Randall Brown ’09
Minority Empowerment: Helping Others Achieve Professional Success
From an early age, Randall Brown `09, has been intellectually curious, eager to learn new concepts and ready to take on new projects.
This desire combined with his drive to succeed, led him to the ILR School. Brown’s time as an ILR student allowed him to learn from the diversity of perspectives that the ILR curriculum and his peers offered. He believes this further developed his intellectual curiosity and helped to propel his career.
From his ILR internship in HR at Morgan Stanley, his investment banking experience, to his current position as senior finance manager at Johnson & Johnson, Brown shows that interacting in many spheres of industry can be a major asset in building a toolkit of skills for professional success.
“Beginning with my ILR credit internship, I have been able to transition my skillset to several different industries and companies and now I am teaching these theories to others to help them build a solid foundation for professional success.”
Brown still considers ILR as one of the first experiences in his life where he learned the value of teamwork.
“The value of teamwork and the impact it can have personally and professionally is immeasurable. I have used my ILR and professional experiences to further enhance my ability to succeed at each step of the way since graduating from Cornell.”
A recent project that has been a true highlight for Brown, involved teaming up with his wife, Dr. Bianca Calderon-Brown, in publishing the book, “Minority Empowerment: How to Achieve Professional Success in America.” The premise for the book is rooted in their passion for helping others.
“There were many programs and pieces of knowledge that we both benefitted from, and we wanted to share these with others.”
Randall describes his book, as a “frank, refreshing, and an honest guide to help give persons of color valuable resources and skills to achieve success in America.”
Randall and his wife are looking forward to using their new book to make an impact on the goals and ambitions of underrepresented ethnic minorities who are looking for a path to success.
In looking to the future, Brown feels that there are no limits to what he can accomplish. He is excited about furthering his career at Johnson & Johnson and learning new skills through team-based collaboration. He hopes to continue his sharing of new learning and knowledge to help continue increasing his skillset to help others on their own path to professional success!