As Rivet School’s Digital Content Strategist, Bianca Delgado is finding her career path by working in her hometown.

WHEN YOU WORK FOR A SCHOOL that likes to refer to its students as “Riveters”, the investment in Richmond literally goes without saying.

For Richmond Promise alum and Rivet School Digital Content Strategist Bianca Delgado, giving back to her community is part of the job description.

Delgado helps to shape the public voice for Rivet School, a school founded in 2018 with the mission of building a college experience that meets the needs of students who might have a different set of life circumstances than the traditional college system accounts for.

While Rivet School operates on a national scale, home has always been Richmond. When they’re not working remotely, many staff members call CoBiz, the popular co-working space on Macdonald Avenue, their office.

Working in digital content means Delgado gets to tell the stories of the students that Rivet School attracts. That can range from the recent high school graduate to the adult learner who is looking to chart a new career path.

Though she now champions Rivet’s mission, Delgado was fortunate to have the support in place to take the traditional college route, graduating from Making Waves Academy before going on to earn a bachelor’s degree in Marketing and a master’s degree in Marketing Research from the University of San Francisco.

While at USF, she joined a program called the Muscat Scholars Program (MSP) that provides support and mentorship for first-generation college students. With financial support from her Richmond Promise scholarship and academic support from MSP, Delgado forged a college experience that she now looks back on fondly.

Earning her bachelor’s degree in 2020 meant she entered the workforce in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. She started her career working with small business owners that needed help with digital marketing and online content creation as they pivoted away from in-person interactions.

At the same time, Delgado also made the decision to give back to her community through Richmond Promise. She joined the RP mentor program to provide some of the same mentorship she found so valuable while at USF.

“Once I was talking to the Richmond Promise recipient as the mentor, it felt like I was trying to give her all the information I had,” Delgado said. “It could be overwhelming at times but I feel like on the receiving end, you know it’s coming from a good place. It was pretty interesting to hear her questions because they were the exact questions I had going into college as well.”

In making the move to Rivet School in early 2021, she not only found her next professional challenge but also a mission that attracted her personally.

“Being first-gen, not having my family be able to lead me in many ways, it felt like I needed somebody else to lean on and that’s what Rivet School is for a lot of our students,” Delgado said. “Rivet is the helping hand that [students] didn’t either think they needed or wanted to ask for. A lot of traditional institutions just aren’t built with them in mind.

“When I was reading into what Rivet School does, even though I’m blessed to have attended one institution for four years, I realized that’s not everybody’s experience. That’s not even some of my family’s experiences. I felt like I really aligned with their mission and a lot of their student body aligned with my identities, too.”

Working at Rivet School has afforded Delgado the opportunity to grow into an ever-increasing number of roles. If you follow Rivet School on TikTok or other social media platforms, you’ve seen her voice shine through in telling the stories of Riveters near and far.

Her portfolio extends beyond social media. She’s currently producing creative content for an ad that’s in production. And, she recently led Rivet’s first-ever brand ambassador program that included the direction of a large video component.

“Recently, when we had the film crew come in, I got to meet a lot of our students for the first time in person,” Delgado said. “I met a fellow specifically, her name is Alyssia, and she’s also from Richmond. She joined the Educator Pathway, Rivet School’s pathway to becoming a teacher. She shared that within three weeks of graduation, she was hired at a school here in Richmond as a kindergarten teacher which was her dream come true.

“I feel like those are the students that I get excited not only meeting but sharing their stories as well because I can relate to it on a personal level.”

Delgado is especially excited to share the stories of Riveters who are going the extra mile to pursue their education while balancing any number of other life circumstances.

“A lot of our students are first-generation, they’re parent learners, they work full time. They have identities that would traditionally hold them back from earning their degree,” Delgado said. “It feels like that mindset of almost sacrificing everything to make a better life might sometimes even hold people back from going back to school. Rivet School has created an environment where it is possible for them.”

A member of Richmond Promise’s inaugural scholarship class in 2016, Delgado is one of many Richmond Promise alums who are returning to Richmond in search of their next career move.

That investment in the community is one way young professionals like Delgado are repaying those who paved the way for them to succeed.

“I think there’s something really special about our community. Maybe it’s that our parents or grandparents set roots down here in Richmond and raised us with so much pride in our city and our community,” Delgado said. Speaking for myself, if I’m able to go to college, graduate and come back and help my community keep thriving, I’m going to do that.”

---

Additional Richmond Promise Profiles:

Staff Profile: Miguel Molina
Alumni Profile: Pooja Sandhu
Scholar Profile: Vanessa Crisostomo Garcia
Board Profile: Dr. Chris Hurst
2023-24 Richmond Promise Near-Peer Ambassadors