Title: MSFS/MBA student Joey Gonzales named as 2021 Public Policy New Voices Fellow

The Public Policy New Voices (PPNV) program “provides Fellows with virtual events, mentorship, professional networking opportunities, skills-building workshops and career guidance. It also supports Fellows as they apply for internships with partner companies.” The PPNV program seeks to increase inclusion and inspire diverse talent to lead in the field of public policy.

“After the first semester at the MSFS and the exposure I gained from classmates and courses, I decided that I wanted to explore the interplay of policy-making on domestic markets and small/medium enterprises in the developing world. As I explored what it would take to best equip myself to advise policymakers on the ways their decisions impacted their domestic populations, I felt a demand to better understand finance and business climate, which pushed me to apply for the MBA program,” Gonzales said.

When asked what drove him to be a part of this fellowship and what does being a “New Voice” mean to him, Gonzales mentioned that he saw it as “an opportunity to connect with minority students hoping to advance policy from our unique perspectives and serve as sounding boards and encouragement for each other as we embark on our journeys, while also connecting me with thought leaders in the public and private sectors to refine me as I prepare for my next steps.”

For Joey, his time serving in the U.S. military impacted his thoughts on the importance of a diversity of voices at the decision making table. “As a member of the LGBTQ+ community that entered the military under DADT and served in a combat arms branch that only recently integrated women into the enlisted ranks, I have seen the positive impact change agents and those that genuinely embrace diversity and inclusion have on trust, safety, and unit effectiveness (as well as the opposite when policymakers threaten minority populations with fearful or irrational decision-making),” he mentioned.

“The PPNV fellowship serves as a reminder of how to position myself for inclusive leadership and ways to be a change agent wherever I go, whether in the classroom or in the office. I look forward to sharing my experiences with my peers in the MSFS and the MBA programs, but most importantly, I look forward to giving the next generation of minority students a role model to whom they can look to as an example of someone positively making changes for the advancement of minority voices.”