Have you actually done a speed study? Do you actually have a speeding problem? And if you don't have one here, do you have one somewhere else? Implementing safety concerns and things like that. So smaller the municipality, the more that you can really be a part of the community. I like doing that to really see that change and help them out like that. ⁓ The and the state, they're big. always gonna ⁓ stuff. They have money to do everything that they need. ⁓ But the municipalities, usually a lot tighter on the budget. But you can make a huge impact with some of the stuff that you do for a small community. Vinessa Gingrass: That's cool, developing your legend and driving around and showing your kids, hey, look what dad did here and this and that. And so we do have some students on who are interested in civil engineering. So thanks for kind of speaking to all the steps that go into speed bump that we might not think of. I'm sure will have some more questions as it relates to that. Charles: Okay, my first question is, can you your career journey from studying civil engineering to becoming Associate Vice President? Kieron D Henry: respect. Vinessa Gingrass: Yes. Brian Young: Sure. So I up graduating from Oregon State with a civil engineering degree in the ⁓ as my daughter says. From there, actually ended up doing an internship ⁓ my senior with State Highway Administration ⁓ that had nothing to do with really civil engineering. I actually worked in the Office of Administration on a program that was supposed to interest students in careers in civil engineering and transportation. From there, a lady that ended up being the diversity coordinator at State Highway, talked to the head of highway design and said, hey, we have this guy upstairs that's got a degree in civil engineering. He's working in administration. Is there something we can do? And he's like, well, we'll put him on contract and see how he works out. If he doesn't work out, we'll just fire him. And I was like, wow, that's great. And she told me that from Morgan State, they had actually had one bad experience with a Morgan State student. changed the way that they viewed Morgan State students forever. So she told me very clearly that I had to do well because it would make sure that they change that narrative. And so went down to highway design and I did pretty well. ⁓ I from ⁓ entry engineer, ended up being a team leader in ⁓ highway And I always said I did not want to go work in one of the districts. ⁓ The way the way State Highway was set up was you had the headquarters office in Baltimore, you had seven districts around the state. And I said, I never want to work in a district. And if I ever worked in a district, I didn't want to work in district three. And district three was Prince George's in Montgomery County, the two largest counties in Maryland. So Maryland has six million people. There are two million people in those two counties. And a friend of mine actually ended up working in district three. And again, you start to be strategic and you look at different things. He had moved into a brand new position. It was called assistant district engineer product development. They had never had those before. And I knew that eventually he was going to probably move up to become the head of the district. And I was like, hmm, how can I position myself to do something? So I interviewed for a position under him. I didn't get that one, but a position in traffic came up. I'd also said, if I ever go to a district, I never want to work in traffic. So I ended up working in district three in traffic. And after about, and I went as I took a lateral position. And actually went from team leader actually to staff engineer in traffic after about three months. I became team leader in traffic That was in 2004 I was team leader for a couple months and then I became assistant district engineer traffic After my friend moved up to become district engineer I again applied for the job that he had Didn't get it. It came down to me and a good friend of mine and he said look We've got a position open in traffic. We've got this one. Can you just do the job in traffic? And I was like, all right, fine, whatever. So it ended up being my favorite job probably of all time. And then from there, I became the district engineer. So I ran all operations for State Highway in Prince George's Montgomery County. According to the administrator, the second hardest job in State Highway next to the State Highway administrator and did that for almost nine years. And then from there, Because of the experience and the contacts and things like that, I went to Pennoni, became office director for their Baltimore office, did that for about six and a half years. And then got, you know, like I got contacted by the recruiter and got the job here at RS&H to be associate vice president for the company and the Maryland transportation lead. So all those experiences together got me. Vinessa Gingrass: All right. Yeah, the whole timeline there And it's interesting how the thing you were most apprehensive about kind of opened the most doors for you ⁓ kind of, yeah, shine the light onto new pathway, new connections, new opportunities and a new sense leadership. So how was that stepping into something you were totally against? ⁓ Brian Young: It was, what I think what it taught me was, ⁓ think about the things that you think you want to do because your path is hardly ever linear. And opens up a whole different group of things that you never thought about. If you just think, I want to go here to here to here to here, you're not thinking about all those other things that are outside that you don't even know are out there. because of I mean, I've had some crazy, experiences that I probably never would have had otherwise. mean, in being at State Highway, I've met every governor since Martin O'Malley. So Martin O'Malley, Governor Ehrlich, Governor Hogan, Westmore, met all of the governors, senators, met Steny Hoyer, who was the majority leader or minority leader in the U.S. Capitol. I'm in there. I had to greet him. He came in for a meeting and I'm like, this is pretty cool. This is a dude I see on TV all the time. He's always doing all this cool stuff. I got invited to a party at the Bahamian embassy in D.C. because I went to either Bahamian or Bermuda. I forget which one it was. Or Barbados, it was Barbados. I went to a meeting for State Highway ⁓ had to do what I do and ended up talking to the ambassador and found out that he was good friends with my ⁓ wife's and uncle. And he's like, hey, you should come to this party tonight. And it's like, ⁓ okay. ⁓ Got throw out the... First pitch of the baseball game. mean, stuff that you just never thought you'd get to do. I've had a chance to do so I'm like, that's pretty cool. ⁓ Vinessa Gingrass: Yeah, that's very cool. And yeah, it sounds like your job is like equally networking, communication sales almost. yeah. All right, Kieron, Brian Young: Absolutely. Kieron D Henry: Can you give an example of like a project that you had in a community that changed the way that the community works that had a big impact on all of them? Brian Young: So we have had a couple. mean, my first project was a product out in Western Maryland. ⁓ It was when we used to do things called streetscapes. whole point of the streetscape was to revitalize, know, downtowns or main streets in different communities. And I think I had one of the first ones ⁓ and you know, we just went in there. did new sidewalks, repaved, put up ⁓ all these little things that people probably don't think about. It didn't really necessarily change the way the... Vinessa Gingrass: Great. Brian Young: the roadway function, but what it did was it ⁓ as we improved the street, businesses then started to want to improve the facades ⁓ their businesses. So it kind of revitalized the main streets in these different areas in that area. ⁓ you know, people started walking more, started coming to some of the stores, they their stores. ⁓ So all just kind of together. not only did the you know, that you have these cool sidewalks with, you know, decorative treatments and landscaping and things like that. But then you also had these businesses that were like, you know what, I'm gonna look for a grant to try to improve the facade of my store. They redid their storefronts. so it was just kind of a snowball effect and it just changed the way the community looked at their downtown. So I think that's probably the biggest impact. Now, in terms of safety impacts, there are a lot of projects that we do where we just, you know, would install sidewalks where they weren't there, where we... ⁓ did see maybe horrendous crashes and things like that. again, hoping to prevent some that could happen or ⁓ if one happen, so that something like that never happened again. And we had a lot of different ones of those. Vinessa Gingrass: That's awesome. And yeah, you're highlighting like how much your work is kind of a linchpin in heightening community pride. So that's beautiful takeaway from what you're putting in. Thanks for sharing that. Jamiyah, we're back to you. Jamiyah: My question is how important is sustainability to your company? I know a lot of projects that you get requested can sometimes ⁓ big and enormous, but ⁓ the long run, they probably won't sustain for a long time. So do you value sustainability or do you value what clients want? Brian Young: So I think it's a little bit of both. mean, as a business that has clients, we have to value what the clients want first. The good thing is the work that we do is almost always with clients that value sustainability. Because sustainability, it's a win-win for everybody. It's a win-win for the community. If you have something that's sustainable, you don't always have to keep changing it. So in the long run, it saves the client money, which is, you you On the private side, that's what a lot of this stuff is about. Can you be profitable? And so the clients that we work with on the private side, they want to be profitable. So they don't want to spend, we're spending money now, how can this be sustainable for the next 25, 30 years so we don't have to come back and continually change it? When it comes to the state DOTs, again, they want to be sustainable too because they're using state dollars. They're using ⁓ taxpayer dollars. So again, they want to be sustainable too. And it could be simple stuff like even sustainable coming down to just the type of landscaping you put in so that you're not having to get somebody out there to mow that every single day. Because then mowing, comes with price of gas, the emissions from the ⁓ blowers the mowers and things like that. So all of it ties in a little bit. And we try to look at things and say, what can we do to make this more sustainable? And what we can do is we can try to incorporate that into our designs. And I think we do that with a lot of things. And then other times we can just tell people, Florida, we did XYZ. Is this something you would like to try on one of your designs up here? And ⁓ like, ⁓ we've never heard about that. Tell us a little bit more about that. And we can tell them different things. And sometimes can give people ideas about things that they can do in their own communities that have been done in other places in the country. Vinessa Gingrass: so the goal is always that longevity and then with the hopes of sustainability to component depending on the budget that plays into it as well. All right, Hope, what did you have next? Hope Bruce-Rackley: How does your company stay competitive in the transportation industry? Brian Young: Ooh, think the for any company, it just trying to do good work ⁓ being a trusted partner for your clients. ⁓ want to be honest with them. You to be upfront with them about things. And I think if you do that, you're ahead of the curve ⁓ in lot of different ways. We have a steady stream of clients that we work with. Our company is actually headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. So in Jacksonville and in Florida, we are the company that people want to work with. And again, what that means is we have to continually do good work. We have to make sure that we build up a good reputation so that they don't say, don't really want to work with RS H because they did X, Y, Z. You up a great reputation from the beginning. And what I think that does is it, people then about you to their friends or to the other communities and things like that. And it's like, Hey, well, we work with RS and H, you know, why don't you, why don't you call them? But two, it went, everything's not going to go well every single time. It also builds up some trust that if something didn't go completely the way it was supposed to go, do whatever we can to make it right. And it's not an indictment on us as a whole company. It's like, hey, they usually get everything right. This is this one time, this didn't go the way that we wanted it, but they tried to get it right and make it right and things like that. So that's the way I think that we try to keep being competitive. And we try to bring that wherever we go. So we ⁓ bring national reputation to us. to wherever we are. So in Maryland is an emerging market. We're a small firm, small office here in Maryland. But what we can do is we can point to what we've done in other areas and show, hey, nationally, we can do all these things and we can bring these things to you here in Maryland as well. again, kind of mentioned it, ⁓ is so important. We network a lot. So there's a lot of ⁓ talking people. Individually, the people have to have good reputations. have to have done good work so the people on our team in the industry people know them they know they're they're very good at what they do so it's not even just what RS&H can do as a company but how about the people that make up RS&H do they have good reputation do they do good work and I think that speaks speaks volumes for the company and for the people. Vinessa Gingrass: Yeah, so that customer satisfaction is at the forefront always on the networking piece that you spoke about. But that word of mouth is equally important as for you as somebody with a taco truck or food truck or something like that. thanks for speaking to that. Charles, we're coming back to you. What do you have next? Charles: My next question is, what's the biggest challenge you faced early in your career and how did you overcome it? Brian Young: Biggest challenge. I think just the challenge is just trying to gain as much knowledge as you can, as quickly as you can. And I don't even know if this is a challenge, but it's understanding that, you know, especially when you're early in your career, you don't know a whole lot, and that's fine. It's what can you do to make sure that, you know, as you can progress in your career, you continue to just learn. and gain experience and try to just do good work. If you don't know stuff, just say it and then try to learn it. But then you have to make sure that you retain it and you're not asking the same questions over and over and over again. And we see that a lot. So think just the knowledge gap ⁓ ⁓ the biggest thing, but that's going to be for everybody. Everybody's not going to know stuff. just making sure you're doing everything you can to gain as much knowledge as quickly as you can. so that you can overcome that hurdle. Vinessa Gingrass: So is knowledge something you can gain quickly? Brian Young: It depends on what it is. think it's something that you can gain quickly. It just may not be a whole lot of it. This takes time. I this has been a 29-year career. And I learned a lot in my first year, but a lot of the stuff just came from repetition over years and years and years. And I tell the story there was, I'll admit this, I hate going to meetings. And for like the first, I don't know how long. I had a hard time paying attention in meetings. And so there were times where people were talking, I was like, if I wasn't invested in it, I wouldn't necessarily listen all the time. That's probably horrible to say, but it was true. And I also don't like pointless meetings. I have a thing against pointless meetings. If we're going to have a meeting, it needs to have structure. We need to know what the end goal is, and we need to get out of there. And I got to a point where I'm in a meeting, wasn't quite paying attention. somebody asked a question the room got silent. And like, why did everybody stop talking? And I realized, cause they were waiting on me to answer the question. Cause I'm the one that had all the knowledge and that had just come from being, you know, years and years and years of doing some of this stuff. And, you know, I was able to rattle off the answer. And it's like, I think that's when it really hit me like, wait, I actually may know what I'm doing a little bit. you know, just, I think another hurdle is getting over the fact that I think when I sat in room sometimes I always thought somebody else was the expert and it wasn't me. getting over the fact that you actually may be the expert, give yourself credit for the things that you know. You may not know everything, but you know a whole lot more than a whole lot of other people. realize that and use it to your advantage. And be proud of that fact. So I think that took a long time for me to learn and it's something that I try to tell people now. It's like when you get into certain positions, you have a seat at the table. Take your seat at the table. Don't sit in the back of the room. People are be looking at you for answers and answer them fully as you can. If you don't know what answer, that's fine. But don't ever think that I shouldn't be at this table or I shouldn't know this or I shouldn't do these things. because I think somebody else is better than me. People may know some more stuff than me, but like I said, I'm competitive when it came to track. I was competitive when it came to ⁓ work at State Highway. I did not want my district to be worse than anybody else, and I treated it like that. So when I'm in a meeting, if doing something, I'm just as competitive doing this as I was when I was running. ⁓ Vinessa Gingrass: Okay, well thanks for meeting with us and listening to us, TECH students here today, we appreciate it. And highlighting, you you gotta be your own star player, you gotta continue to boost yourself up and remind yourself of your strengths and then, you know, pay attention to the weaknesses too, but look at them as opportunity. So Kieron, we're coming back to you, what did you have next? Kieron D Henry: You spent many years in public service before joining RSNH. So what has that transition between the two been like for you? Brian Young: It's very different. In public service, every day you walk into the office, you have work coming to you. And in the private side, my whole job is to go find work. It's similar because a lot of the work that I do is we're consultants for the public sector. So I can still bring a lot of that public sector experience ⁓ to the And I can help people that have been my colleagues for years do the job that they need to do. I just do it on the public, on the private side now. Vinessa Gingrass: Okay, so you got a lot of people looking up to you. Brian Young: Yeah. Vinessa Gingrass: All right, let's switch gears a little bit and get to know you a little more, Kieron. So I know that you're creative in the bunch, but if you want to speak to that a little bit more, Brian can give you some advice. Kieron D Henry: Well, I kind of relate to him in the way that at first I didn't really want to do anything like technical like engineering, but I'm starting to really want to pursue that career path. Vinessa Gingrass: Okay, in what respect or where did that, you know, that intrigue or what area is that intrigue guiding you towards? Kieron D Henry: Well, I have like a lot of hobbies that include like constructing things like I like to draw, like to paint, you know, I like to build legos and stuff like that. So it kind of acts as like a gateway to fulfill my hobbies while also doing work. Vinessa Gingrass: Beautiful, yeah, that's the goal to carry your passions into your work. Brian, can you to this a little bit, how that interest in Legos speaks what you're doing or how that could all come together in Kieron's next steps? Brian Young: I think that's key. A lot of people that I think, you know, going to engineering have started like that. They like building things, whether it was Legos, whether it was model cars, whatever it is. ⁓ it's just you just do it on a larger scale. And so, yeah, I'd say, you know, engineering just in general has so many different ways that you can go and there's so many different things that you can do. doesn't all again, it doesn't have to be linear. You can find your passion within the field. Vinessa Gingrass: And what are some steps take to more insight ⁓ into before fully committing or just to get more information on the outset? Brian Young: I'd say just talk to different engineers, talk to different people that do it. mean, because everybody does something a little bit differently. And you could have engineers that, civil engineers, have mechanical, you have acoustical, I mean, you have engineers for almost everything. And they all do different things. some, the thing I like about engineering, doesn't just always have to be technical. You could get into engineering and you could get into the business side of engineering. where if you like to do finance and business and things like that, there's a place for you in engineering. to have that engineering background opens up just a lot of doors for a lot of different things. Vinessa Gingrass: right, Kiran, did you have a follow-up question as it relates to some of the stuff Brian was sharing? Kieron D Henry: I was, how do you think it would be possible for me, as who wants to do engineering, to get in the space to be able to converse with other ⁓ people want to be, or like establish entrepreneurs and kind of get like mentoring in that space? Brian Young: you know one or if you see one, ask them. I mean, the thing that's really cool about, I think for this profession, especially people that are established in their careers, they're always usually willing to help and talk to people. And the problem is people just don't ask. ⁓ That's the And so, you already have connection to an engineer now, because there's one sitting in front of you who has connections to a whole bunch of engineers. So... You know, use the network that you have and it'll help. Vinessa Gingrass: So Kieron, that was an invitation to make that connection on LinkedIn and press forward. Ask for that mentorship and that help, the answers to those questions that you're thinking. So we're rooting for you. You can take that first step here later on today. All right, Hope, we're coming over to you. Brian Hope is a senior interested in architecture and was really inspired through her apprenticeship last summer. Hope, do you want to speak to that a little bit more? Hope Bruce-Rackley: Yes, ⁓ I want to go to college major in architecture, minor in business, and then afterwards I will go to trade school. Brian Young: So you have the practical as well as the That's awesome. Vinessa Gingrass: What are some things she should think about as she takes this step or anything you can speak to maybe in the differences and what you're doing and what she wants to do or advice you could share from your decades of Brian Young: So I mean, I like what you said about the major in architecture. You said minor in business. Is that what it was? So I would even take it one step further. And I tell people this on the engineering side. The trifecta for engineering is your engineering degree, your license. So architecture, you'd have to get your license as well. And an MBA. If you get those three things, you can do pretty much anything in the field, in any of those fields. So, you know, find a way, you know, if you go to school, you know, do that. If you get with the company, see if there's a way that they'll pay for you to go get your MBA. A lot of companies will do that. So again, leverage what you have to get things done. And then you become an asset for not only the company that you're with, but for other companies. And again, it opens up possibilities. Hope Bruce-Rackley: it. Vinessa Gingrass: All right, Charles, we're coming to you. Brian, Charles ⁓ is, ⁓ he loves people, very interested in giving back to his community ⁓ and is the legal profession. Do you guys use lawyers in your work? Brian Young: firms have a legal department. Vinessa Gingrass: Okay, Charles, can you speak to your pursuits a little bit more and Brian, feel free to jump in with any advice. Charles: Well, I intend to pursue in criminal defense law. So I want to help people, you know, get a second chance at freedom. And maybe like later on, like start like a nonprofit for like the kids in Philadelphia. So they have like a safe haven or like a space to express themselves in the way they want to. We kind of like have some of those here, but like they're not really geared to like what kids want to do. They're more geared to what they should expect kids to do. Which is fine, but also think that, you we should have like outlet to where we can come other kids and like communities network at a young age and like feel heard valued. Brian Young: Yeah. That's awesome. And when you do that, out to some of these, reach out to the engineering firms, reach out to the other firms. mean, because again, a lot of times they want to be part of the community. And if that's part of the community, they want to feel like they're helping the community. can sponsor different things. The one thing that I've learned in being on the business side is charity and things like that helps businesses with taxes. So, know, you know, startups, they all need some funding and things like that. The money is out there to help people. And it's not just the money. I think there are a lot of not only just engineering firms, but businesses in general that have people in them that want to do nice things and want to help. And, you know, they may have, you know, they may have somebody that's doing something similar to that or that needs that. And, you know, they can be kind of that person in that company that really brings that company. help you in whatever way you may need it. So just reach out and it's there and people will help. So good luck with it. Vinessa Gingrass: Alright, so Charles, you're already getting support as people signing up to help you realize this vision. How does that make you feel or did you have a follow-up question for Mr. Young? Charles: I appreciate Mr. Yang, was a wonderful advice and I think we already connected on LinkedIn, so I'm definitely reach out. But I did have a follow up question. My follow up question was, qualities do you think makes someone a strong leader in engineering or in infrastructure? Brian Young: Sounds good. think strong leader, I don't think it necessarily matters what the field is. I mean, I think it's, you need to have some knowledge about what you're doing. ⁓ think that's key for any field. I think you need to understand people and you need to, all leaders aren't same. You're have some leaders that are, I guess I've talked old school strict things like that. ⁓ You're going to have some that are new, like, ah, know, whatever you want to do, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I think that the key is if you look back over your life and you see the people that have had an effect on you and have been leaders, the one thing is they care about the people that they are working with. And I don't say that work for them. I say the people that they're working with. And it doesn't matter how that comes across. I think people understand it. You can have a very, very stern, you know, manager, but you can understand that that manager cares about you, your career and things like that. So I think, you know, the big thing is care about people, you know, understand what you're doing then just be willing to give of yourself and, you know, and help people. That's really all it is. mean, a leader is just somebody that's trying to help somebody. And it's not, you know, people want to make it rocket science. It's not really rocket science. Stay humble and, you know, things happen. Vinessa Gingrass: make people feel valued is you're kind of highlighting as the number one tip strong leadership. So awesome. All right, I saved you for last. Brian Jamiyah is interested in civil engineering. So ⁓ we did to have you on just for her and hope as well. So let's pour into her as she jumps into these next steps. Again, she's a senior and did have that practical experience last summer. But Jamiyah tell Brian a little bit more and then he can hop in. Jamiyah: so I wanted to do civil engineering, because not only is it the mother of engineering's argue with your mother, but also ⁓ because I feel like that foundation of engineering is ⁓ beautiful within itself. I mean, the name ⁓ specifically made because they wanted to help civilians out. I know you're a big community guy and just being able to, you know, work in those smaller projects to ⁓ scale projects, like working on how to. launch a rocket is something that I'm definitely interested in and just the small things that really interest me as well. Brian Young: I don't think I could say anything better than that. I like that. I like that. I like how you say, argue with your mother. I like that. That's right. That's cool. Vinessa Gingrass: Yes, Jamiyah is on point. But what can you tell her about next steps? Any advice on just before you the schooling process or starting to get a job or things wish you knew starting out? Any advice you share with her? Brian Young: And this is for everybody. It's like, know, when experiences come up, take advantage of them. Even if you think they may not be exactly what you want, you just never, ever know. And again, you never know who you might meet in those experiences. So when things come up, you know, it's like, you know what? I think I'm try that. And you're either gonna find out that you liked it or you didn't. You may meet some people that you like, you may meet some people you didn't like, but it at least... opens up your to a lot of different things. And I think that's the thing for a lot of people. Everybody seems, a lot of people have a very, very small world and there's so much stuff out there for people to do and see and things like that. So I just say any chance you get to do something new, different, go ahead and do it. And sometimes people in the field that you want or in the line of progression that you want may see you doing something different and they're still watching you. to see how you handle whatever that is. And so you may be doing something over here and what you really wanna do is over here, but the person over here is watching what you do over there. And it's like, oh, okay, I see what Jamiyah's doing. Okay, so when she comes back, I know she can do X, Y, Z. Hey, Jamiyah now you're back. What did you learn from that experience? Okay, well, now we have this other thing that we've been trying to do, but we didn't really have anybody that had experience with that. Do think you can handle it? And it's like, hey, yeah, I can. And just don't be scared to give stuff a try. People are gonna fail at stuff and that's perfectly fine. When you fail, just figure out what went and you just try to correct it. What we do, even though we launch rockets, it's not rocket science. It really, really isn't. So that's all I have. Vinessa Gingrass: All right, that's a conundrum there, Brian. Jamiyah ⁓ did, what do you think of that advice or what follow-up question did you have for him? Jamiyah: I thought it was great advice. I feel like I take a lot of opportunities that are offered to me, like this radio show. I'm someone who loves to network. I love networking. I feel like, you know, talking to another person, asking them questions, that's not something scary for me. My up question is more personal. Like, how was the schooling? Like, how was the math courses? Did it feel overwhelming? Like, I know. Brian Young: So I'll tell you two things. It's not easy. I will admit that it is not easy. I mean, it's a lot of math. It's a lot of science and especially not easy. Actually in your freshman and sophomore year when you're getting into like the calculus one, two, three differential equations, all that other kind of stuff. Once you get into your major classes, the classes usually get a lot smaller and everybody that's in those has kind of already been weeded out. for the people that didn't want to do it. And so once you're in your school of engineering, the people in the school of engineering, they want to see you succeed. So there's a lot more, it seems to be a lot more support from not only your teachers and your professor, but also the students. form these bonds that help you kind of get through it. I'll tell you this, my son's actually in his senior year in mechanical engineering it has been kicking ⁓ butt. I mean, it's been kicking his butt. He was always, he went to one of the best schools here in Baltimore, never ever had a C and got to college and he's like, so yeah, I'm getting a C this semester and I'm very happy about that. And it's like, all right, you're good. it's hard, but the payoff in the end is, I mean, it's great. And again, like you mentioned, the networking stuff, I'm going to a function on Thursday and he's coming with me. It's Maryland Association of Engineers. So he's going to be in that room with the other vice presidents, the presidents, the partners and things like that. And the last time he went to one, somebody offered him a job at that one. So he's going to meet with them at this function. So again, that networking is so, so very important. The biggest skill I think for any engineer, probably anything else is communication, you know, so those are going to be the ones that I think that people really need to focus on. The math and all that stuff is hard, but people that can communicate effectively with other people and get the ideas that are in their head out so that people understand them. That's probably the biggest skill and the most important. Vinessa Gingrass: All right, Jamiyah so it looks like he just named an association you could look into being a part of and just nose to the grindstone and grit through those first couple years and then ⁓ will start to blossom a little later on, it sounds like, Brian. Brian Young: Yeah, NSBE, National Society of Black Engineers, join that. So ASCE, American Society of Civil Engineers, again, great stuff to join, you know, in the student chapters and just continue on with them. Vinessa Gingrass: All right, so Jamiyah, follow up there? Tell us what resonated with you most in our conversation today. Jamiyah: I think just, you know, the key value of networking and also like a lot of your values focus around just helping the community. And that's a big reason why I went into civil engineering and why I want that payoff in the end. Even though I've heard it's very hard, you know, being able to imagine a future outside of my major is a huge part of why I keep going. Brian Young: Mm-hmm. Vinessa Gingrass: That's beautiful. Thank you so much. And we're excited to see how it all unveils, Jamiyah. Appreciate you sharing. Hope, what did you pick up from Mr. Young today? Hope Bruce-Rackley: I want to piggy-pick off of Jamai a little bit and I want to say networking too because that is, especially with ⁓ a like mine, that's like a huge aspect of it and I feel as though that is something I could work on as of right now and so I can in the future be really, really good at it. Vinessa Gingrass: Awesome, and I think you're practicing that here too, sales being a largely ⁓ equal component to the work. that's you want to focus on that and get better in that, and you're already doing so today. So thanks Hope. Charles, what you pick up today? Charles: I picked up that he mentioned how he interviewed for ⁓ position ⁓ ⁓ didn't get it. And I kind of like that kind of like thought back to one of my favorite quotes, is, is not fatal. Success not final and failure is not fatal. That kind like resonated with me. That kind of like, ⁓ it ⁓ to quote, like, okay, ⁓ may not something right on the first time or may not, you know, ⁓ Vinessa Gingrass: Yes. Charles: do it right the first time, but he then stopped trying to get that position. And it's like slow progress is better than no progress. Now he's the associate vice president. So that's kind of what I took away from this. Brian Young: Mm-hmm. Vinessa Gingrass: Alright, our philosopher Charles, love it! Uh, Kieron, what stuck out with you today? Kieron D Henry: I really admire the love and passion you have for your job. It's just nice to see somebody that actually likes what they do. Brian Young: I do. Yeah. do. ⁓ Vinessa Gingrass: Yeah, you can hear it. So thanks for picking up on that. So Brian, we'll invite you to leave us with some final parting words or tell us what's your superpower and how did you uncover that? Brian Young: Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. My superpower, my superpower is smile. And I uncovered that from my dad. His nickname Smiley. He always smiled. He was always in a good mood, always happy. And I think that just goes along with the way I was raised. just the way, ⁓ superpower really is just treating well. It's really not. It's not a superpower, but a lot of people just don't want to do it. It doesn't matter where you are in your career, you're doing, just treat everybody ⁓ same way. ⁓ ⁓ tell a real quick story. I remember when I was in the district once, we had ⁓ the cleaning ladies that would clean with us. They didn't speak English. And I went into a colleague's office and one lady comes in, I say, hi, Lysia. And she goes, hi Mr. Brian. And he just, and the guy was in there with just lifted up his trash can and just put it in the air for her to take it. And I'm like, well, you didn't even say hello or hi or anything like that. And he's like, he goes, how did you know her name? And I'm like, well, I asked her her name and he's like, but she doesn't speak English. I'm like, but people understand what's your name. And he's like, okay. So they told me, you know, in through broken English and my broken Spanish, we don't like him. So fast forward to when I get the job as the head of the district. They went to my new office before I moved in and cleaned it from top to bottom because of the way that I treated them. And, you know, it didn't matter that they were, I treated, you know, they were the cleaning ladies. I treated them just the same way that I treated Steny Hoyer, you know, the minority leader of Congress when he was in our office. It didn't matter ⁓ because each had value ⁓ and ⁓ they meant more to me than he did because they became part of, you know, my family. And again, it's just treat people well and good things definitely, definitely happen. Vinessa Gingrass: that's a great daily reminder and ⁓ sounds like your smile is just emblematic for making people feel welcome and seen. you so to our student Kieron, Charles, Jamiyah, and Hope from TECH Freire And thank you to Brian Young. You're to Access Co-Leaders. We'll see you next time.