Meet The Interns
The COWRIE Initiative, home of BankBlackUSA, is excited to announce the hiring of our first interns. Thanks to the generous donations from individuals, organizations, and institutions, COWRIE offered paid internships to Keiley Thompson, Isaiah Joseph and Yasmin Abdulhadi for the 2022 Spring and Summer semesters. These three outstanding people will play an instrumental role in our ongoing operational and programmatic work.
Meet Keiley
Keiley Thompson is a second-year Urban Studies and Architecture concentrator at Brown University. Raised in Oakland, California, she feels most comfortable in urban environments. She believes there is nothing better than a sunny day. Throughout her lifetime, Keiley hopes to build communities and solve some of the challenges associated with urbanism. She loves the intersectionality and importance of the work at BankBlackUSA and the entire COWRIE Initiative. Keiley has four projects that she is excited to explore during her internship: organizational development, grant writing, development of an internship program, and a micro-loan initiative.
Meet Isaiah
Isaiah Joseph is currently a junior attending the University of Texas at Arlington, pursuing a double major in business management and marketing. Anticipating graduation in the fall of 2023, Isaiah has an active presence on his campus and in his community as a member of his local chapter of the NAACP. Outside of his scholastic environment, music is Isaiah’s driving passion. Through BankBlackUSA, Isaiah hopes to meld his career goals with his ambitions to educate all people, particularly on the importance of supporting Black-owned institutions across America. Isaiah has four projects that he is excited to explore during his internship: a #BankBlack history project, creating a social media calendar and content strategy, and building a financial literacy education strategy.
Meet Yasmin
Yasmin is a first-year MBA student at the University of Michigan, Ross School of Business. Prior to attending the University of Michigan, Yasmin spent four years working in education by way of Teach for America in Memphis, TN. She taught elementary school math and science for two years in Memphis’s Innovation Zone. In 2019 she transitioned to teach high school financial literacy at KIPP Memphis to continue her commitment to improving educational and economic equity.
In addition to teaching, she mentored young girls as a Kode with Klossy web development instructor, advancing women in steam fields. Most recently, her time working with EdTech startup, Rhymes with Reason, furthered her desire to address the racial wealth gap in the United States. She is eager to contribute her experience to the BankBlackUSA team in order to foster economic mobility and financial inclusion.
