Our Stories

Janaye Malone

Published October 4, 2024

Recent Prince George’s Community College culinary arts graduate, Janaye Malone, plans to get creative in combining her passions for food and hair services into a dual business model. Although those industries are not typically combined, she says, initially she may begin with two separate food trucks and eventually expand them into neighboring studios.

“You can get a plate or you can get your braids done. I'm known for both things because they always say I'm a jack of all trades,” Malone said. “I enjoy doing hair, cooking, and baking. I enjoy doing a lot of things.”

Malone was born in D.C. and raised in Prince George’s County. She attended Bowie High School before deciding to attend PGCC and was apprehensive about choosing a career path that did not begin with a traditional four-year university.

“It was very scary for me when you look at everybody else around you and they are guaranteed a job coming out of school,” Malone said. “I feel like when you don't go the traditional route, you have to work a little bit harder to get where you want to go.”

In the beginning, she experienced concern and anxiety about life after college when comparing her career prospects to her sister who is studying nursing. Although it was a tough decision, Malone chose to stick with culinary arts as a continuation of her high school studies.

“It's never a boring day in culinary arts,” she said. “My interest started off because I wanted to eat in class. Then, I felt like it was actually fun and I learned so much when it came down to baking and understanding cooking temperatures for the different foods.”

Malone’s favorite meal to cook is currently shrimp and grits or anything alfredo. She likes to blend American and Caribbean flavors, to honor her family roots from Grenada. She learned a lot from watching her mom and grandmother cook while growing up.

“From my grandma, I learned to have the flavor in there, but also to make sure you clean up as you go and keep your station clean,” she said. “From my mom, I learned how to make a dish your own, because my mom is quick to change a recipe up and make it a little bit different. She also taught me to taste as you go, which is awesome because that is something I also learned in school at PGCC.”

Malone admits to being hesitant about college, but attending PGCC eased her fears and doubts.

“I was never a school person, but the culinary experience at PGCC was actually a great experience,” she said. “The teachers are amazing if you need help with anything. The two and a half years I was in the program was probably the best two-and-a-half years that I have had in school.”

During Malone’s time at PGCC, she had the opportunity to intern at the University of Maryland. She says the next step in her career journey is to study business management and eventually obtain her cosmetology license. She aspires to be among the world’s top chefs and inspire students who choose a non-traditional career path.

“I want to be known for doing great work and great things,” she said. “I just want people to look at the journey of where I came from and know you don't have to go to a four-year university to do great things.”

Dual enrollment student uses artificial intelligence to protect and serve

Published September 11, 2024

This article was featured in the September edition of the Owl Brief newsletter.

Growing up watching sociopolitical thriller shows like “Suits” and “Scandal” inspired 17-year-old Igbekeleoluwaladun “Igbekele” Daniels to become a world problem-solver through ethical hacking. In the Nigerian Yoruba culture, Igbekeleoluwaladun means “my trust in God is sweet," and he found life’s sweet spot using technology and cybersecurity to protect others.

“I would like to serve my country and I believe ethical hacking is the best way that I could do it,” Daniels said. “Hacking kind of has a negative connotation to it. That's why I like to use the word ethical hacking. I want to hack, but I just don't want to do it maliciously.”

Daniels is a high school senior at Henry A. Wise High School in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, and a dual enrollment student at Prince George’s Community College. He aspires to be a technology entrepreneur with a consulting company that specializes in artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and finance.

“I started coding at the age of 10,” Daniels said. “I always really liked it. I found it challenging, nice, and competitive.”

His parents emigrated from Nigeria to Maryland in 1999 and taught him about the value of education and strong personal finance skills. Daniels says he started learning about the stock market at 6 years old and made his first stock market purchase with birthday money at the age of 14.

“Growing up I used to bond with my dad over the changes that happened on Wall Street,” he said. “I enjoy learning about what causes the fluctuations of the market and the business implications as well.”

In addition to being a student, Daniels is currently an artificial intelligence and cloud intern at a small tech startup, FUWA and Company. Previously, he built drones under the mentorship of the Howard University Robotics Team. He hopes to use his career to start a foundation that creates opportunities for other people of color in STEM careers.

“As people of color, we all have to overcome adversity because of the fact that we are people of color,” he said. “But, I feel as though, if you do your best and you are one of the best at what you do, it's kind of hard to tell you no.”

Daniels works diligently to achieve his best. He recently completed an internship capstone project on an AI model that uses natural language processing to extract a user’s vocabulary, vernacular, or jargon to respond in a similar form. He is excited about the new frontier of technology that AI will bring.

“AI is also going produce a lot of jobs because of the potential for data security risks,” he said. “AI can be very reckless. The internet as a whole can be very reckless, but that's why we need more people to create innovations that can help mitigate those risks.”

Daniels chose to attend PGCC because he wanted to advance his career while still in high school student. He plans to finish his college studies at a historically Black college or university like Howard University, Morehouse, or North Carolina A&T.

“PGCC has given me the resources and opportunities I needed to network and learn crucial aspects of the field I wanted to venture into before getting into a four-year university,” he said. “I believe that it surrounded me with like-minded individuals who taught me more about life and the fields that I want to get into.”