OMA speaker series features Boggs

Paula Boggs, a 1981 Hopkins graduate and current executive president, general counsel and secretary of Starbucks Coffee, spoke at Hopkins this past Monday as a part of the Women's History Month speaker series, hosted by the Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA).  

Her talk was an informal yet intimate conversation about her undergrad years here at Hopkins as an African American woman and about her path to becoming a Fortune 500 executive. Her time at Hopkins was extremely different from that of today's student, as she enrolled at Hopkins in 1977 as an international studies major, she was one of the only female African American students on campus. Just seven years earlier in 1970, Hopkins had opened its doors to women.

She began with detailed accounts of her most memorable Hopkins experiences, which most Hopkins students can relate to. She brought up memories of freshman orientation, taking Introduction to Microeconomics class and ROTC.

Boggs first began by reminiscing over freshman orientation. While at orientation, Boggs met some of her closest friends. She recalled meeting fellow classmate Michael Steele, the 64th Chairman of the Republican National Committee.

Academically speaking, Boggs also encountered various gender barriers. For instance, many buildings lacked women's restrooms, and there were few women professors and professors of color.

Boggs recalled receiving a D in Intro to Microeconomics. Boggs was embarrassed by this grade and decided to retake the course her sophomore spring as a result.

The second time around Boggs received an A and personal approval from Hamilton himself. Hamilton was so impressed by Boggs' determination and hard work that he became her mentor and would go on to write her recommendations for law school.

Boggs also talked about her experience as a part of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC).

"I was a slacker in ROTC," Boggs said. "I needed a way to pay for Hopkins."

So, her commanding officers urged her to become a more serious ROTC cadet by attending Airborne school.

After a few weeks of jumping out of airplanes, Boggs earned her Infantry Parachute Badge.

For Boggs, completing Airborne school would be a tremendous lifetime achievement.

"It is more important in my career than anything else," Boggs said.

Boggs addressed the gender and racial issues at Hopkins during the seventies. Boggs commented on the troubles she faced when Hopkins was not very welcoming to women and African Americans.

"I'm sort of like a jack in the box. I delight in making you wrong," Boggs said.

Following this suit, Boggs started the first women's running program at Hopkins along with a few of her friends. This soon became of the highlights of Boggs's time at Hopkins

However, she faced many challenges. She described the barriers that hindered the program; Hopkins would not provide transportation or uniforms. The team had to also find their own coach.

Boggs laughed at the memory of receiving a jock strap and a towel each time she entered the gymnasium. Despite her efforts to dissuade the towel attendant from handing her the jockstrap, Boggs and her teammates still received them when she arrived at the athletic center.

To this day, Boggs remains a avid supporter women's running at Hopkins.

Overall, Boggs had difficulty finding role models that looked like her. Yet, she proudly relishes in the fact that she was not at a loss of mentors or role models throughout her years at Hopkins. She offered advice to the attendees.

"The experience you get as being a student at Johns Hopkins is special," Boggs said.

She noted that the beauty of Hopkins is that people assume things; they assume that the people on the Homewood Campus are smart. The Hopkins brand is quite unique.

"The brand is this person is smart, serious, focused, and knows how to be independent," Boggs said.

Boggs believes Hopkins students will be painted with this "brand" whether it is welcome or not. It also does not matter what major you have.

"The Hopkins brand is hugely helpful to you. If I were you I'd milk it," Boggs said. "That's my advice."

The audience recognized the value of Boggs's advice. First year graduate student Ann Cheng shared these sentiments. She enjoyed hearing Boggs's story and how different it was.

"It was really good to see how different people overcome different challenges," Cheng said.

Despite these challenges, Boggs attributes Hopkins to much of her success as a former Army paratrooper, corporate attorney, staff attorney to the White House and now current executive president of a Fortune 500 company. She reminisces about Hopkins with affection and fondness.

"Hopkins is a love story for me," Boggs said.