RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – For a skinny kid from Warsaw, NC, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University made a major difference. 

“It’s rare that you can attend an institution that really helps you dig deep into your identity,” Jeff Frederick, RTI International’s senior vice president for global human resources business partnering, says in the accompanying video.

“And attending a historically black college and university hailing from a small town like Warsaw, NC, really helped me to understand who I was as an individual, and really helped me to understand who I was as a black male in society, so I take that seriously,” Frederick says.

“Knowing who you are is pivotal.”

One of Frederick’s pivotal moments at N.C. A&T came with a business case in an international studies class. His instructor overheard Frederick say he never expected to handle an international business case once he had a job.

“And he said, ‘I don’t ever want to hear you say that again, because that’s why you’re here. We’re preparing you to do just that, and don’t sell yourself short.’

“It caused me to focus on the work and think about it differently,” Frederick says. “It really caused me to think about working globally and opening my horizons and not limiting myself.”

Frederick goes on to share work experiences in Asia, Africa and Europe.

“If you were to ask anyone from Warsaw, NC, ‘Did you ever expect this little skinny kid from Route 1, 19B, on Highway 24…,’ no one could have ever told you that I would be doing that kind of work or be in those places,” he says.