Reflections on Success Pamela Thomas-Graham

When I grew up in Detroit in the 1970s, the civil rights {leaders} like Julian Bond and Thurgood Marshall were my heroes. I went to Harvard to become a lawyer. But along the way, I became interested in economics and business. So I decided to get an MBA degree simultaneously with my law degree. The more I saw of the different choices in business and law, the more I saw business as a dynamic way to transform society the way the civil rights lawyers did. Business leaders can bring more capital to the Black community. I believe business can be the next stage of the Civil Rights Movement.

My parents believed in education, and I do too. My advice is to aim very high, think about the career you want, and act boldly. But also think very broadly about what you might want to do with your life. Try to find different opportunities in internships and look for mentors who will lead you to different experiences. Every summer in college and graduate school I did an internship, and I deliberately tried different things, politics one summer, working for a professor another, and another in New York City at the Chase Manhattan Bank.

Going into consulting can be a great choice for people starting out who aren't exactly sure what they want to do.You're helping people solve business problems, and you are at the same time exposing yourself to all kinds of different possibilities. I myself worked for 10 years at McKinsey & Company in NYC, the world's largest management consultant company.

I think there are a lot of opportunities out there, and more Black role models than there were before. But when I started consulting, as a young Black woman, age 26, there weren't many young Black women there. And it was a big challenge to convince myself and others that I could advise a corporate CEO about tough business problems. Although I had a lot of other mentors, I didn't have anybody at my particular firm as a Black female role model. The lesson I learned is that you have to be very determined and resilient; you can't let yourself be discouraged or take no for an answer. Sometimes you have to become your own role model.

Pamela Thomas-Graham is the president/CEO of CNBC.com and also executive vice president of NBC.