Boston non-profit helps students make higher education more accessible

BOSTON – A Boston non-profit is helping hundreds of college students make higher education more diverse and accessible through networking events.
Leadership Brainery is a non-profit focused on increasing access to higher education to increase diversity in leadership roles.
They hosted the sixth annual Graduate School Summit and Change Can’t Wait Awards event on Saturday, allowing students to access admissions mentoring, test prep sessions, a recruitment fair, financial support, headshots, and more. 
“When you think about our lawyers our doctors, our dentists, our psychologists, 80% of our US Senate has a graduate degree. Our leadership in our country is made up of folks who have attained the highest level of education, so they can have the highest levels of leadership and the highest levels of influence so that’s why it’s so important,” Leadership Brainery Co-Founder and Executive Director Derrick Young said.
Every year Leadership Brainery brings in some of the most competitive graduate schools in the country to engage with students to offer advice and opportunities. 
“We have Boston University Harvard, Stanford, Cornell, UPenn, top schools who are saying ‘Hey we need to increase our diversity in our masters and doctoral programs, so we are partnering with Leadership Brainery to find that incredible talent,'” Young said.
25-year-old Danielle Gathers graduated from MIT and is now attending Harvard Law School. She says Leadership Brainery has had a huge impact on her education and career path. 
“I became the first black woman student body president at MIT because of their support. So I met the Dean of Admission at Harvard Law through them, then I got to go to Harvard and they’ve supported me throughout my journey,” she said.
This year more than 200 students took part in the Leadership Brainery graduate school summit. It provides pathways and opportunities toward master’s and doctoral degrees.
Gathers hope is to inspire other younger students to go after their dreams just as Leadership Brainery helped find hers.
“It’s really important to lift while we climb. So I’m really inspired by the idea of impacting other black women, make sure that there are STEM opportunities available for them, law school opportunities and just overall make sure leadership is top of mind,” Gathers said.