William Parker '22. Photo by Keegan Houser.
As a child, Legos were the only toy I ever wanted because they came with an endless number of possible creations. In high school, I began turning RC controllers, battery packs — anything I could use — into electric skateboards. I eventually expanded and found clients at USC and UCLA. That passion for creating led to what I thought was the right route: architecture.
But it wasn’t until after I spoke to the CEO of a design firm where I was interning that I had a change of heart. I shifted from wanting to build buildings to building businesses that solve problems, and I changed my major at Berkeley to political science to get a macro view of how the world operates.
Throughout this time I also interned for and served on the board of Berkeley’s Black Recruitment and Retention Center (BRRC). I encountered many students from different backgrounds who showed me an important lesson: Our environment is critical to our self development. You simply won’t be mentally healthy, or learn the same way, or have access to the same resources if you come from poverty or other challenging situations. It was crazy to see how the BRRC helped us, including me, grow. One woman was accepted into MIT, and another chose Howard.
“The best way to make sure a person eats for life is to teach them how to fish — not just give them the fish.” — William Parker ’22
Working for BRRC opened my eyes to key problems that impact students and set me on a new path. I and many people I grew up with suffered from mental health problems, and financial problems often lead to stress and anxiety. This presented an interesting opportunity to do something I hadn’t seen before — integrating personal finance and mental health and making financial education more accessible and understandable to historically underrepresented demographics. Unraveled will be an app for people to learn how to have healthier relationships. Wall Street Bites offers digital products that boil financial information down in more digestible ways. The best way to make sure a person eats for life is to teach them how to fish — not just give them the fish.
The African American Initiative scholarship I received made Berkeley possible — and everything I have achieved here. It was an investment in me and the problems I’m trying to solve. You can’t put a price on that.
