Sydney Sturgis

Leading the way for young girls like her

All around I’m seeing younger versions of myself. Little black girls with so much potential they don’t even realize yet.

It’s Impact Day, and I’m volunteering at the Dynamic Young Minorities of Nashville (DYMON)’s “I’m Bossy” camp. The camp hosts girls ages 10-16 for two days of activities, focused on the importance of teamwork, trust and emotional intelligence. It’s something I wish I could have experienced at their ages, and an experience I’m so honored to facilitate with the help of Deloitte.

Impact Day at Deloitte is one day each year. But it’s about so much more than that. It’s a day to celebrate the impact we make every day – for clients, for our colleagues, and especially for our communities. A big part of why I am here is because Deloitte sponsored my membership in the Young Leaders Council where I live in Nashville. The Young Leaders Council’s mission is to train diverse, committed individuals to participate effectively on the boards of non-profit organizations and make a difference in the community. That group placed me as a board member with DYMON, where we provide a safe haven for inner city and minority youth as we refine, enrich, and empower them through scholarships, mentorship, and community outreach.

It was just the start of my leadership journey. I’m now the Southeast Black & Allies Community Leader at Deloitte, lead writer and editor for our Deloitte “Women in Technology” newsletter, and I volunteer with numerous organizations dedicated to uplifting my community, many of them related to career opportunities in tech for young black men and women.

It feels empowering to have the support of an organization like Deloitte, a place where my ambitions are met with opportunities to shine. This combination of working in technology and having a voice is my passion. It doesn’t feel like work.

I see a future where I’m taking further steps in leadership, helping to pave the way until we don’t need to focus so much on getting girls and people of color into the tech or accounting worlds. Where they are empowered from the start to get involved in whatever drives their passions.

Which brings me back to today. The camp ends with each girl writing an accountability letter. She’ll write to her future self, putting on paper the actions she’s committing to take to get to where she wants to go in life. This is when it comes full circle. I see these girls, so full of potential, and I think about how much an impact this would have had on me at their age. Getting to play a part in this short, but hopefully inspiring, chapter in their stories is a true honor.