'My Advocacy Might Not Look Like Yours'

On the morning of June 3, 2024, then-rising Suffolk senior Kayci Resende-Abbott stood beside her brand-new colleagues in the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQIA2S+ Advancement and watched in awe as the city’s Pride flag was raised at City Hall.  

“They just took me in” from that first day, Resende-Abbott says of the city employees who welcomed her with open arms as she spent the summer internship connecting with residents at community events and promoting the new office on social media. 

She was working just a few blocks from campus and a short T ride away from where she grew up, but the role was a meaningful leap forward in the philosophy major’s journey of leadership and advocacy. 

A few years earlier she accepted a full-tuition Nathan Miller Scholarship, awarded to deserving Boston Public School students, to attend Suffolk. But while she shone academically, Resende-Abbott says pandemic-era isolation during her final years at Boston Latin Academy left her social skills rusty. “I had to learn how to talk to people again,” she says, describing a slow start that left her shuttling between class and home that first year and not much else. 

That changed when a friend told her about his fellowship with Suffolk’s Women and Incarceration Project and suggested she lend a hand. The cause piqued her interest, so she got involved. From there, something unexpected happened. “I started meeting more staff and faculty than other students, actually, which was really fun,” she says. 

One of her strongest connections was with History, Language & Global Culture Professor Marjorie Salvodon, who was serving as the interim director of the Black Studies Program. Through Salvodon, Resende-Abbott became involved with both the planning process for the redevelopment of the program and with Suffolk’s Black Student Union.  She discovered that she loved the “nitty gritty” details of figuring out how to build the program back up. 

She served as the student representative on the selection committee for the program’s next director. “We created a really holistic job search and I think we got the best person out of it,” she says of the committee’s choice, Professor Trent Masiki, whose selection she’s proud to include as part of her Suffolk legacy.   

Over time, Resende-Abbott took on more responsibilities within the BSU, eventually becoming president during her junior year. She says the high-profile position comes with a lot of positives—like hosting the organization’s annual fashion show and connecting with alumni at the Celebration of Black Excellence and professional mixer each year—but that it has also taught her how to handle criticism as she develops her own leadership style.  

“One of the lessons I’ve learned is that it’s OK if my type of advocacy doesn’t look like other people’s,” she explains. “Some people might want me to be a bit more aggressive or a bit more forward, but that is not authentic for me. I know that if I stick to my morals and my values and work toward the initiatives I care about that is enough.” 

After her summer working in the Mayor’s Office combining her passions for advocacy, education, and her hometown, Resende-Abbott knew she’d found her future career path.  

“I never wanted to leave,” she says—so she hasn’t.  She stayed on as a fellow during her senior year and hopes to continue working there as she completes a year-long graduate program in education for equity and social justice at Boston University.  

As she continues to grow into her own kind of leader, Resende-Abbott looks forward to remaining connected to campus, including as one of the newest members of the Suffolk University Black Alumni Network. She’s pacing herself for the hard work ahead, remembering to always come back to her core values and community.  

“I learned here at Suffolk to just always show up as my most authentic self,” she says.