Angelique Okeke(she/her)

Angelique Okeke is a VP and Senior Counsel at Nike, where she leads a team of lawyers supporting Nike's global direct-to-consumer business — think Nike.com, the Nike app, and stores around the world. She didn't start out knowing she wanted to be a lawyer. She majored in communications and political science at Boston College, worked in public relations for years, then pivoted to law school at Howard University (an HBCU) in her mid-twenties. That career pivot turned out to be one of the best decisions she ever made. Angelique's path is a great example of how your early career experiences — even ones that seem unrelated — can set you up perfectly for what comes next. Her PR background taught her how to represent clients, communicate clearly, and persuade people, all skills that are foundational in law. After law school she worked in mergers and acquisitions at a law firm for seven and a half years, then transitioned in-house (meaning she works directly for a company, not a law firm) when she had her second child and needed more balance. She eventually landed at Nike, her dream job, where she's been for six-plus years. Her day-to-day isn't what most people picture when they think 'lawyer.' She's less about writing long memos and more about being a strategic business partner — helping Nike figure out how to launch new products, expand into new countries, handle digital privacy issues, and negotiate deals with vendors. She calls it 'the office of common sense,' which is a real way of saying her job is to translate legal knowledge into practical business decisions that keep Nike moving forward. For students of color, Angelique's story is especially meaningful. She was often the only Black woman in the room during major corporate transactions, and she speaks honestly about microaggressions, assumptions about her role, and the emotional weight of constantly having to prove yourself. She chose Howard University specifically because she wanted to be in a majority-Black environment, and that experience shaped her confidence and gave her a network she still relies on today. Her biggest piece of advice? Let your career path be unplanned sometimes. She says the best things that happened to her came when she stopped rigidly following a preset plan and made decisions based on the information she had in the moment. She also encourages students to find companies whose values match their own — because when they align, you unlock a totally different level of energy, joy, and productivity.