---
title: 'Hearing firsthand from a Portland Emerging Leader'
date: '2017-11-01T16:16:56-07:00'
type: post
word_count: 240
char_count: 1632
tokens: 312
categories:
  - Oregon
  - Portland
  - Startups
tags:
  - diversity
  - eli
  - 'emerging leaders internship'
  - inclusion
  - Internship
  - Portland
  - 'ryan buchanan'
  - 'stephen green'
---

# Hearing firsthand from a Portland Emerging Leader

Nearly two years ago, [Ryan Buchanan](http://eroi.com/executives/ryan/) penned a post that accurately described the Portland business community as being “[too white, too male](http://eroi.com/ideas/portland-business-community-too-white-too-male/ "Portland Business Community: Too White, Too Male").” But rather than simply pointing out the issue, he took his own call to arms and took action. With the announcement of the [Portland Emerging Leaders Internship program](https://www.portlandleadership.org/eli "Portland Emerging Leaders Internship program").

If you’re not familiar with the program, here’s its focus:

> The Emerging Leaders Internship (ELI) Program matches underrepresented college students—first-generation students, low-income students, and students of color—with paid internships at top Portland companies.

And here is a firsthand account from one the emerging leaders, [Renee Allums-D’Espyne](https://www.linkedin.com/in/renee-allums-d-espyne-3841b3109/ "Renee Allums-D'Espyne").





(NOTE: I had the opportunity to speak with Renee and other students at Lewis & Clark College recently. And I was humbled to be mentioned in the video. Credit where credit is due… the phrase quoted is one that [Stephen Green](https://twitter.com/PDXStephenG) taught me. And I’ve adopted it as part of my lexicon. But he deserves all of the credit for that one.)

For more on the information or to figure out how to get involved, visit [Portland Emerging Leaders Internship program](https://www.portlandleadership.org/eli "Portland Emerging Leaders Internship program").