Jalynn Borders, 24

As a mathematics major at Howard University in Washington, D.C., Jalynn Borders interned with the U.S. Secret Service’s IT department help desk line before tackling another internship with Project Destined that carved out a whole new career path.

Borders linked up at Project Destined in early 2021 through the program’s CEO and co-founder, Cedric Bobo, a former investment banker who formed the organization in 2016 as an avenue to diversify the commercial real estate industry. Bobo helped lay the foundation for Borders to enter the CRE profession through education and mentoring, including via pitch competitions.

“Cedric is the one who recommended me for my internship at JLL, which really changed the trajectory of my career,” Borders said. 

The internship in JLL’s Los Angeles office commenced in the summer before the start of Borders’s senior year at Howard in fall 2021, and she impressed her bosses so much that the brokerage gave her a full-time offer to begin after graduation the following summer. She has worked on a variety of deals on the West Coast in various property sectors with deal sizes ranging from $5 million to $455 million.

Borders’s CRE career began just before a more challenging time for the industry that started in 2022 as the Federal Reserve began aggressively hiking interest rates to combat inflation. 

“I had been in the office in 2021, when it was super bustling and deals were closing every second I turned,” Borders said. “It was a big shock to come in and everything had slowed down, which made us have to read more and learn more, and look at deals in a whole different light than you would have a year ago.” 

An avid hiker who grew up in rural North Carolina, Borders said she has embraced hot yoga since moving to Southern California and often tackles the intense workouts before beginning her busy days at JLL.