As a proud Summer Search alum, Joel thanks Summer Search for all the support in helping him overcome the many obstacles of a first-generation college graduate. Now being a mentor in the program, it is a welcome home back to the program and he is very excited to give back to a new class of Summer Searchers.
Joel graduated from the City College of New York with a BS in Psychology and Business Administration. He hopes his experience with Summer Search can be a testimony and a helping hand in the growth and successes of other Summer Search Students.
Prior to working for Summer Search, Joel worked at The Fellowship Initiative, a college-prep and career readiness program sponsored by JPMorgan Chase that focuses on young men of color. Outside of being a mentor, Joel is practicing his Brazilian Portuguese and Italian and always staying up to date in political and business news.

Joseph graduated from the Summer Search program in 2007. He attended St. John’s University in Queens and graduated with a Degree in marketing in 2011.  Joseph began working in the construction industry in 2011 with the help of Summer Search and its internship program & has been in marketing for over 10 years.  He’s a Native New Yorker born and raised in the Bronx with a very large family.

LeTia is passionate about challenging inequity and advocating for marginalized communities. After graduating from Brown University, she launched a career in admissions at three different highly selective universities, helping to provide access to underrepresented populations. During her time in higher education, she was able to pull from her own experiences as a first-generation limited-income college graduate and native Bronxite to work on projects that supported students from similar backgrounds. Recently, as a Recruiter, LeTia continues to draw from those experiences to support all her candidates, especially those from marginalized backgrounds. She now resides in Atlanta with her husband, Felix.

Often seen to be an old soul, Muhammad had a variety of life experiences that shaped him. Growing up between the Bronx and Guinea exposed Muhammad to a variety of cultural norms and fascinating similarities and differences between different groups of people. This made Muhammad a very open character who is always excited to learn about people’s backgrounds and family history. Muhammad joined Summer Search in 2014 after a 5 year stay in Guinea. Summer Search offered Muhammad the opportunity to meet new people of diverse backgrounds, participate in events, and travel to places he would not have visited otherwise. Muhammad has also been to many different schools throughout his K-12 career. He graduated from Alfred State College with a BBA in Personal Financial Planning. Muhammad then started his first job at Morgan Stanley as a Finance Analyst where he learned how to operate in a corporate environment. Learner is the best way to describe Muhammad. He believes in the endless pursuit of knowledge and growth to become the best version of himself he can be. Muhammad’s favorite foods are Cassava leaves and peanut butter stew over rice. He got hungry just writing about it for this bio.

Nathaly Abreu is a multimedia creative from The Bronx. While her day job as a Marketing Communications Specialist consists of developing internal communications and managing the internal business services website, she finds herself constantly advocating for DE&I initiatives and spearheading social impact campaigns for topics including sustainability and diversity awareness.

Nathaly has a master’s in Media Studies and a Media Management certification from The New School.

When she’s not working, Nathaly makes soundscapes, strength trains, and practices her needlework skills.