By: Adrianna Dunn
People of color tend to be locked out of opportunities that would allow them to learn about the constantly growing world of technology. This is one of the many reasons Penn State Dickinson Law’s Professor Evans created Advantage Evans, an online education platform that prepares people for the future of money, entrepreneurship, and work. She enjoys being a law professor but wanted to use her experience and knowledge to help those outside of the law school environment as well. She finds it particularly important that people know about the different technology that exists and what the future of money may look like; she appreciates how an online environment allows her to do all these things while reaching a vast population at the same time.
entrepreneruial spirit: proud
Professor Evans is the “CEO of Me,” a lifelong learner, and very proud of everything she has accomplished. She received her entrepreneurial spirit from both of her parents: her mother, being a patent attorney, and her father a surgeon, both had their own practices. Professor Evans explained that being an African American came with the risk of being locked out of certain opportunities. Growing up, she felt she had to do everything she could to build her resume and make it look good for the future.
For Professor Evans, part of “being an entrepreneur” means adding value to the world and leaving it better than she found it. It also means planting seeds now so that the next generation doesn’t have to start over again.
podcasting
Professor Evans hosts a weekly podcast that focuses on the intersection of law, innovation, and technology. She interviews big names on the show and those emerging as well to give a platform to voices that are not always 
heard but have amazing perspectives. The podcast, “Tech Intersect with Tonya M. Evans,” gives her the opportunity to learn something new every week and to stay engaged with the next great move. The podcast also gives her the opportunity to speak about different technologies that do not work well for people of color, such as the monitoring system of the bar exam, which does not take into account that people of color are not recognized by the monitoring system in certain lighting.
Professor Evans is also able to engage with people she otherwise may not have had the opportunity to. Before the pandemic, she would travel at least once a week to different conferences but the podcast allows her to continue to engage with different people now on a more personal level than she would have had before. She likes to focus on the origin stories of her guests because so many of them took a nontraditional path. This is important because seeing nontraditional people working in a certain field encourages others to follow their dreams.
challenges as an African American woman
Professor Evans was the first African American woman to serve as the Associate Dean at the University of New Hampshire’s School of Law, just one of many times where she found herself as the “first” or “only.” She is proud to be where she is but mentions that it is difficult and taxing to not see herself reflected in the environments and spaces where she is working. 
She explains that walking into a room, even not outwardly hostile, and not seeing anyone that looks like you makes you wonder, “Am I welcomed here? Does my voice matter?” She speaks about these challenges but she also finds it important to identify the opportunities in every challenge that she faces.
“Give yourself a lot of space and grace, whatever that means to you, in order to give yourself opportunity.”
Something Professor Evans spoke about that specifically resonated with me was that she is a “DIYer.” She wants to and would love to do everything herself – but she does not have time. She finds it important to have a team that she trusts to help her so that she can be the talent and share her expertise. She also spoke to being a recovering perfectionist, a high achiever, and advised on pacing yourself, to take a breath. It takes a lot of time, energy, and money to get something up and running – similar to getting a plane off the ground. It is not for the faint of heart but it is important to be thoughtful and honest about what you need at the moment.
Finally, she spoke about not necessarily feeling the need to quit your day job when you’re getting a business or an entrepreneurial endeavor up and running. The two can coexist peacefully, adding value to your job and outside of it. It is just as amazing to be an intrapreneur – someone tasked to innovate, identify, and solve problems within an organization. You may be an employee but you are the employee that people go to in order to solve problems.
Adrianna Dunn, at the time of this post, is a second-year law student at Penn State Dickinson Law. She is from Wheeling, West Virginia, and is a graduate of West Virginia University. Adrianna is the current President of the Animal Legal Defense Fund, Treasurer of the Women’s Law Caucus, and a Research Assistant for Professor Prince.
