Annie Byrd ’04, emergency health services, M.P.S. ’23, community leadership, began her staff career at UMBC as an executive administrative assistant and she is now the Career Center’s assistant director for employer relations. She attributes her growth as a leader to UMBC’s supportive environment that encouraged members to make an impact in their communities. Annie says that the community leadership program helped her connect the dots between her undergraduate degree in emergency health services, her experience as a doula—a trained professional who provides emotional, physical, and informational support during pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum period—and her passion for maternal health equity and social justice. She then integrated these values into systems-level change, co-founding the Doula Alliance of Maryland.

Q: What’s one essential thing you’d want another Retriever to know about you?

A: I’ve been part of the UMBC community for over 20 years—as an undergraduate, graduate student, and a staff member. I love building connections, supporting students, and finding creative solutions that help people succeed.

Q: Tell us about someone in the UMBC community who has inspired you.

A: Yvette Mozie-Ross [’88, currently vice provost for enrollment management and planning] saw potential in me before I saw it in myself. As my first supervisor at UMBC, she encouraged me to continue my education and pursue new opportunities. Her mentorship helped shape my journey from executive administrative assistant to assistant director.

Q: Tell us about what you love about your academic program or an organization you’re involved in at UMBC.

A: What I loved most about the M.P.S. in Community Leadership was learning alongside people committed to creating change. The program challenged me to think strategically, and it directly inspired my work co-founding the Doula Alliance of Maryland to advance equitable maternal health. 

Q: What’s the one thing you’d want someone who hasn’t joined the UMBC community to know about the support you find here?

A: What makes UMBC special is that everyone belongs here. It’s an inclusive community that values curiosity, encourages ambitious ideas, and provides the support to help you grow personally, academically, and professionally.

Q: What part of your job do you enjoy the most and why?

A: Student interactions are what I enjoy most. I love helping students discover opportunities, build confidence, and recognize the skills they already have. It’s rewarding to know that even one conversation can have a lasting impact on their career journey.

Q: What brought you to UMBC?

A: I came to UMBC as an undergraduate and a student-athlete, and I’ve come back as a staff member because I experienced firsthand how transformative this community can be. UMBC has shaped my life. I met my husband, built lifelong friendships, and found a career where I can help students create their own UMBC stories.

Q: At UMBC, how have you found support for birth work advocacy? 

A: The community leadership program faculty and staff helped me turn my passion for birth work into systems-level change. Research shows that doula support is associated with better maternal health outcomes, yet many families—particularly those who have been historically marginalized—face significant barriers to accessing this care. Seeing both the impact of doulas and the inequities in access inspired me to co-found the Doula Alliance of Maryland to expand access and advance maternal health equity. Also, my Career Center colleagues have continued to support that mission, reminding me that UMBC values both professional growth and community impact.

Q: What would you tell someone who is considering a career at UMBC?

A: UMBC is a place where your ideas and potential are valued. It provides opportunities to grow your career while connecting your work to a larger purpose. My own journey from student to staff member shows how UMBC supports people who want to make a difference.

When you walk into Kupcakes & Co. in Elkridge, Maryland, you are met with the welcoming aroma of fresh baked goods—cookies, cakes, cinnamon rolls, and, of course, cupcakes. Drawn in by the scents and scenes in front of you, you’ll soon meet the proprietor, Michelle Kupiec ’89, interdisciplinary studies. She wasn’t always an award-winning baker though. In 2007, Kupiec was a teacher and a mom, just trying to get her young son to eat food again after a series of difficult surgeries.

Without knowing it, Kupiec was traveling a well-trod path by other UMBC alumni who pivoted their careers to start their own food businesses. “The only thing stopping you is the belief that you can’t,” says Donta Henson ’13, M.P.S. ’17, Navy veteran and co-owner of Los Hermanos 1978 Tequila. This mentality led Henson out of the healthcare industry to start a tequila company with his brother in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. Likewise, John Williams ’04, financial economics, owner of Good Karma Creamery, flipped his life upside down (like a good pineapple cupcake) to follow his passion.

When life gives you lemons… make cupcakes

For seven years,Kupiec taught for Howard County Public Schools while raising her twins, Adam and Allison. Her husband, Bill Kupiec ’89, interdisciplinary studies, worked as an IT manager at the Carnegie Institution for Science. Then, Adam started getting sick. He was in and out of the hospital 15 times over three years with severe pneumonia. Doctors couldn’t figure out what was going on until they noticed that Adam’s spine was curving at a rapid rate, putting pressure on his lungs. In 2007, Adam underwent spinal fusion surgery that left him with two 20-inch rods and 18 screws in his back. Then came the painful recovery.

“Adam wasn’t eating. Nothing was appealing to him,” remembers Kupiec. “So, Adam’s doctors encouraged us to watch shows involving food.”

Kupiec and Adam started watching the Food Network and Adam quickly fell in love with the bakers. As soon as he was physically able, Adam was in the kitchen experimenting, which helped keep his mind off the pain. “He was able to get off his pain meds because of his newfound passion for baking,” says Kupiec.

Throughout his recovery, Kupiec homeschooled Adam and the two continued to bake, sharing their creations with friends and family. It wasn’t long before a food truck entrepreneur approached Kupiec about baking for Curbside Cupcakes.

“I was like, ‘Wow! This could become a small business,’” says Kupiec.

For Donta Henson, a health administration and policy major, the transition from a full-time health IT professional for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to tequila purveyor took a slightly different route. During the COVID-19 pandemic, in lieu of other activities, Henson’s brother William would regularly visit with a bottle of tequila. With nowhere else to go, the brothers started trying different tequila brands to pass the time. 

“We probably tried 20 different tequila brands,” recalls Henson. “We started feeling like we were tequila experts.” Henson noticed that when his brother posted tequila recommendations online, people would regularly respond positively. The brothers not only knew what they were talking about when it came to good tequila, but they had influence.

“I told my brother, ‘You know what? We could probably start our own brand,’” says Henson. “If other people are doing it, then we can figure it out too. We’re doing this!”

The pandemic offered many people the chance to pivot, but John Williams, a vice president at T. Rowe Price, already knew that he wanted more than an office job, especially with a young family.“It was a very good job in a lot of ways,” says Williams, who worked there for 10 years, “intellectually stimulating, financially rewarding, but it was a high-pressure type of job.” Fortunately, Williams learned an important lesson during his time at UMBC. “I figured out the value of saving while I was in college,” he recalls. So he put money away, lived below his means, and put himself in a position to control his future at a very young age.

“The question really became, ‘What do I want to do with my time?’” says Williams. “Buying my time and the freedom to do what I want was more valuable to me than continuing to work at T. Rowe.”

Williams left T. Rowe Price in 2020 to spend more time with his family and figure out his next step. “I stumbled on it a lot faster than I expected,” says Williams. “I was sitting in my driveway one day thinking about ice cream and realized I was kind of getting bored with what was at the grocery store when it just hit me. I should make ice cream.”

When the pivot pays off

To start baking for Curbside Cupcakes, Kupiec and Adam needed a commercial kitchen and to get licensed. That was the easy part. From there, the dynamic duo started baking 800 cupcakes a day, seven days a week—on top of homeschooling. Then, Curbside Cupcakes added a second truck and 800 cupcakes became 1,600. Kupiec quickly realized that she needed a kitchen of her own. In 2011, she hired additional help, and Kupcakes & Co. was born.

Eventually, with her own business growing, Kupiec cut ties with the food truck and focused her attention on Kupcakes & Co. After 14 years, business is strong and Kupiec offers a rotating assortment of 110 different flavors of cupcakes, along with other baked goods. “We turned our passion into a purpose,” says Kupiec.

To prove to his brother William that they too could turn their passion into a legitimate business, Henson started cold-calling other brands to learn more about their relationships with distilleries. That’s when Henson learned that tequila had to be made in Mexico. “I didn’t know that,” says Henson. 

The brothers eventually landed on Casa Maestri, a third-generation, family-owned, full-service distillery. In November 2020, Henson and his brother traveled to Guadalajara to tour the distillery, meet with farmers, and learn what it takes to make tequila. The brothers then began working with the distiller to choose the flavor profiles for their blanco and reposado tequilas, and then it was time to design the bottles and labels. What about a name?

“I wanted a name that captured the whole familial thing,” says Henson. “That’s the whole reason we even got into tequila.” After some research to see what was already taken, Henson and William agreed on “Los Hermanos,” which means “the brothers” in Spanish.

Three years later, Los Hermanos 1978 Tequila can be found in over 300 stores across six states and has won 24 awards. “Everything hinged on the mindset that we could do it,” says Henson. “We didn’t know anything.”

Williams can relate. “I had never made ice cream in my life,” he jokes. So, he ordered a tabletop ice cream maker from Amazon and began experimenting. “While I was watching my young daughter, I was probably spending 10 to 15 hours a week making ice cream,” says Williams. After a year of experimenting, Williams upgraded to a slightly more sophisticated machine and began sharing his ice cream creations with his neighbors, along with anonymous surveys.

“I was getting brutally honest feedback,” says Williams.

Once Williams had a better understanding of what people liked, and his daughter was off to kindergarten, he was ready to churn out his ice cream hobby into a full-fledged business. 

“I make my base from scratch,” says Williams, “which is a lot more work, but allows me to do more things with the flavors.” Williams also makes every chunk and swirl that goes into his ice cream—and there’s a lot. “I really load things up,” says Williams. 

Today, Good Karma Creamery sells ice cream by the pint online, with a drop every two weeks—the pints selling out within minutes. It’s not the grind of a financial job, and he gets to taste-test a lot of delicious flavors. From Williams’ seat, he thinks he made the right decision. “I decided to take my passion for finding the best premium ice cream into my own hands,” says Williams.