Brandon Talla.
MS Candidate, Columbia University · Former Enterprise Architect, Adobe · Harvard Business School CORe Certified · NC A&T Dowdy Scholar.
Founder & President, Black Success League
I built a resume that opened doors most people don't even know exist. Now I'm showing you every key.
Welcome to Black Success League. My name is Brandon Talla, and I'm personally excited to welcome you to this program — your home for real, no-fluff professional development built specifically for the best young Black minds in the country. Everything you'll learn here is something I lived, tested, and refined on my own journey from Prince George's County, Maryland to the halls of Chevron, Microsoft, Adobe, Harvard Business School, and Columbia University.
I graduated from North Carolina A&T State University with a BS in Computer Science in December 2023 — on a full-ride Dowdy Scholarship awarded to the highest-achieving, most driven incoming applicants in the state. Before graduating, I had already completed Fortune 500 internships at Chevron, Microsoft, and Adobe — where I was selected as an undergraduate student for a graduate-level Enterprise Architect role. I earned fellowships at Google, Harvard Business School, McKinsey, and Code2040. I made the Chancellor's List six consecutive times. I'm currently pursuing my MS in Technology Management at Columbia University and hold a Harvard Business School Certificate in Business Analytics. And I did all of that while building a music catalog under the name ONLY1DON with over two million streams across 15+ artists nationwide.
None of that happened by accident. It happened because early on, I made an intentional decision to treat professional development as seriously as I treated my GPA — and I had access to the right people who showed me how. I learned how to build a resume that tells a story. I learned how to network with purpose, write a cold email that gets a response, interview at a Fortune 500 as a sophomore, negotiate an offer, and build a personal brand that follows you everywhere. Not from a textbook. From doing it.
Black Success League was created to give every high-achieving Black student access to that same knowledge — structured, sequenced, and delivered by someone close enough to your journey to make it real. This is professional development through my lens: what worked for me, what I tweaked when it didn't, and every lesson I picked up along the way. No gatekeeping. No filler. Just the map.
The moment BSL went from idea to mission.
The inspiration for Black Success League stems directly from my own experience. When I first arrived at NC A&T and began pursuing internships as a freshman, I felt the gap immediately. I didn't have a built-in network of people who'd done it before me. I didn't have a mentor handing me resume templates or LinkedIn scripts. I had to figure it out — trial by fire, cold email by cold email, rejection by rejection.
What changed everything was surrounding myself with the right people: fellow students who were further along, professors who championed me, mentors from programs like MLT and The Village Mentoring who took the time to share what they knew. The guidance I received through those relationships — the real talk about how to position yourself, how to interview, how to network — made a world of difference. I went from a freshman who didn't know what an elevator pitch was to someone landing at Chevron, Microsoft, and Adobe before I finished my undergraduate degree.
I've always wanted to build something that pays that forward. The idea for BSL crystallized during my time at NC A&T when I realized the gap wasn't talent — it was access. Black students across the country are just as sharp, just as driven, just as capable. They just haven't always had someone in their corner who's been through it and is willing to be transparent about every step. I founded Black Success League in January 2023 to be exactly that — and I've been building it ever since.
The journey that built this program.
The Craft Begins
Before any internship, any fellowship, any degree — there was discipline. At 14 years old in Prince George's County, Maryland, I started producing music under the name ONLY1DON. What most people don't know is that music production taught me everything: work ethic, brand, craft, and the relentless pursuit of a standard. Today I have over 2,000,000 streams across my catalog, producing and mixing for 15+ artists nationwide. The same mentality that built that body of work built everything else.
NC A&T — Full Ride, No Excuses
I arrived at North Carolina A&T State University on a full-ride Dowdy Scholarship — awarded to the highest-achieving, most driven applicants in the state. From day one, I made it my mission to leverage every opportunity the HBCU ecosystem had to offer. I didn't just go to class. I stacked. Chancellor's List six times. Google Tech Exchange Scholar. The Village Mentoring Transforming Leaders Fellow. MLT Career Prep Fellow. HBS SVMP Fellow. These weren't coincidences — they were the result of a deliberate decision early on to invest in my professional development the way others invest in grades alone.
Chevron: First Major Internship
My first Fortune 500 internship at Chevron Corporation confirmed what I already believed: I could compete at the highest level. I built out the Data Validation Rule Engine within the Intelligent Control Tower architecture using Python and PowerBI, mitigating over 3,000 data quality issues and driving user adoption by 37%. What I learned here wasn't just technical — I learned how enterprise-scale software decisions get made and how to advocate for your work in rooms where nobody looks like you.
Microsoft: PM + Engineering in One Summer
At Microsoft I didn't do one internship — I did two in one. Six weeks as a Product Manager, six weeks as a Software Engineer. Working on the GetHelp customer self-service module, my team reduced consumer support tickets by 10% and cut customer assistance costs by hundreds of thousands of dollars. I used TypeScript and .NET to build features that changed how millions of users interacted with Microsoft's support system. That summer taught me how the best products get built: at the intersection of business and engineering.
Adobe — Selected as an Undergraduate for a Graduate-Level Role
This one still means the most to me. Adobe chose me — an undergraduate student — to join their Enterprise Architecture team as an intern alongside graduate students. I built Adobe's Architecture Community of Practice from scratch, created their first central resource for architectural tools and collaboration using SharePoint and Adobe Express, and prototyped the Architectural Review Board process using Workfront, accelerating solution deployment timelines by up to 30% QoQ. They liked what they saw so much, they brought me back full-time after graduation.
Code2040, McKinsey, HBS — The Fellowship Trifecta
The summer of 2023 was defined by being chosen — over and over again. I was selected as 1 of 25 Code2040 Fellows in the nation's most prestigious tech racial equity organization. I was one of 15 HBCU students chosen for McKinsey's HBCU Consulting League. And I had already been immersed in the Harvard Business School SVMP experience alongside 180 handpicked scholars from around the world. Each of these programs deepened my conviction that Black excellence isn't a myth — it just needs a room big enough to breathe in.
Black Success League Is Born
I founded Black Success League in January 2023 not because it was a class project or a resume line — but because I had lived the gap. I'd gone from a kid in PG County to interning at Chevron, Microsoft, and Adobe. I'd won fellowships at Google, Harvard, and McKinsey. I'd earned a full scholarship, made the Chancellor's List six times, and built a music catalog with millions of streams. And the whole time I kept thinking: why don't more Black students know how to do this? Not because they lack the talent — but because nobody showed them how. BSL is the answer to that question.
Adobe Full-Time & Harvard Business School
I returned to Adobe as a full-time Enterprise Architect right out of undergrad. I led the onboarding and optimization of Adobe's entire LeanIX deployment, scaling enterprise architectural artifact creation and increasing adoption across Adobe's Office of the CIO by 45%. I also automated the Architectural Review Board approval process end-to-end using Workfront and LeanIX, cutting deployment timelines by 60%. Simultaneously, I earned my Harvard Business School Certificate in Business Analytics — because the learning never stops.
Columbia University — MS in Technology Management
I'm currently pursuing my Master's in Technology Management at Columbia University's School of Professional Studies. I'm also building multiple ventures simultaneously: EQUIPPD, a platform giving marginalized communities access to career roadmaps; Emode, an AI-driven social fashion platform; and continuing to grow Black Success League. The same hunger that started in PG County hasn't changed — it's just operating on a bigger stage.
Professional development, through my lens.
When people ask me why I built Black Success League, I tell them this: I can't match seasoned executives for depth of experience. But I can beat them on relatability. When you're an incoming freshman or a high school senior, you don't need a 25-year veteran explaining what a cover letter is. You need someone who remembers what it felt like to send their first cold email at 3am and not know if it would work. You need someone close enough to your journey to show you the exact steps, in the exact order, that actually matter.
I founded BSL in January 2023 — while I was still at NC A&T — because I'd already spent two years figuring out what works. And I knew that if I could package what I'd learned into eight sessions, I could give the next generation of Black students a head start that most don't get until junior year — or never.
Every meeting in this program is built on something real. The elevator pitch framework? I used it to get into the Google Tech Exchange. The resume strategy? I went from a blank page to landing a Fortune 500 internship as a freshman. The networking system? I built the relationships that got me into HBS, McKinsey, Code2040, and Adobe — all from an HBCU in Greensboro, North Carolina. I will show you the resume I started with and the resume I ended with. I will show you what I changed and why. No gatekeeping.
Black Success League isn't just a program. It's a statement — that Black students at the top of their game deserve a space that matches their ambition, challenges their thinking, and gives them the real knowledge they need to compete — and win — at the highest level.
“This is what has worked for me. And if step five worked for everyone else but didn't work for me, I'll tell you exactly what I tweaked — and why it worked after that. That's the BSL difference.”
Built on a foundation of real credentials.
None of this happened alone.
I want to extend my deepest gratitude to every mentor, program director, professor, and peer who invested in me along the way. To the leaders at Management Leadership for Tomorrow — the fellowship that first showed me what intentional professional development looks like for high-achieving Black talent. To the mentors at The Village Mentoring, whose Transforming Leaders Fellowship gave me my first real community of Black professionals committed to each other's growth. To the people at Code2040 and Google who bet on me when I was still figuring it out.
To my professors and advisors at North Carolina A&T State University — thank you for seeing potential in a kid from PG County and giving me the tools, encouragement, and honest feedback I needed to compete on the biggest stages. The Dowdy Scholars Program changed the trajectory of my life, and I don't take that lightly.
And to every Black student who has ever applied to BSL, attended a session, or shared this program with someone in their circle — thank you. You are the reason this exists. You remind me every single time why the work matters.
Thank you for being part of the Black Success League community. I hope you find the guidance, the tools, and the community you need to step into every room you've earned a seat in — and own it.
“I'm not here to give you a textbook. I'm here to show you what I actually did — the resume I started with and the one I ended with, the emails that worked, the pivots I made. This is professional development as learned through the lens of Brandon Talla.”
Ready to build your story?
The same program that shaped my journey — designed specifically for you. Applications for Cohort 1 are open now.
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