Blacktable started with hours and hours of scrolling through LinkedIn.

I became fascinated by the opportunities I could find: internships, scholarships, professional development programs, and experiences I hadn’t even known existed. I was finding things to apply to, taking chances on myself, and discovering how much was out there.

Then people started asking me, “Where are you finding all of this?”

That question stayed with me. Finding an opportunity shouldn’t depend on spending hours scrolling, following the right person, or having a feed that happens to put the right post in front of you. Even with all the time I spent searching, I would still come across something after its deadline and think, “I wish I had seen this sooner.”

I wanted one place where students could find opportunities without having to piece everything together themselves.

My original motivation was to help Black undergraduates move forward in their careers. I thought about students at HBCUs and other universities who might not have the same access to recruiting networks or visibility as students at schools employers traditionally target. I wanted Blacktable to help bring those opportunities within reach.

That is what “Where Excellence Meets Opportunity” means to me.

I believe so many students already have the talent, ambition, and ability to do extraordinary things. They deserve opportunities to demonstrate what they can do. A school’s name, a personal connection, or the luck of seeing a post at the right moment shouldn’t determine how far someone can go.

Blacktable is my way of making that search a little easier. It is a place to discover possibilities you may not have known were available to you—and to take a chance on yourself.

My hope is that you find something here that makes you think, “This could be for me.”

Ashley Geneive Petgrave
CEO and Founder, Blacktable