With a burst of laughter, A&T leader Donovan Bethea describes himself as observant, protective, and loyal. Donovan, a Raleigh native, is majoring in business administration with future goals of serial entrepreneurship and corporate human resources leadership.

As well as a first-generation college student, Donovan is invested in the A&T Office of Leadership and Civic Engagement as a L.E.A.D. staff. He is also an ambassador of the black male initiative program in A&T’s College of Business and Economics, a program designed for the retention of black males.

These programs are molding his already outgoing personality with tools to be more effective in his endeavors. As he is an innovative thinker, Donovan took an interesting take on some of the unhealthy norms in our black communities.

“Sometimes I think we can get over-competitive with certain things. I feel like at the end of the day a lot of people could support each other a lot more than they do, but they see each other as competition”, Donovan expresses. “It’s kind of irritating but rather than letting it upset me, I just do what I can to support my friends and the black businesses I see.”

Donovan is adamant about genuinely supporting other black people and businesses. He is aware of the forces against our communities and prioritizes the work within himself to actively resist them.

“I just try to invest in my community in every way possible. I try and make sure I’m there and I’m active and a part of whatever I can be so that people can feel like I’m supporting them and eventually I would hope they would support me too, but even if they don’t, being able to support them is the overall goal”, said Donovan, further emphasizing his loyal qualities.

Donovan credits a large part of his motivation to his grandmother, who wasn’t afforded the opportunity to finish her education. He and his cousins are conscious of breaking this generational tie.

“Being able to say me and most of my cousins walked away with a college degree… is a big milestone for me… and then doing it at an HBCU only makes it better”, said Donovan, as he expressed his Aggie Pride.

“Even though it’s hit or miss days, majority of the time the people do it for me every time. Just the environment, the culture that A&T has when we come together, and of course we’re the largest so we come together in numbers, so it’s just always energy”.

Donovan is unapologetic in being Flier. His personal definition of being Flier is undoubtedly motivating:

“Being yourself … as we grow and learn and we understand as people, I think a big part of that is being true to yourself. I think Flier does a good job of making sure people are being themselves, showing their personalities, and overall, just being comfortable with who you are at the end of the day.”

“Take the time to get to love yourself, get to know yourself before you try and go out in the world and find it in other people to put into you. A big thing that people need to do is understanding what they want and what they want to be and being able to communicate that.”

If Donovan’s story interests you, you can follow his Instagram handle @donovanbethea .