For Destini Harrell (B.S. ’19, MBA ’21), there’s no place like Strome — Old Dominion University’s Strome College of Business, that is.
The Virginia Beach native earned two business degrees from the University before launching her Hampton Roads-based consultancy in 2022.
Now, Harrell is a new faculty member in the Strome College of Business, drawing on her experiences as an ODU student, her postgraduate career as an entrepreneur and her passion for the Hampton Roads community to shape the next generation of Monarch problem-solvers and leaders.
Returning to the University’s Strome College of Business as a teaching assistant professor, Harrell said, feels like coming home.
And that’s the thing about home: It simultaneously propels you forward while calling you back.
“This is such a unique place,” Harrell said. “This is a community. It feels like family. There is so much pride in going to ODU. And, for me, every year, that has grown."
Harrell earned a degree in finance, with a concentration in real estate, and went straight into ODU’s MBA program after graduation. She then launched her consulting business, The Blessed Rogue, which provides strategic coaching related to change management, vision planning and problem-solving.
Through The Blessed Rogue, Harrell has worked with nonprofits, small businesses, arts organizations and startups. Many of those organizations are located right here in Hampton Roads, an important aspect of Harrell’s community-focused strategy, in life and in teaching.
“Destini is proof of what an ODU business education makes possible,” said Erika Marsillac, Ph.D., dean of the Strome College of Business. "Her return to Strome classrooms as an educator gives our Monarchs an insightful mentor who has successfully navigated the exact path they are on today.”
Harrell said she always wanted to come back to the University at some point in her career, and that opportunity arrived in early 2026. When a teaching position opened in the Strome College of Business Department of Management, several faculty members — Harrell’s former professors — sent her the job posting and encouraged her to apply.
She landed the job and now teaches Business Policy and Strategy and Introduction to Contemporary Business. Her experiences as a business owner combined with her unique perspective as an ODU alumna all play heavily into her lesson plans.
“One of my core values in life is authenticity, so I always want to bring my lived experiences to the classroom,” Harrell said. “I want to bring the real world to students.”
Harrell is planning to welcome a slate of guest speakers, many of them from local companies, who will deepen her students’ connections to the business ecosystem in Hampton Roads and beyond.
“There’s so much opportunity here (at ODU),” Harrell said. “I think I bring that perspective: ‘Let’s talk about what’s great here, and let’s also talk about where we want to go.’”
It’s a full-circle, coming-home moment for Harrell, although she’s quick to point out that the circle isn’t yet completed at the University.
She still has a lot of unfinished business.