Dezanae Boston-Bernier

“Why not?”

It’s a question Dezanae Boston-Bernier ’16, ’21 has asked herself throughout her life.

It led her to join student organizations as a first-year student at UMass Lowell. It inspired her to take a campus job that unexpectedly launched her career. It motivated her to become a certified birth doula, start her own business and help run an anime studio focused on African folklore.

“When it comes to a lot of the activities and things I do, the thought process is, ‘Why not?’” Boston-Bernier says. “If I like it, I’ll do it. If I don't like it, then I’ll stop doing it.”

That mindset has carried the Boston native from a first-generation college student who arrived at UMass Lowell planning to become a psychologist to a professional whose career is devoted to helping others discover opportunities of their own. In recognition of that journey, she was invited to return to campus as UMass Lowell's Convocation speaker.

“Really? Me?” Boston-Bernier recalls thinking when she received the invitation. “Then I realized, I've accomplished great things. I’ve come to live a very fulfilling life with purpose. And that journey really took off at UMass Lowell.”

Boston-Bernier enjoyed her psychology coursework, but she found her calling outside the classroom. Within weeks of arriving on campus, she joined the Gospel Choir and landed a job in the Office of Student Life and Involvement.

“I had no chill. I jumped into everything,” she says with a laugh. “I got so much value out of UMass Lowell from all of the things I did outside the classroom. That’s where I grew as a person and really learned who I was.”

Working in Student Life introduced Boston-Bernier to mentors such as Amy Liss and Sarah Rine, who challenged her to take on leadership roles and embrace new opportunities.

“They were the people who guided me and made me feel like I belonged,” she says. “They kept pushing me toward opportunities I never would have considered on my own.”

Serving as a resident advisor and mentoring fellow students eventually convinced Boston-Bernier that while psychology wasn’t the right fit, helping people learn and grow was.

“I'm always an educator first,” she says.

As graduation approached, Boston-Bernier wasn’t sure what came next until Rine encouraged her to apply for an opening in Student Life.

“I remember thinking, ‘Wait, this is someone’s job?’” she says.

Boston-Bernier joined the university professionally as program coordinator for Student Life before later becoming assistant director of Meehan Student Center operations. While working full time, she earned a master’s degree in education administration (higher education option).

Now a northern Virginia resident, she continues that work on a national scale as program manager for the T. Howard Foundation, where she helps students from underinvested communities prepare for internships with leading media, entertainment and technology companies. She especially enjoys coaching students who don’t earn internships the first time, but later return as stronger and more confident applicants.

“If someone cares enough to ask for feedback, I care enough to give them a real answer,” she says.

Boston-Bernier’s passion for educating others extends beyond her full-time job. She became a certified birth doula and founded Empowered Birth LLC, a path inspired by what she describes as a lifelong “fear and fascination” with childbirth.

“I get to truly educate and advocate and support families,” she says.  

She also serves as operations manager for N LITE, an anime studio producing stories inspired by African folklore and the African diaspora. Away from work, she still enjoys pottery, a hobby she first discovered in a ceramics class at UMass Lowell.

To Boston-Bernier, her many roles and interests aren’t as different as they might appear.

“I don’t think you have to pick just one thing,” she says. “Everything I do is based on things that genuinely interest me. That’s why my life feels so fulfilling.”