Meet Ariana Redmond, a Student of Many Talents

The Bowie State Junior Loves to Bake and Hopes to Become a Psychiatrist

 

MEDIA CONTACT: Jonathan Saxon, jsaxon@bowiestate.edu, 301-860-3607

(BOWIE, Md.) – Ariana Redmond wears multiple hats and hopes to add more to the rack in her career. Redmond is not only pursuing a degree in health services administration, but she also runs her own bakery business and plans to open her own mental health center after finishing medical school.

Redmond feels Bowie State University has her well on her way to realizing her goals. She credits her experience with the Entrepreneurship Innovation Center for pushing her to step out of her shell and develop the plan to start her nonprofit.

“I watched myself change into the person I wanted to be,” said Redmond. “With the entrepreneurship center, I was placed in positions where I had to do pitches and talk. Growing up, I’ve always been a very timid person. Being at Bowie State, everyone is very welcoming and inviting, not only for my education but my personal growth.”

But even with all of that, Redmond still plans on maintaining her bakery, Tony’s Kitchen, which is her way of honoring her late father, Anthony Redmond.

“I had started it because of my father,” said Redmond, who started the bakery in 2022. “He passed away in July 2021, and a passion me and him shared together was cooking. I began cooking after almost as therapy.”

Redmond’s bakery not only helps her retain the memory of her father but also serves as a training ground for where the junior hopes to go professionally. Redmond sees her health services administration program as the perfect fusion of her business acumen and desire to help people. She hopes to become a psychiatrist and wants to leverage her entrepreneurial skillset towards opening a nonprofit to provide mental health services to underserved youth, a passion which extends from personal challenges with her mental health.

“Growing up, it was definitely a mental struggle for me,” said Redmond. “My family couldn’t really afford care for me to see a psychiatrist or therapist.”

Redmond wants her nonprofit to fill a void she sees in the African American community, where mental health needs aren’t always appropriately addressed. She plans for her nonprofit to serve as a community mental wellness center and as a vehicle for adding diversity to the mental health field.

“I feel like mental health is ignored in the Black community and hiring other licensed professionals that look like us is a huge thing,” Redmond said. “Creating a safe space for youths to go into if they want to speak with healthcare professionals, that would be a great place to have in today’s world.”

Redmond hopes to be remembered as someone who helped the people she encountered. While she hopes to keep the bakery business going, Redmond wants to have a larger impact using her business skills to strengthen and enhance her community.

“A lot of people might want to become rich off of something, but for me it’s always been impact,” she said. “When I pass away, people can say I was able to do this for my community and reach so many different people. The biggest thing I want to see in the end goal.”

###

About Bowie State University
Bowie State University (BSU) is an important higher education access portal for qualified persons from diverse academic and socioeconomic backgrounds, seeking a high-quality and affordable public comprehensive university. The university places special emphasis on the science, technology, cybersecurity, teacher education, business and nursing disciplines within the context of a liberal arts education. For more information about BSU, visit bowiestate.edu.