Jada Cooper-Taylor

PRODUCT SAFETY QUALITY ASSURANCE ENGINEER / B.S. INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING / CLASS OF 2021

“When I was here at UD I started along with the Multi-Ethnic Engineers Program (MEP), I started the outreach program my freshman year. I really saw a need for UD to be doing more in STEM with Dayton Public Schools (DPS), being that I came from DPS. Being an aspiring engineering student I didn’t really hear about UD at all. Coming here I realized that UD has so many opportunities, and STEM, as a career path, that you don’t get that much exposure to as an inner city kid. I was able to go to Gerica Brown, and tell her my goals and she loved it. She gave me the freedom and exposure to do what I needed to do. I was able to reach out to a lot of people in the city, different schools, and work with programs during class, before and after school. And it's still going on, it's in its 4th year now. 

That, and my sorority (Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. Upsilon Beta chapter) are the two things I actually feel like I left here, and hopefully will go for a very long time, lasting longer than me. We chartered in April 2020, so we are going to celebrate our third year. I’m always popping up on them because it's still fun to see the service that they’re doing. Me being the first one, it was hard, but bringing them in and seeing them grow up is fun.

I'm from Dayton, I didn’t want to stay in Dayton at all. But it didn’t work out that way, it worked out perfectly. My school counselor at Stivers recommended UD. I was very adamant, I didn't apply to Wright State or Central State and I told him ‘I'm not staying in Dayton.’ And he was like ‘Yes you are, you're going to UD. It's a great engineering school!’ He set up a meeting for me with MEP,  so he was like ‘You have a meeting next Tuesday.’ So I said ‘I guess I’m going to that meeting!’ And in that meeting that’s when I met Gerica, who has been a great mentor for me through my journey here, and even after. I took a tour here and thought ‘Maybe UD isn’t that bad’. Eventually I started feeling more at home and I didn’t want to go anywhere else. 

I never liked reading at all. I maybe own like two books! Including the bible… but engineering! I always just thought engineering was a thing, a general category, and my biology teacher told me ‘you know there’s like thousands of types of engineers?’ So she helped me find what I want to do. Engineers, the one thing we have in common is we love solutions to problems. That’s always what I try to do, to figure things out myself. Like yesterday for example I was trying to get somewhere and my GPS wasn’t working…I just turned my GPS off and found it. I just love figuring stuff out myself.

The biggest problem I have solved is what led me to my business. When I was younger I didn’t have a lot of hair, and I developed an allergy to certain ingredients and chemicals, I wasn’t able to use a lot of products. Through problem solving I was able to figure out an oil for myself that didn’t give me any issues, through trial and error. People saw that and would ask ‘Hey, your hair is doing really well, what did you do? My hair is having trouble.’ Solving that problem opened doors for a lot more problems to solve. People are still texting me every day like ‘Your hair products have helped me so much!’ or ‘Hey, is there anything you can do about this problem?’ Everyone’s hair is different, everyone’s hair is beautiful. No matter what hair type or texture that they have I love hearing about people’s journey, what they want to see, to help their inner beauty come out. 

I never really thought of myself leaving a legacy, you know, but UD keeps bringing me back. I love UD. I would want to see more people of color, women of color, especially young girls, black girls, seeking a future for them here, whatever that journey looks like, that they find a home here. Maybe the things I left can add to their story at UD.”