For Michelle Anderson, performing well in her technology career isn’t just about crossing tasks off her list. It’s about changing perceptions. The 28-year-old single mother from Chicago is currently an end-user computing analyst for Northern Trust. According to Michelle, it’s a satisfying, lucrative career she never thought she could have growing up.

“I love my job and wouldn’t trade my boss or my team for anything in the world. I couldn’t have written a better job description for myself.”

So how did Michelle get to where she is today, with a satisfying
career that allows her to support herself and her young daughter?

After graduating from St. Gregory High School in Chicago, Michelle floated between City of Chicago colleges. When that became too expensive, she was forced to drop out. Always keeping education in mind, Michelle researched programs offered by the city, and found the Chicago Urban League.

“After high school, I was on my way to being a secretary,” Michelle said. “At Chicago Urban League I learned Office Automation and Word Processing, which prepared me to use computers for very basic functions.”

But a suggestion from her Word Processing teacher at Chicago Urban League changed Michelle’s life forever.

“She was always telling me ‘there’s so much more out there for you’ and then she told me about i.c.stars. It was a program her son had gone through and he ended up getting a job he wouldn’t have had a chance at without his experience. She encouraged me to attend an i.c.stars information meeting, and the rest is history.”

Michelle was accepted into Cycle 7 of i.c.stars in October 2003. “I needed a great deal of molding and mentoring when I came in,” Michelle said. “But I was able to commit and know I would do myself a lot of good.”

Founded in 1999, i.c.stars is a non-profit organization that provides Information Technology (IT) career programs and services for young adults in Chicago with a high school diploma or GED. Using project-based learning and full-immersion teaching, i.c.stars strengthens the participants’ leadership potential.

“At i.c.stars they say ‘we won’t give you anything, but we will point you in the right direction,’” said Michelle. In her training at i.c.stars, Michelle worked on three major projects. On the first, she served as Technical Liaison on a team that developed a static HTML site for a client. Michelle learned how to display HTML, and handled all things technical for her group. “That was the role I was ‘least likely to succeed’ in, so that’s the one i.c.stars put me in first, to see how I would do. It was an awesome learning opportunity.”

The second and third projects at i.c.stars required Michelle to fill the shoes of a Business Analyst helping to develop a business plan for and successfully market a search engine, as well as help develop a database that would allow a client to store, update, retrieve and delete business logistics information. “Nothing was ever a cakewalk at i.c.stars. Everything challenged me. When I walked through those doors, I never expected anything but to be stimulated and to learn,” Michelle said.

While working on the second project at i.c.stars, Michelle formed a strong relationship with professionals at Barton Brands, a division of the leading international producer and marketer of beverage alcohol brands, Constellation Brands. Impressed with her capabilities and commitment to hard work, Barton hired Michelle to work at their help desk when she graduated from i.c.stars in 2004. Michelle was selected out of six people considered for the position, and was quickly put in charge of supporting Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) technologies at Barton’s plants. She also served as an analyst and developed a training program for new hires. Michelle was promoted to the Project Management Office, where she served as Lead Developer and Lead Analyst on the project.

In September of 2006, after two years with Barton, Michelle moved on to a position as End-User Computing Analyst for her current employer, Northern Trust.

“I was held accountable for my daily responsibilities right away at my new job, just like I was at i.c.stars,” Michelle said. “I was given all the tools I would need to do my work, and then had to figure everything out for myself from then on, like which questions to ask and who to go to. Luckily, this was nothing new. My training at i.c.stars helped me be more self sufficient in my role at Northern Trust.”

And it’s that training to which Michelle feels she owes her successful career in technology. “I grew up at i.c.stars, and learned how to accept criticism and grow from it.” Michelle said. “I came out of the program knowing what I needed to change in order to get into corporate America. i.c.stars made me aware that when I go to work, it will be up to me to change perceptions, not to just do my job. It instilled in me that even if you don’t fit the mold, you can still do a job and succeed in life.”

i.c.stars’ goal is to help mold 1,000 inner city young adults into successful Community Leaders by 2020. The group measures its progress through alumni efforts to bring changes to local communities – whether it be through creation of Community Policing programs, setting up Chambers of Commerce, serving on local school councils, teaching and mentoring at non-profits, creating companies that provide employment or building Web sites that enable local organizations to meet residents’ needs.

Since completing her i.c.stars internship, Michelle has stepped into a community leadership role by mentoring those whose shoes she was once in herself. Michelle has spoken to i.c.stars participants at the organization’s High Tea event – part of the i.c.stars leadership program – joining fellow technology professionals in the opportunity to offer advice and insights that impact the interns’ future careers. “As a speaker,” Michelle said, “I try and talk about things the interns can relate to. I want to encourage them to be the best they can be.”

Michelle isn’t about to stop blazing her success-filled career and education path now. In her ongoing effort to be the best she can be, Michelle plans to complete her Bachelor of Science in Information Technology, and have a Master’s degree in Information Systems (MSIS), Business Administration (MBA) or Non-Profit Management (MNP) within the next seven years.

“To anyone who is like I was, ready for a change in their life, with a passion to do better for themselves and their family, I say go to i.c.stars. I would do it all over again,” said Michelle. “To be where I am right now is a dream.”

If you are interested in becoming an i.c.stars intern, or are a company looking to hire program graduates, please contact i.c.stars Vice President Eric Lannert at elannert@icstars.org or (312) 640-3782.