Website: mcmillianfortrustee.com

My top three priorities for the Board of Trustees to address:

1. Mental health and disability support that reflects different student needs.
Graduate and professional students face different academic structures, workloads, and barriers, and our support systems should reflect that. Cornell committed to embedding mental health therapists across colleges and schools, but there was no clear public roadmap for how those resources were to be distributed. At the same time, Student Disability Services supports more than 5,000 students across vastly different programs through one central office. I will push for a more transparent and fairly distributed mental health rollout and greater SDS capacity so graduate and professional students receive support designed for the realities of their programs.

2. Real advocacy for our international student community.
More than half of Cornell's graduate students are international, and a new federal rule taking effect this month will cap the initial authorized stay for many international students at four years, requiring extensions for longer programs. Nationally, international student anxiety has risen 78% and depression 73% since 2015. I will advocate for clear guidance and real, individualized support for students navigating this uncertainty.

3. AI fluency for every graduate and professional student.
AI is already reshaping the careers we came here to build. Cornell has important AI work underway, but graduate and professional students need more practical, field-specific preparation for how to actually use these tools in the professions we are entering. A law student, an engineer, an entrepreneur, and an HR professional need different things. I will advocate for a real seat at the table for graduate and professional students, alongside practitioners actively using and building with AI, because our careers and the goals that brought us here depend on it.

How I will use my position on the Board of Trustees to improve Cornell:

I see this role as a liaison and connector, not a distant vote. I will create regular opportunities for students to be heard, communicate clearly about decisions affecting us, and bring graduate and professional perspectives into rooms where they are too often missing.

I don't want to just hold this seat. I want you to feel the difference.

My experience:

My commitment to service started long before Cornell. I am a Horatio Alger Scholar and an alum of Usher's New Look Foundation, two organizations that gave me meaningful access and opportunity at a young age. I have carried that forward by continuing to mentor young people through both today.

Professionally, I have served in senior manager and program management roles centered on connecting cross-functional teams, aligning competing priorities, and advocating for the communities those decisions affected.

Through McMillian Media, the consulting agency I founded, I also work hands-on with AI, architecting and deploying AI-powered systems and workflows for lead generation, onboarding, content creation, and marketing automation. That experience shapes how I think about AI fluency for graduate and professional students, not as an abstract policy question, but as a skill and business reality I navigate myself.

At Johnson, I am continuing to deepen that work as a Roy H. Park Leadership Fellow through board governance coursework and service with local Ithaca nonprofits. I see the Trustee role as a continuation of that journey, bringing together service, advocacy, and my experience as a connector while continuing to learn, listen, and grow.

My special interests:

My interests sit at the intersection of culture, people, technology, and community. I studied Music Industry Studies at Loyola University New Orleans, where I graduated Magna Cum Laude, and I am still the person who can talk your ear off about a great playlist, an underrated artist, or why a film or campaign connected with an audience. I am fascinated by storytelling, emerging technology, and how culture shapes the way people see the world.

As a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity, I value service, mentorship, sisterhood, and creating spaces where people feel supported and connected. I spend much of my free time mentoring young professionals and sorority sisters navigating early career decisions.

I am also excited to get to know Ithaca beyond Cornell and find ways to make a meaningful impact during my two years here.