Reneshia Pye (’18, MAcc ’19)

“As a first-generation graduate, it was not an easy journey, but the CBU community helped me get to where I am at now. People simply believing in you can make a big difference. I’m blessed to be a Buc.”

Reneshia Pye’s first introduction to CBU was through the Accounting Career Awareness Diversity Program, a summer residency camp administered by Dr. Jennifer Weske in conjunction with the National Association of Black Accountants (NABA), while she was a student at East High School. That introduction led to her enrollment, Dr. Weske as her academic advisor, her graduation with a BS in Accounting and recognition with the School of Business Faculty Achievement Award, and the completion of her Master of Accountancy. Reneshia is still active as an alumna, serving as a mentor for first-gen students and as an alumni panelist for the First Generation Mentorship Program and the School of Business.

Reneshia is also a recent graduate of the Leadership Memphis FastTrack Program and the Embark Program at New Memphis. She is a member of the Wiley Accounting Club’s Speakers Bureau and Wiley’s Business-Finance-Accounting Advisory Panel and is active in NABA (where she served as secretary of the Memphis Chapter Board Committee), the National Black MBA Association, Toastmasters International, and the Tennessee Society of CPAs (where she is a member of the Scholarship Committee).

Reneshia’s community service activities are what she currently considers to be her profession, and they are extensive — as a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance volunteer with United Way of the Mid-South, a tnAchieves mentor, a virtual volunteer with Meritan and New Memphis, a MicroMentor with Mercy Corps, and a donor and volunteer for numerous organizations that include the Community Alliance for the Homeless, Memphis City Beautiful Commission, Porter Leath, Memphis-Shelby County Schools, the YMCA, and the Arbor Day Foundation. She is also an active member of New Salem Missionary Baptist Church

The biggest lesson I learned at CBU was to never give up and to always have faith. My support system was very strong at CBU from my professors, my academic advisor/mentor Dr. Weske, everyone in the library, my peers, the entire staff at CBU. That is why I continue to give back my time and help people. Thank you to everyone at CBU, God, my family, church family, friends, and others.