PUBLIC SPEAKING COMES NATURALLY to Bridget Kyeremateng ’17, who has been practicing the skill her whole life. From an early age, her parents have told her, she was known to be exceedingly chatty at neighborhood parties and to make friends lightning-fast, courtesy of her innate knack for talking. It’s been a throughline for her ever since, from her Gaucho tour guide days to the TedX stage.

Born in Italy to Ghanaian parents, Kyeremateng immigrated to the U.S. with her family in the early 2000s. She arrived at UC Santa Barbara in 2013, a grateful beneficiary of the DREAM Act and DACA, the combination of which, she says, was “the perfect recipe for a high-achieving student from Summit High School to attend one of the top schools in the nation. And I did not take one day for granted.”

The Gaucho Tour Association. Women’s Ensemble Theater. The Women’s Center. UCSB Orientation Programs. So many campus clubs. A resident assistant. A commencement speaker. Kyeremateng did it all in her time at UCSB, then graduated cum laude in 2017 with degrees in Black studies and feminist studies.

“For all of the effort it took me to get into UCSB, it was impossible for me to stay idle,” she says. “The biggest lessons all of these experiences taught me was to have confidence in your presence, to continue polishing the art of speaking, and to seize any opportunity that comes your way.”

Living by these lessons, Kyeremateng seven years on from graduation has leveraged them to serious success. After a brief foray into advertising upon her post-UCSB move to New York City, she soon landed a job more aligned with her heart: working for social media app Tumblr as its social impact lead — “which is a fancy term for someone who is dedicated to being intentional in creating programs and campaigns for diverse communities,” she says. In that role she secured collaborations with Jameela Jamil, Derrick Adams, Lauren Jauregui, MTV and Planned Parenthood.

“The art of public speaking is just a performance to convey a message. People convey messages through art, through singing, through scriptures, and you’ve chosen to stand on a stage and share your message. How will you perform? This means your personality needs to show. Your humor should come out. And you should feel like an esteemed, educated friend, not a robot. You’ve got this!”

“It took a couple of years, but I learned how to do it, and I still am doing it, and it’s been a fortifying experience being able to amplify the people who make up the fabrics of this country,” says Kyeremateng, who now leads inclusive marketing for Twitch, an interactive live-streaming platform. “I’ve been pretty blessed to have done this unique but niche and necessary work at Tumblr, Spotify, and now Twitch.

“Inclusive marketing is a sustainability issue,” she adds. “Companies who do not build the structures and long-term systems to support and amplify their diverse communities will face a drastic shift in how their companies will be valued in the future.”

Her work certainly has the industry’s attention: Kyeremateng earlier this year was named to Forbes’ prestigious 30 Under 30 Marketing & Advertising list. Also in 2024, she gave her first TedX talk, “How I Found My Voice as An Undocumented Immigrant,” bringing her back, full circle, to her upbringing and to her love and skill for speaking.

“For as long as I can remember, I’ve longed for stories and moments of people who looked like me and shared their own struggles and how they overcame them. Where was their stage?” she says. “The power of storytelling has moved generations and my current trajectory in life is to continue to share mine and to amplify those around me.”