A former aide to First Lady Michelle Obama, now a millionaire entrepreneur and CEO, visited her alma mater Thursday night to dispense advice and tell her story to campus community members.
Lola Tomorrow graduated from Illinois State University in 2008, but she said it wasn’t an easy path to her cap and gown. Speaking to an intimate crowd in the Brown Ballroom, Tomorrow said her upbringing resulted in few major options.
“I was raised in a pretty traditional, Nigerian home. My dad was pretty clear on what I needed to do: I was going to be a doctor, a lawyer or an engineer,” said Tomorrow.
Ultimately, she chose none of those career paths.
Instead, Tomorrow decided to pursue a degree in accounting. But it didn’t work out. She found herself unhappy in her courses and struggling to get good marks. Thoughts of failure and dropping out started to swirl in Tomorrow’s mind. So she switched to an undeclared major.
Tomorrow said it was a “transformational moment.”
“When you have to fly in a direction that might be different from what your family values say, that was difficult,” said Tomorrow, who ended up on academic probation in her first semester. The next semester, she was dismissed from the university. To return and pursue a degree, she stopped then-president of the university, Al Bowman, and made her case to get back into school.
It worked.
“When you want something bad enough, you’re going to do what it takes to get it,” said Tomorrow. “And for me, I wanted to be in college. I wanted to have a degree. I wanted this experience. And so I did what it took to get it, which meant camping outside of the president’s office to get him to help me get back in.”
Back in school, Tomorrow utilized her campus resources. That, she said, is something all students should do.
She stressed therapy as an important asset. It’s her first recommendation for any student. Tomorrow said sorting through life’s challenges with a professional is key to a healthy mind and pursuing entrepreneurship. Counseling is available to all ISU students through Student Counseling Servicesin the Student Services Building.
Another resource Tomorrow used is academic advising. Through meeting with an advisor, she found out about a new major at ISU: event planning. She declared that as her major and never looked back.
She found herself enjoying classes. She got involved on campus, including becoming president of the Interdenominational Youth Choir. Then, she graduated. And after a few short stints at jobs while she worked on figuring out where she wanted to be, Tomorrow landed as an event planner with the National Parent Teachers Association (NPTA).
In 2010, Tomorrow was given the opportunity to manage the launch event of Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign in partnership with the NPTA. As the announcement neared its start, Tomorrow noticed a wrinkle on a table skirt. Carrying a pocket steamer with her — as she always did — she ran up and fixed the wrinkle before being shooed away by Secret Service members. Michelle Obama’s team noticed her effort, and after the event, Tomorrow was offered a job with the administration.
Tomorrow’s responsibilities were with the “Advance Team,” she said after Thursday's program. Essentially, she took care of all the small details to ensure a smooth experience for the First Lady — much like what got her the job in the first place.
Advice to young entrepreneurs
Now she has a multi-million-dollar brand and is a business mentor. On Thursday, students had the opportunity to ask Tomorrow questions to help in their academic and career pursuits. She said making connections is huge.
“The next opportunity can only come through a person opening the door,” said Tomorrow, adding that in order to reach a goal, one must truly envision it for themselves first.
“You cannot create what you cannot see,” she said.
Speaking to WGLT after the program, she said it’s easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of entrepreneurship. So while it’s important to keep medium- and long-term goals in sight, Tomorrow said she wants young students and entrepreneurs to be aware of what’s in front of them, too.
“Just live in the present. Sometimes we’re so ambitious for success, we’re so ambitious to get out of college and get the well-paying job, that we don’t understand that these key things that are happening in college are actually going to aid us with the well-paying job,” said Tomorrow. “So just be present, enjoy life, enjoy the moment, knowing that as long as you are consistent and a hard worker, what is supposed to happen will happen.”
Taaliya Lee is one of the students who was at the event. She’s a fifth-year student at ISU with a major in sociology and a minor in psychology.
She’s been grappling with anxiety as she nears graduation, but said Tomorrow gave helpful advice.
“There was also a moment where she was speaking where she was talking about how you have to overcome fear. So, if you’re feeling it, feel it — but still push through it,” said Lee. “She helped me adjust my mentality on how to better find myself at ISU with the resources that I have around me.”
Another senior, Ashley Frazier, is the owner of Minks by Michelle, LLC, and is an eyelash technician. She appreciated Tomorrow’s different perspectives offered from financial, faith and personal viewpoints.
“I learned a whole lot of knowledge that I will carry into how I operate my business down here,” said Frazier.
Tomorrow’s event with ISU’s Multicultural Center was part three of a four-part series entitled, “Tomorrow’s Entrepreneur.”
“Tomorrow’s Entrepreneur Institute” is set to launch through the Multicultural Center next spring. It’s an eight-week program meant to help students create their future businesses and mold a strong entrepreneur mindset.
