Alumni Spotlight
Candace Hokett-Henley

I knew I wanted a Greek life experience on campus, but I didn’t want anything that would compromise my academic or professional development. Brother Jordan Campbell, who I went to high school with, told me more about Alpha Kappa Psi and all of the things that made this organization different than many others at Howard. Brother Kwaku Osei-Bonsu finally invited me to Rush week to learn more about the organization. I really admired the Brothers in Alpha Kappa Psi and through Rush week, I was able to become a part of the Gamma Pledge Class.

After joining AKPsi, I now know that there’s no traditional way to be business-minded. A major lesson that I learned from my pledge process is that everything can operate as a business function. Since I always knew that I wanted to work in fashion, yet my major was in business, I utilized the business principles I received from my courses and the help of Alpha kappa Psi to find my fit in the fashion industry. I didn’t want to become what I viewed as a “cookie cutter” product of the School of Business, and AKPsi was able to show me the fundamentals in a way that I could brand myself for exactly what I wanted in life. Alpha Kappa Psi also introduced numerous leadership opportunities for me, where I was involved in the Membership Committee and served as the Scholarship Chair for over two years.

Today, I work in the fashion retail industry. I initially thought my ideal career path would be in corporate buying for a major retailer, so I got a job in buying for Macy’s in NYC. I soon learned that after about a year and a half, that this wasn’t the dream job I expected to have. I did know however, that as a marketing major, Macy’s had a great marketing department and a number of networking opportunities that I could explore, in order to remain in the corporate retail industry. I went to a company career fair where I met with the Consumer Insights team, (funny because Consumer Behavior with Dr. Yuvay Meyers was my favorite course while at Howard!), and this department showed me a different way to analyze the world of fashion. I now work as a Primary Research Analyst for the department, and am so excited to utilize what I learned on the buying side to solve problems with Marketing Research tools!

All in all, I began my career path in an organized recent graduate development program because I knew it would lead me to better opportunities. Once I was hired into the company, moving around internally became a lot easier! Macy’s showed me more about the retail industry than I could have ever imagined, and starting off in buying showed me exactly what I didn’t want to do.

I truly encourage all students to explore corporate job opportunities after graduation even if the job is not their “dream job.” If the company is within the industry you want to work in the right job opportunity for you will eventually open up. You just have to be eager to learn and proactive enough to make sure that opportunity won't pass you by!