By day, Della Anjeh ’16 works as a software engineer at Google. In the evenings and weekends from September to January, she works as a cheerleader for the San Francisco 49ers. Her experience at Pomona College helped launch both of her different careers.
Anjeh knew she wanted to major in computer science when she arrived in Pomona from O’Fallon, Missouri, through the QuestBridge program. She had positive experiences with coding in high school and laughs that at Pomona she “wasn’t good at anything else.”
She credits her advisor, Professor Tzu-Yi Chen, with nurturing and guiding her through her time in the Department of Computer Science.
“Professor Chen was very good as my advisor, keeping me calm and making me feel like I belonged in the department on days when I felt like I didn’t,” says Anjeh.
During their student-advisor meetings, Anjeh shared the challenges she faced, especially as a black woman in tech, and wanted to hear about Chen’s experiences as a computer scientist. “I remember that I felt good every time we met,” says Anjeh.
In her freshman year, Anjeh landed an internship at a startup company through Code2040, a nonprofit that connects black and Latino technologists with companies and mentors, when her recruiters visited Pomona’s campus. This internship opened the door for her future opportunities.
Since graduating from Pomona, Anjeh has worked as a software engineer for Lyft, Amazon, Microsoft and now Google.
She enjoys the fact that computer science can fit into any domain: “Everything needs a technical counterpart,” she says. He also appreciates the creativity and collaboration inherent in the field.
As a counterpoint to all the time she spends in front of the computer, Anjeh dons red and gold as a San Francisco 49ers cheerleader.
While growing up with dance, Anjeh did not foresee a career in professional dance. However, in her first year at Pomona, she enrolled in a hip-hop dance physical education course. The instructor, Kristen Egusa, was a dancer for the Los Angeles Clippers and a choreographer for several professional sports teams.
“I never had the opportunity to take a class with a professional dancer,” says Anjeh.
Egusa informed Anjeh about a professional cheerleading workshop she was holding in Torrance, California. Attending that workshop exposed her to the world of professional fun for the first time.
On campus, Anjeh also danced with the 5C Dance Company. The hip-hop group performed at Pomona-Pitzer and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps basketball and football games and served as its award-winning dance valve.
Many members of that group, like Anjeh, are now professional dancers, doing “really cool things,” she says. One dances for the NFL team Washington Commanders and the other for the NBA team Brooklyn Nets while choreographing music videos in New York. Another member performs with Cirque du Soleil.
Last month, Anjeh completed her second season with the 49ers, capping off the season with a trip to the Super Bowl in Las Vegas, Nevada. In addition to the opportunity to perform on the world stage, other highlights included attending pre-game promotional events, watching halftime from the field and meeting the wide swath of 49ers fans who made the pilgrimage to Vegas.
“Being involved in all that excitement was really fun,” she says. Did she see Taylor Swift in the stands? “We got to see almost everything you could see,” she replies.
Anjeh is satisfied that she can perform as a dancer while having another career. He explains that most NBA and NFL dancers have separate jobs, and the 49ers franchise specifically emphasizes dancers’ other careers. Her teammates are lawyers, Ph.D. candidate, professor and project manager, she says.
“It’s a flexible enough commitment for people to hold down fairly demanding full-time jobs,” says Anjeh. She adds, “I just love performing.”