TeenSHARP alumna lands Fortune 500 job

The TeenSHARP family would like to extend a huge congratulations to alumna Iyanna McCoy for starting a lucrative position with Microsoft as a business development analyst. Not only will she get incredible work experience, but as part of Microsoft’s game development team, Iyanna got the new XBox before anyone else.

Iyanna (C/O ’16) is a recent graduate of the University of Delaware. While in college she majored in Management Information Systems and served as president of her school’s National Association of Black Accountants.

Iyanna came to TeenSHARP in her senior year of high school—the year we launched our Delaware site. She had a 4.0 GPA, was taking six Advanced Placement (AP) courses, and was working close to 30 hours a week at McDonald’s to help support her family. As if that were not enough, she was teaching herself computer programming languages (e.g Python) as an aspiring computer scientist.

As part of TeenSHARP’s College Success Program, we helped Iyanna land a well-paid data analytics internship in Wisconsin: a critical launchpad for her career.

Before Iyanna even completed the internship, TeenSHARP connected her with the University of Delaware Center for Research in Education and Social Policy (CRESP) where she was able to further develop her analytic capabilities. 

College students of color are less likely to secure such important internships. Iyanna leveraged these early experiences to secure an internship with Microsoft that resulted in a job offer before she even began her senior year of college. 

During the 2019-2020 school year, Iyanna gave back to TeenSHARP through the AmeriCorps program. She served as a TeenSHARP college access coordinator where she mentored current Striver students. In her role, she supported alums as they searched for internships, served as a teaching assistant for Striver classes, reviewed student essays, hosted workshops, and much more. 

The biggest piece of advice Iyanna would give TeenSHARP students is to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. When she first received her internship offer from Microsoft she was not sure if the position would be a good fit for her. 

“Business Development is completely different from anything I experienced,” Iyanna said. “But if I did not take that leap, I wouldn’t be where I am today.”