(COLLEGE PARK – November 15, 2025) – I believe fortune favors the bold. You have to get out there and try. That’s the only way anything comes to you.
My dad told me years ago: “Get out there. Somebody might see you. They might even help you.”
That advice shaped everything.
The Ugly Website That Started It All
When I ordered my very first website, the designer wanted to lock me into a regular maintenance fee. I told the designer no—I needed to learn how to update it myself. I wasn’t setting myself up to be dependent on someone for something I could do, even if I’d never done it before.
So I went back to the drawing board. Used Microsoft Pagemaker. Built the ugliest website in the history of the internet.
But you know what? It was mine.
And someone did see it. They helped me get it up to par. That ugly site became BMORENews.com—23 years and counting.
The Promise
Fast forward to this summer.
After receiving my Master’s in Journalism from Morgan State University, I knew I had to keep this 60-year-old momentum going. I applied to the University of Maryland’s Doctor of Business Administration program—a national leader in business education.
I remember the exact moment I opened the email.
“Welcome!”
It hit me all at once. Finally. Finally, I’ve made it to the pinnacle in education I’ve worked toward my entire life. This is the one thing that has to be completed.
Way back in 1994, on the campus of Coppin State, I made a promise. I told Dean T.J. Bryant—who led the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program—that I would earn my doctorate.
The McNair Program prepares first-generation and underrepresented students for doctoral studies. Dean Bryant worked us harder than I’d ever been worked, but she prepared us for exactly this moment.
I was raised to honor my word. My name and my word are all I have. When I made that promise to Dean Bryant in 1994, it wasn’t casual. It was binding.
Walking onto the College Park campus 30 years later to fulfill that promise is everything to me.
The Weight of History
I’m a grandpop now. Most of the people who raised me are no longer with me, but their spirit lives on within me.
When I walked into the Clarence Mitchell Building on campus to get my ID, I was reminded that 75 years ago, people who look like me could not attend classes here. Clarence Mitchell Jr.—the NAACP’s chief lobbyist and architect of the Civil Rights Act—has a building named after him on this campus. That’s how far we’ve come.
Today, I represent those who came before me. I carry their dreams with me into every classroom.
And I’m proud to report that diversity is real in my program—Black students, international students, women, veterans, entrepreneurs. People from every walk of life learning together. It’s a welcoming environment where you study alongside some of the brightest minds in the region.
Why This Matters
The faculty at the Robert H. Smith School of Business are among the best in the nation, primarily because these people love to learn. I love to learn. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a perfect match.
Every class challenges me. Every discussion pushes me. Every assignment connects to the real work I’m doing at BMORENews—understanding markets, analyzing data, making strategic decisions about the future of independent Black media.
This isn’t academic theory in a vacuum. This is education I can apply immediately to the work that matters.
An Invitation
DBA students were asked to spread the word about the program, now in its third year.
So here’s my invitation:
If you want a world-class opportunity to learn with some of the sharpest scholars on the planet, then meet me at the Robert H. Smith School of Business.
If you’re an entrepreneur who wants to understand the frameworks behind your instincts, this is the place.
If you’re a professional who’s built a career on experience and now wants the academic credentials to match, this is the place.
If you’re ready to prove that 60 isn’t slowing down—it’s leveling up—this is the place.
Everyone I’ve encountered thus far understands the assignment.
The rest is up to the student.
Doni Glover is the founder of BMORENews.com and a current DBA student at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business.
