Natalie Ford-Hodges was born and raised right outside of Philadelphia. While growing up, she was blessed to be surrounded by a community that encouraged and supported her. Natalie, a 2015 Hatboro-Horsham High School graduate, drew inspiration from the Edward Taylor Coombs Foundation, using the scholarship from the nonprofit organization as fuel to repay in kind.
During her freshman year as an economics major at Spelman College, Natalie was a mentee for the Spelman Protégé program through the Morehouse Business Association. Later in her college career, Natalie served as a mentor and director of the program, which was a collaboration between Spelman College and neighboring Morehouse College.“The goal is to connect younger students, or Spelmanites, with older students,” she said of the program, which helps mentees improve their resumes, learn the importance of networking and connecting with companies’ recruiters, and how to stand out in the job market. “It was professional development – that was the main goal and trying to get internships and opportunities to set everyone up for success.”
A natural leader and honors student, Natalie also served as president of the Mu Pi Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. while on campus.
Carving a Successful Career Path
Before joining Alphabet, the parent company of Google, full-time in September of 2019, Natalie completed four marketing and sales internships – three at Comcast headquarters in Philadelphia and one in California with Google Play marketing as part of the BOLD program. Natalie’s interest in marketing and communications sparked when she had the opportunity to attend AdCamp at the Columbia College of Chicago sponsored by the American Advertising Federation in 2013. Her career aspirations were reinforced in 2015 when she was selected to be an Emma Bowen Foundation Fellow and learned more about the importance of having diversity at the intersection of media and technology.
After graduating Summa Cum Laude in 2019 from Spelman College, Natalie began working as an Associate Product Marketing Manager for the Google Pixel phone. She continued to grow and was rewarded with increasing levels of responsibility and promoted to Product Manager for her team.
“I’m on the global team,” Natalie said. “We work with team members all over the world in England, France, Singapore, and Japan. It’s really rewarding to work with all different types of people.”
Natalie and her team work closely with Google’s product teams to influence the development of phones, sharing consumers’ product insights and demographics for prospective customers. Natalie’s team also develops the strategy around marketing and selling Google Pixel phones and highlighting new features.
Through her work for the global company, Natalie worked at the Mountain View, California headquarters before relocating to the Manhattan office.
Landing a job at Google right out of college was not something that fell into her lap. On the contrary, Natalie began making strides with her professional career through several internships while still in college. “There were a lot of opportunities to do short immersion programs at other companies,” she said, noting a campus ambassador program with General Mills and NBC Universal. The experiences helped Natalie connect with recruiters and prepare for her career.
Inspiration to Pay it Forward
Winning the ETC Foundation scholarship in her senior year of high school helped with her college expenses, but also gave her a built-in cheering squad.
“Knowing that you have people rooting for you and wanting to see you succeed is definitely an influence,” she said. “You have people who are proud of you. I want to make the organization and the community proud and also want to pay it forward when I have the opportunity to do so.”
Throughout her high school years, Natalie participated in many of the ETC Foundation’s annual 5K runs.
“Seeing the impact and influence the organization has had on the community was inspiring and something, even to this day, that I want to be able to do. I want to have that impact on my community,” Natalie said. “Having roots in a place and a strong, positive influence on the community has been inspiring.”The Foundation’s impact has empowered her to set aspirational goals to influence her community.
