Today we’d like to introduce you to Alayah Hightower.
Hi Alayah, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My path actually started in engineering. I did my undergrad in Chemical Engineering at Howard, which gave me a rigorous, problem-solving foundation. But as I got further into it, I realized what actually energized me wasn’t the technical work itself, it was the strategic layer around it. While I was at Howard, I was also playing soccer and lacrosse, and I always knew I’d go back to school after undergrad. So I stayed on for my MBA in Supply Chain Management, and then rounded it out with an MS in Finance, all from Howard, to build out that business and financial acumen alongside my engineering base.
That combination is really what led me into consulting. Today I’m at Deloitte, where I support a large-scale enterprise transformation program for a major automotive client, helping design future-state processes, structure program governance in tools like Jira, and build the reporting infrastructure that lets leadership track milestones and savings across the organization. It’s technical, cross-functional, and fast-moving, which suits me well.
Outside of work, I love to travel, explore new cities, and try new restaurants. I’ve been part of the Yelp Elite Squad for about three years now, where restaurants and other companies host exclusive events for Elite members to showcase their spaces. That eventually led me to start creating my own content around food, fitness, and travel about two years ago. I really enjoy pointing people toward the best spots to eat and the kinds of experiences I love, and it’s become a genuine creative outlet alongside my consulting work.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I wouldn’t say it’s been a perfectly smooth road, no but I don’t think anyone’s really is. I’ve had a few real tests along the way that I think shaped how I handle things now.
The first one was sophomore year at Howard. I’d redshirted freshman year in soccer, and then sophomore year our starting goalkeeper wasn’t quite performing at the level we needed, so I got the call to start my very first collegiate start. About twenty minutes into that game, I came out for a ball at the same time as one of our defenders, we collided knee to knee, and it was a serious injury on both ends. She ended up with a concussion, and I tore my MCL and PCL and had a tibial plateau fracture. The initial timeline was ten to twelve months out. But between hard work, physical therapy, and a really strong support system, I was back on the field in six to seven months. Not only did I play the next season, I started every game of it, and we won the SWAC championship in 2018. That experience taught me a lot about discipline and about trusting a recovery process even when the odds on paper say otherwise.
The next real test was COVID. I lost an internship I’d already lined up for that summer, which left a gap right between undergrad and starting my MBA. On top of that, I dealt with some personal setbacks around the same time that meant I had to pick up work wherever I could find it just to stay afloat. And athletically, my entire 2020–2021 school year went virtual. we lost a full season of both soccer and lacrosse. It was isolating in a lot of ways: away from friends, away from teammates, trying to still build a résumé and a social life through a screen. But I adapted. I found work, I stayed connected with people however I could, and I came out the other side ready for my MBA.
And honestly, the working world has its own version of that same lesson new organizations, new ways of working, learning the unwritten rules of a company. There have been moments, even recently, where I’ve put in the work, done everything that was asked of me, and the outcome still wasn’t what I expected. That’s its own kind of struggle learning to separate your effort from the outcome and keep moving forward anyway.
If there’s a thread through all of it, it’s that I adapt quickly and I don’t get stuck feeling sorry for myself. Life has its ebbs and flows, and I’ve learned to take them as they come and keep pushing.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m a consultant at Deloitte supporting a major enterprise transformation program for an automotive client on the functional side, I design future-state processes, build out program governance and Jira structures from scratch, and create the reporting that lets leadership track milestones and savings across the organization. I specialize in bringing structure to ambiguity: taking messy, undefined processes and turning them into something clear and trackable, drawing on my engineering background and my MBA and finance training, even though my day-to-day is more functional than technical. What I’m most proud of is being the person trusted to walk into disorganized situations and fix them and doing that while also supporting the build of my family’s beauty brand, Sassi Beauty, where we make body butters, soaps, oils, body wash, and more. What sets me apart is that combination: I bring analytical and financial depth to how I approach problems, but I also lead, communicate, and adapt the way you learn to as a college athlete and someone helping grow a brand from scratch.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
Houston is one of my favorite cities on earth. What I love about it is the sheer diversity within the Black community there you’ve got African American, African, and Caribbean cultures all represented, so there’s this rich mix of people, food, and energy. It’s the South, so the hospitality is real, people are warm and welcoming, even to someone just visiting. I had a client project based in Spring, Texas, which put me close enough to get into Houston pretty often, and I got to really explore it,Midtown, Katy, Sugar Land, The Woodlands, each with its own vibe, plus genuinely great food, especially the barbecue.
What I’d say is tougher about Houston is that it’s a sprawling city, so you’re driving everywhere, there’s real hurricane risk to plan around, and like any big city, there are pockets where you just have to stay aware of your surroundings. But overall, my experience there was overwhelmingly positive. I’d go back in a heartbeat to visit. I don’t know that I’d relocate there permanently, mostly because I love being close to home in Maryland and the community I have there, but Houston is genuinely one of my favorite places to spend time
Contact Info:
- Instagram: alayahmarie._
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/user_details?userid=PawRW-4N-qvfoxx7EZbW_g&utm_source=ishare&secondary_source=nav_bar&share_id=E0A8325D-11C6-4CBA-92F7-4B77E63A7C3F&primary_source=user_profile
