Tell us a little about yourself.
What’s up! My name is Tommy Howard Stiven and I was born in Haiti, but grew up in Boston the majority of my life. Growing up I attended St. Mark’s in Dorchester for elementary school. I attended Boston Latin School for middle and high school. I graduated from Bunker Hill Community College with the 2-year Associate’s degree in Information Technology. Finally, I graduated Wentworth Institute of Technology in 2 years for my Bachelor’s degree in Computer Information Systems in 2015. I’m a strong advocate for community college because I was able to get a Bachelor’s degree in 4 years after high school for so much cheaper than those that went straight to college/universities for 4 years!
What got you interested in Computer Information Systems?
Having an opportunity to do an IT internship with Blue Cross Blue Shield right after high school made me want to stick with the IT field. I originally thought I would join the law field after high school but realized I don’t like reading and studying forever! I liked technology but hated programming/coding. Growing up, Math used to be my favorite subject until numbers turned into letters and equations turned into derivatives and proofs (Discrete Math, ugh!). Computer Information Systems was just the right fit for me with a nice balance of business and IT classes. My highest level of math today is still Pre-Calculus and I’m fine with that!
What advice would you give to students interested in majoring in Computer Information Systems?
If you like a business and/or IT, go for it. You have wide range classes you can take in CIS, so hopefully one piques your interest so you can pursue a career out of it.
We noticed that you are working in IT for Blue Cross Blue Shield, tell us more.
I was blessed to have my high school’s job specialist, Ms. Esteve, help me land an internship for BCBS right after high school. It was supposed to be for one summer, but they grew fond of me and since I was going to college in the Boston area, they kept me. I was an intern for 5 years throughout college for the Network team slowly learning and gaining experience in the IT field as well as in the business corporate office. A year after receiving my Bachelors, I eventually was hired as a full-time employee in 2016. Since then I’ve worked for the Network, Telephony, and AV departments due to different openings and work needed to be done in each IT department. I would say my fearless flexibility and willingness to learn has allowed me to better myself into a well-rounded IT engineer as well as an asset to the company.
Do you have any inspirations?
My inspiration is to be happy and successful. To be a positive established man that has as much control of this thing called life is my inspiration. My life’s motto has always been and always will be to “Work Hard, Play Hard” because it’s really all I know how to do. I’m not a naturally gifted singer, rapper, dancer, athlete, etc so working hard and playing hard is what I live by.
Tell us a little about H3H Clothing?
I am the CEO of H3H which stands for Hungry, Hustle, Humble. It’s a clothing company that my boys and I decided to do because we are always together and wanted to do something impactful in our lives other than our individual jobs. “We are a group of men who are HUNGRY with ambition that drives us to HUSTLE for success. With success, we stay HUMBLE because we remember where we came from.” That is our mission and we’ve kept true to that by not only selling clothes but occasionally volunteering to do community service. Currently, we are collecting winter coats to give to the Center for Community & Learning Partnerships at Wentworth to donate to the youth at Mission Main! Our current clothing lines are the LittKing and LittQueen lines. We defined “L.I.T.T” as “Live In The Time” as we believe it’s a positive message to remind people to forget about the past, not worry about the future, and focus on the present! Check us out at our website (h3hclothing.com), Facebook (H3H Clothing), and Instagram (@h3hclothing)!
What’s your dream job?
Believe it or not, I would love to eventually work for the NBA and make six figures. I don’t know what I would do specifically yet but I’m obsessed with the NBA and am currently halfway through collecting all 30 NBA teams’ hats! Whether it’s for the NBA or its video game series, NBA 2k, I’m confident I can bring value to it in an IT and/or manager’s/director’s role.
What’s your favorite food?
I always have a craving to eat sushi and tacos!
What is your favorite place in Boston?
TD Garden. Are you surprised?
If you could invite a famous person over for dinner, who would it be?
I need Michael Jordan, Will Smith, Barack Obama, and LeBron James at the dinner table so we can discuss what motivated them to be so iconic in this world, as they have been to myself.
Any shoutouts?
I’d like to shout out God first and foremost. My parents and sister for their constant love and support. My family and friends for their joy and energy. My H3H brothers for entrepreneurship. My life mentor, Marquis Cabrera for keeping me on the right track through high school and college. My high school job specialist, Ms. Roselys Esteve. My boss, Mark Sullivan for simply being an amazing boss and good friend outside of work. My director, Mark Noonan for believing in me and having my back. My co-worker, Leon Spencer for his encouraging lessons. And last but not least, my Wentworth mentee and CEO of this now careerbyte, William Ma! I’m glad I could be a part of William’s life and journey through WIT for as long as I could before I graduated. It makes me so proud to now see both of us being CEOs to our individual companies and I’m excited to see what the future holds for us! Thanks for the article, Will!
