Franziska Miles: My Voice as a Black Woman
Perspectives: Student Stories from Around CampusBy BY MILES DOBIS (HE/HIM)
Franziska Miles (she/her)
Franziska Miles, who is pursuing her MBA at the Heller College of Business, plans to live out Roosevelt’s tenets of diversity, equity and inclusion into professional spheres that still have far too many barriers of entry for marginalized groups. Her plan after graduation is to develop coursework and academic initiatives that allow more visibility to aspiring entrepreneurs in a business environment that still favors white investment.
“My ultimate goal with this degree is to integrate more diverse perspectives and voices into business and tech curricula so that Black entrepreneurship can attain the strength it’s capable of,” she says. “Seeing other Black women in positions of influence can go incredibly far to let us know our power as a consumer.”
Miles is currently a business development intern at RIOTech (Restaurant Industry Optimization), a platform developed by restaurant “gig-workers” to connect restaurant operators with their workforce. Restaurants instantly connect with prospective cooks, servers and foodies (the consumer). RIO also assists marginalized communities with direct access to the tech industry. Restaurants that cannot afford to develop a website or partner with third-party ordering systems like DoorDash can instantly connect with prospective cooks, servers and delivery drivers, and the app’s development through a recent Roosevelt-sponsored hackathon allowed for young tech workers of color to develop projects for their resume.
“RIOTech’s parent company is Stecker, Inc., which is Black-owned and working to allow more resources for engineers and developers of color,” says Miles. “Our goal is to eliminate the barriers of tech work for marginalized groups and help establish generational wealth for more economic equality.”
As a McNair Scholars graduate assistant, Miles works directly with first-generation students to develop successful routines and discover what is possible at the University. “I’ve found inclusion and representation to be very visible and accessible at Roosevelt,” she says. “I returned here after getting my bachelor’s degree because I found my voice as a Black woman wasn’t just accepted in the classroom, but I’ve been encouraged to pursue that as a professional pathway.”
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President’s Perspective
Going to college marks one of the great journeys of our life—from youth to adulthood. These years of focused thought can light a fire of curiosity and wonder that will continue for the rest of our life.