Today we’d like to introduce you to Deanna Perez.
Hi Deanna, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I have always known that I wanted to go out of state for college and explore a new area. At 17, when I received the Posse Foundation Full-Tuition Leadership Scholarship for Colby College, this then became a reality. At Colby, I majored in Education Studies with a professional teaching certification in 7-12th grade English. I knew that I wanted to go to graduate school for education leadership, as my original intentions were to become a high school administrator. However, the more I learned about the different options within the education field, the more this changed. I was now interested in higher education leadership, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), education policy, and college access, but I still knew I wanted to go to graduate school.
I applied to 8 graduate schools, was accepted into 6, and surprised myself when one of the acceptances was from Harvard. I knew Harvard was the right choice as their program allowed me to be flexible and create my own curriculum that included all of these new interests. I graduated in 2023 with a Master of Education in Education Leadership, Organizations, and Entrepreneurship with a concentration in Higher Education. Since then, I have joined the alumni committee and regularly volunteer with the Posse Foundation to give back to an organization that was the first to give me my opportunity to be where I am at. I am currently the Assistant Director of Alumni Engagement at Rice University, where I get to further explore the higher education industry and implement some of the DEI strategies I learned into the programs I am running.
Along with my education and career, I started weightlifting during COVID and have since became a competitive powerlifter. I continue to train alongside a coach and have qualified and competed at Texas State Championships in January 2024. Next to my education and career, this has become one of the most important aspects in my life.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
As someone who was a first-generation college student for a majority of my adolescence and was a first-generation graduate student, it was difficult to determine my education and career trajectories. In my greater family, not many people continued their education and are only aware of the more “mainstream” job possibilities (doctor, lawyer, etc.) that come from college. This was the same exposure I had until I was at these well-resourced institutions and learned that there were so many different opportunities that could come from studying education aside from being a teacher. It was not only difficult learning about the different career options I could have but also explaining to my family about these different career opportunities, which they had never even heard of, and why I am across the country studying education.
Along with this, being across the country for so long led to immense culture shock. As a Latina from Houston studying in the middle of Maine for 4 years, being in an environment that was not as diverse as where I have been used to was a significant adjustment.
As far as powerlifting, the biggest struggle has been trusting the process. After a while, progress is not as linear, which is mentally jarring. I have to keep reminding myself to trust my coach and her program and that with experience progress still happens, it just looks different.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
As mentioned, I am currently working in alumni relations, where I am working on building and strengthening a few alumni engagement programs and resources. Prior to this role, I have experience in working with education policy, university DEI programs, teaching, education technical support, and research. All of these previous experiences are still continuing interests of mine that I plan to explore again in the future. Along with my full-time job working in Alumni Engagement and my powerlifting training, I am also passionate about giving back to the communities who have helped me be where I am at. I serve on the alumni committee for The Posse Foundation and am also Harvard Graduate School of Education Alumni Ambassador. In both of these roles, I help provide guidance to both future and current students on next steps in their journeys with each of these respective organizations.
What’s next?
Although I love what I am currently doing, I miss working with students. In realizing how much knowledge I have gained through working with various organizations, as well as from my own personal experiences, I am currently working on starting an education consulting business. This business would assist in higher education application processes, share advice for both undergraduate and graduate school experiences, and provide application feedback. Follow me on Instagram to stay up to date for when these launches! @brains.and.gains_ and @Deanna0502
For powerlifting, I am competing at a couple of local meets this year as I transition from the Junior to Open age category. As for next year, I am planning to compete in Southern Regionals and qualify and compete at USAPL Raw Nationals in 2026!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @brains.and.gains_
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deannaperez0502/
Image Credits
Joseph Bui
@StellarShots
