Rutgers Business School student Esron Holder traveled the world, started a business, gained a supportive community, and confidence as part of his experience living in the Honors Living-Learning Community (HLLC) at Rutgers University–Newark.
Growing up in Guyana, Rutgers Business School senior Esron Holder always had an entrepreneurial bent. He noticed everyone had a side business, selling clothes or food, and his own family sold bags of ice and soft drinks from their home.
“It was really inspiring,” said Holder, who will graduate with a major in Leadership and Management and a minor in Social Justice.
Holder used that inspiration to build a videography and photography business while at Rutgers and now plans to expand the business as he pursues a Rutgers MBA.
Arriving in the U.S. at age 9, Holder was bullied at his school in Brooklyn. He relied on his Christian faith to overcome the traumatizing experience, and with the intervention of some teachers, the bullies eventually became buddies.
In high school, Holder began recording events and highlight videos for his church, pro bono, until someone encouraged him to start charging for his work. Holder created a pricing package, made a logo, and Esron Productions LLC was born, one month before he graduated from Irvington High School.
Holder said he chose the Rutgers University–Newark campus because it has one of the top business schools in the country, is close to home, and he received a full scholarship, including room and board in the Honors Living-Learning Community and a Scarlet Promise Grant.
Living on campus gave Holder a community, and confidence. “I was a little bit shy when I came to Rutgers. HLLC helped me to find my voice. It gave me the freedom to try anything and everything,” Holder said.
“I wanted not only to have the knowledge of business that a college can give you, but also the resources and the relationships and the connections that I can use to fund back into my business,” he said.
The youngest of five children, Holder saw how his parents adapted to any challenge. His mother Ileen is a cabin agent at Newark International Airport, and his father Eon is a senior school lunch helper. “They were always flexible, which is something that's really embedded in entrepreneurship: knowing how to be able to work with your current situation and make it the best for yourself,” he said.
Living on campus gave Holder a community, and confidence. “I was a little bit shy when I came to Rutgers. HLLC helped me to find my voice. . . It gave me the freedom to try anything and everything,” said Holder, who is president of the Rutgers Black Professionals Network.
That self-assurance led Holder to expand his horizons, literally, through Rutgers study-abroad programs. A summer program in Barbados and a winter break in Ghana immersed Holder in the local culture and taught lessons on slavery and colonialism. A spring break trip to India included corporate site visits and a business case competition where Rutgers and Indian students formed bilateral teams, overcoming language barriers and cultural differences.
“That came with so many challenges, but you had to learn how to adjust,” said Holder, noting the three international trips taught him to be an ethical traveler and to keep an open mindset.
Professor Hyacinth Miller witnessed Holder’s growth on her faculty-led program to Barbados, especially as he learned about his family’s Bajan history.
“The sense of belonging in Barbados empowered him, such that when he went on my second faculty-led program in Ghana, he was forever transformed,” said Miller, an assistant teaching professor in Africana Studies and Political Science. “Now, Esron actively seeks experiences outside his comfort zone because his Rutgers-Newark family has helped to nurture, develop, and encourage him to be great.”
A summer internship in the Capitol Hill office of U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver taught Holder how to network, have difficult conversations, and thrive in challenging spaces. He is also passionate about mentoring high school students, including as a Career Pathways Mentor at Newark Youth Career Pathways.
Rutgers helped Holder grow his business. While interning with the Urban Solutions Lab, Holder received advice from mentors and secured an LLC and legal documentation for his company. While competing in the Urban Solution Lab’s 1st Business Execution Competition, Holder refined his business strategy and honed his public speaking skills. Rutgers also provided connections for Holder to land clients, on and off campus.
“I learned to always keep on pushing and learning,” he said. “Without Rutgers, Esron Productions would not be where it is.”
Holder plans to leverage a Rutgers MBA to expand his company into a full-time media business, using storytelling to drive social change, particularly in support of immigrant and marginalized communities. “Imagine if I get my MBA, how much more impact I can have,” Holder said.
During his senior year at Rutgers, Holder took three MBA classes through Rutgers Business School’s Gateway to Future Leaders MBA Program. Holder chose to enroll in the program because of its strong national reputation and to continue growing relationships he had already developed on campus.
As he prepares to graduate in May, Holder said the 9-year-old who was bullied would be shocked and proud of what he has accomplished. But even prouder might be his parents, when they watch Holder walk across the stage in cap and gown.
“We might see my father cry for the first time, I know my mother will cry,” Holder said. “I think my parents will be overwhelmed with so many emotions. They’re also going to realize how popular I am, how many people I know.”
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