Isa Kibira is a recent graduate from Occidental College and has moved to Minneapolis to start his career. His time at the Urban Scholars program helped to lay the foundation for his career experience in the Twin Cities, working for the Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board and the City of Minneapolis. Isa began his post-graduate career in Minneapolis Public Schools as an Americorps Promise Fellow and joined the Office of Black Student Achievement.

Isa recently joined the Equity and Inclusion department of Serve Minnesota and serves as a Community Engagement Evaluator that supports the evaluation of Americorps programs and leads support initiatives for Americorps members across the state. He secured this role through connecting with Sandy Pulles, VP of Diversity and Inclusion at ServeMinnesota, through the ConnextMSP Talent Network. He credits ConnextMSP with exposing him to a new set of cross sector professionals and showing the importance of skill building and taking advantage of new career opportunities.

The greatest challenge Isa has faced so far in his career in navigating academic and professional opportunities that have a narrow vision for what success looks like for Black youth. OBSA afforded him with the opportunity to facilitate a space of growth for Black students that was guided by what each student valued and dreamed for. He cites his greatest accomplishment, so far, as building and maintaining meaningful relationships with young people throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. His future career goals include striving to make a greater impact, while being himself.

The greatest piece of career advice he received from a mentor was to slow down and to not overlook the invitation to be fully present in the work you are doing. His advice for other young professionals? Give yourself fully to whatever experiences speak to you the most, even if they are the most outlandish ones. It requires folks to live in a world of possibilities. Be unapologetic about your pursuits.