Brian Anderson is a senior at Salisbury University majoring in communications – journalism/public relations with a minor in international relations. The Baltimore native has been making waves across campus as a prominent student leader, mentor, and motivational speaker.
As a UN Youth Summit delegate and an avid world traveler (he’s been to 15 countries), Brian has made ample use of his college experience. Her Campus caught up with Brian to talk more about his time at Salisbury, current initiatives, and future goals.
HC: What are your future career goals and how do you plan to achieve them?
BA: To be honest, I think I just really have an interest in diplomacy but conflict is the most important piece of it. I’m planning to go to grad school for Conflict Analysis and Resolution. With that, I can attack conflict in many ways: I can build on an international level with diplomacy, I can do it on a business level as far as being an arbitrate, and I can do it on a one-on-one level with counseling and mediation. So, I know I like resolving problems and solving conflicts. I can do something in all three.
HC: What clubs and organizations are you part of?
BA: I am the president of MOD (Men of Distinction), I am part of NAACP, Kinks and Curls, SGA and Model UN.
HC: How much of an impact do you feel these organizations have had on your own personal development?
BA: Well transferring here, it was a big adjustment so being able to be part of MOD and NAACP definitely helped me create a better bond with the other people on campus. And it wasn’t’ even just about the multicultural people on campus, it was the other ethnicities as well. I am also part of FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) and that helped me a lot as far as being diverse and getting to know everyone on campus.
HC: All of these facets of your college life become parts of your identity, well in your case, they become part of your brand. Tell me more about how BTheMogul came to fruition and the purpose of the brand.
BA: BTheMogul started pretty much because this is my fourth college I’ve been to and I’ve changed my major about five times. Coming to college, I really did not know what I wanted to do, at all.
One day, me and my friend were talking and I was like, ‘I really don’t know what I want to do in life’. I asked her, ‘What qualities do you think I have that I would be able to use?’ and she was just naming things like, I’m really good at talking to people and I know a lot about the ins and outs of business because I’ve had a plethora of internships. She said, “The way you talk to me and motivate me, you could motivate others.
Then PowerCon (Powerful Connections) came around and I had two mentees. They winded up being two very impactful people on campus, one of them is the director of Diversity and Inclusion in SGA, Donovan Mack and Syd Parker, who is my VP. The things I taught them have shown to be positive on their end so hopefully teaching other people can help.
HC: You’ve been to the UN Youth Summit and were selected as a delegate! What did you learn from that conference?
BA: A lot, it was amazing. It showed me that I have to be able to do something in policy and diplomacy because I saw that it was probably me, my friend, and probably three other people were of African American descent. Everybody else was a descendant from Africa who came to the conference, or, it was pretty much an international conference, so I was like, ‘Wow’ there’s really no African Americans here.’ There were no presenters who represented an African American man. I think for me, coming from the background I came from, I have tattoos, I have earrings. Some of those stereotypes can be considered as not even in this field, let alone doing some diplomacy. It made me feel as if I have to break this barrier and be able to show people that [for] common people just like me, policy is something we should be interested in. Being on the international level is something we should be interested in, not just staying in the four-block radius that we were born in.
HC: Have you been abroad during your college experience? What is the craziest thing you learned or experienced or learned?
BA: Yes. My first semester sophomore year, I traveled abroad. I’ve been to 15 countries. Do you remember the attack on Paris? I was there two days before it happened. There was a bar that got shot up and I was there in that same space. My friend took me to that place, it was right down the street from her house. When I was in Greece – we had gone from Paris to Greece – I was so scared, like, ‘You need to come get me.’ They were attacking Christian countries and I called my sister. My sister was like, ‘You’ll be fine.’ I’m like, what do you mean? She was just in Turkey that summer and said, ‘Literally, a terrorist attack happened two miles down the street from me. This is the daily life that people over here live. You shouldn’t’t be too frightened; things are gonna settle down; just think about it like you’re living through history.’ I didn’t’ think about it like that before.
HC: For many minorities, experiences like these seem out of reach or they feel like they’re not supposed to be there. What advice do you have for people who want to be leaders but doubt themselves or don’t know where to start?
BA: You’ve got to do your research, and you have to want it, to be honest. When I was in high school, I got the opportunity to travel and my mom had gotten the letter in the mail, ripped it up and told me about it later. When I got to college, I was strongly influenced by a girl named Tiara. It’s funny because everything she said that was gonna happen came true. When I was an accounting major, she was like, ‘You’re not gonna do Accounting, you don’t like it”, and everything she said came true. She’s been to a total of 44 countries and she is only 25. She inspired me to travel.
So, I was like I’m going to do it and just tell my mom when I do it. I told her and she was like, ‘Okay whatever.’ The week before I left, she started breaking down and crying. I was like you can’t say anything now. If you want it, go get it. If you don’t know how to get it, do your research and find somebody who can get it for you. Don’t be threatened by money because there is a lot of money out there and people are willing to give money to minorities to travel. There’s not a lot of people who know about it. Don’t be scared.