Two young men on a mission for change forge mentor-mentee relationship

By Leo Adam Biga

Davielle Phillips credits mentors with helping support his journey from Chicago’s Southside to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to Holland Basham Architects in Omaha. As a Holland Basham associate he combines his architectural design talent, MBA expertise, servant leadership, and heart for neighborhoods to community and business sectors in underserved areas. Now secure in his career path thanks in part to mentors, he’s helping young blood mentee Noah Dogba, a Nebraska architecture major and an entrepreneur, do what it takes to become an urban designer and a community influencer in his own right.

“Many people stepped up to mentor me,” said Phillips, who earned double master’s degrees in architecture and business administration at UNL. “Every time I ask them how do I repay the kindness they showed me they say, ‘Pay it forward,’ and so I pay it forward. I’m being the kind of person I needed growing up. Maybe I can offer something to help the next person. Noah is that person and when he graduates he can do the same, too. We are part of the village and raised by the village so to speak.”

Though the two young men come from divergent backgrounds in some ways, they own parallel journeys in other ways. Phillips, 31, is an African American from the predominantly Black south side of Chicago. An only child born in Omaha, Nebraska, the 20-year-old Dogba spent his youth moving between West Africa — specifically Togo and Ghana — and the American suburbs.

Said Dogba, “We’re both Black males. That’s another thing that brings us close and something we can relate to together.“ The younger man concedes Phillips is like a big brother to him at times, though they both say they benefit and learn from each other.

After Phillips’ lost his father as a child, he was raised by his mother, grandmother and most of all his great grandmother, who took him and a cousin in.

“They helped to instill this passion in me to be a community and servant leader,” Phillips said. “Communities are better because people go out of the way to give back and improve conditions for others. Communities need people like this to create positive change and to maintain a good quality of life.”

His great grandmother went the extra mile. “She would make sacrifices for us. There were times she went without eating so there was something for me and my cousin to eat. Family would come over and stay overnight. It was a very loving household. We had our different struggles but overall I’m very happy with the way I grew up. Seeing her constantly giving back and wanting the best for us and encouraging us made me want to go out and do that for others. It made me the man I am today.”

Coming from Chicago’s culturally rich but economically poor south side to reach his dreams, he has a message of empowerment and resilience for Black youth that he shares with students at The Hope Center for Kids in North Omaha and with National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMAS) members at UNL

His community focus has earned him the Changemaker and Civic Engagement Champion award from the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce and a spot among the Midlands Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 ranks.

The idea of one day becoming a full-time educator appeals to him.

Meanwhile, Dogba has been influenced by the human services and community work of his emigre entrepreneur mother, Deborah Dogba. The former Peace Corps volunteer was a State of Nebraska professional, and today is a business coach, multi-media owner, and Salvation Army North Corps program director. Noah has followed suit by volunteering at the Stephen Center and Operation Others, working in guest relations at the Henry Doorly Zoo, and serving as a Step-Up program ambassador and Lifegate Church production team member.

He’s also contributed to his mother’s endeavors as Business Seals Summer Youth Entrepreneurship Program Development Team member, leading workshops on entrepreneurship, business idea development, logo design, fundraising and pitch preparation, and serving as lead project coordinator with MogulNest, a Business Seals incubator.

His giving back earned him Creighton Prep’s 2023 Community Service and Leadership Award and inclusion in The Bloc’s “20 Under 20” list.

The two-sport (basketball, track) varsity athlete in high school even formed an athletic shoe line with his mother, ND Kicks, and applied his entrepreneurial instincts to custom video editing.

“I am an innovator and creator,” he said.

He casts a wide net when it comes to cultivating skills and interests. “I’m someone who likes to have many different options. I call myself a buffet person. When I see someone doing something I would want to achieve I always ask myself, Why can’t I do the same thing? My big mission now is doing something that can combine my passions and interests. I am aspiring to one day have my own creative studio that spans across music, film, architecture and design, giving people a platform or a space where it’s okay to express themselves and find inspiration.”

Phillips is impressed by what he sees in Dogba. “He has a lot of integrity, ambition, and passion. He’s a go-getter. He’s also very business savvy. He’s had business ventures in the past and he has some ideas for new ones he wants to work on moving forward. What impresses me about him is his thought process – the way he describes his ideas and what he wants to do. It makes me want to encourage him the same way my great-grandmother encouraged me.

“He’s a young man who’s very curious about how things work and follows through on what he says he’s going to do.”

Dogba takes his mentor’s words to heart. “I want to be someone who finishes what he starts,” he said. “That’s something I got from my mom. I used to start something and just move onto the next thing. She really instilled in me being able to finish something I start even though I may not want to continue it.”

Although born in the United States, Dogba spent the majority of his early childhood in Togo with his maternal grandparents. It wasn’t until middle school that he moved to Nebraska permanently to live with his single mother. Just as her enterprising example made an impression on him, the giving nature of Phillips’ great-grandmother influenced him, which is why Dogba notes, “There’s a lot of similarities in our upbringing and in our ambitions.”

Both young men were encouraged by their families to excel in school and they did. Sharing an intense curiosity for the world around them as well as a flair for creative thinking, they responded to their built environments by asking questions and expressing a desire to have a hand in designing cities and neighborhoods.

Said Phillips, “My grandparents grew up in the Cabrini-Green projects in Chicago. I came to understand how that development came to be and socially what it did to people.”

The more he noticed that certain neighborhoods were run-down compared to others he asked why and came to understand the social-political-economic realities of development and design. Looking at disruptions caused by urban renewal, he’s interested in “how do you remedy a harm that’s been done,” adding, “I like to think about those things.”

Interrogating the how and why of things began as a boy and has never stopped.

“I started with the question of who decides what buildings look like. In doing my research I found that architects are partially responsible for that. There’s different ways that people go about developing areas. I learned about red lining and other practices. I learned about urban sprawl and how the suburbs came to be. Now working with the community as an architect I’ve found that you have to respond to the needs of people, you have to address quality of life issues.”

From early on, Phillips said, “I understood that architecture is a business and I wanted to understand the business of architecture.” That’s why he got dual master’s in architecture and business. “Then you’re in a position where you can really affect the quality of life and really make true change happen. I wanted to  learn social economics and sociology. I was able to grow in understanding the issues. Now I’m in a position to address those issues through the boards I serve on (Inland Port Authority, Urban League of Nebraska, Great Plains Black History Museum) and the projects I get to work on. I want it to be impactful. I want it to mean something.”

Because Dogba also wants to understand the big picture and to have his hand in all facets of the field he’s dropped pre-med studies in order to add a construction management minor to his architecture major. He wants to mirror what Phillips does.

“I admire the passion he has for things bigger than himself, like community and the people affected by the projects he works on,” Dogba said of Phillips. “When he does a project, he doesn’t think of it as his work. He’s a man of the people. That’s very inspiring, and it’s something I want to bring to my own work. I think that comes with intent and showing up for everyone.

“My goal is to make an impact and tell people’s stories through my work.”

The bi-cultural, multi-lingual Dogba said he wants his own impact to be “global,” extending all the way to Africa and beyond, adding, “Even if I were to work from Omaha I would like to impact different people around the world.” There’s too much out there for him to limit his reach. “I don’t think I’ll ever stop exploring, experiencing new people, new cultures, new stories, new things.”

He takes inspiration from Phillips in wanting to be a difference-maker wherever he lives and works. “We share a desire to pursue great things even though it might come at a difficult cost. Whatever the goal, no matter how difficult it is, we’re willing to put in the extra time. Making a difference in the community here will greatly impact what I’m able to do outside Omaha.”

Both mentor and mentee attended elite prep schools (Phillips in Chicago and Dogba in Omaha – Creighton Prep) and early on declared their interest in studying architecture.

Phillips gained a broader perspective on the world through study abroad and personal enrichment experiences in the United Kingdom, Europe, and China. He preceded Dogba at UNL by more than a decade and soon after graduating joined Holland Basham Architects.

Dogba displayed an early knack for inventing things and being business savvy,

The two young men were introduced to each other by Omaha Mayor chief of staff Thomas Warren who recognized their shared interests. Upon meeting Dogba Phillips immediately saw bits of himself in him.

“Definitely, especially the sense of curiosity and the passion to make the community better,” Phillips said.

Though Phillips is a working professional and Dogba is still in school, he said the difference between their Millennial and Generation Z origins is minimal. “I graduated with my master’s in 2019, so I’m not too far removed from being in the school environment Noah’s currently in,” said Phillips. That environment comes with challenges, both academically and socially. He can see that Dogba has “the drive” to do what it takes to not only get through but thrive in school. Dogba recently made the Dean’s List – affirmation of his “commitment” to succeed. Phillips makes himself available to Dogba as needed.

“If he’s presented with some of the challenges I’ve been presented with, then maybe I can offer a word from my experience that helps him navigate those challenges better so that when he’s 31 he’ll be in a better position. That’s part of my hope for him and why I want to give time and effort into answering his questions and being thoughtful in the way I deliver that. I’m here to help him navigate those challenges while remaining true to himself and why he’s in school, which is to get that degree to be able to move forward and do his thing in a career. I’m part of the next step that he’ll be taking once he graduates.”

More than anything, Phillips desires to smooth the way for Dogba and to see him reach his potential.

“I hope to take some time off his learning curve by giving him the experiences I’ve been through. I want him to be better than me when he gets into the professional world and opportunities are presented to him.”

Empowerment Network CEO and founder Willie Barney knew Dogba as a standout participant in its Step Up career exploration program. Dogba’s Step-Up experience included interning with the Omaha City Planning Department and joining an IT cohort at Metropolitan Community College. Barney introduced the then-teenager to NBA legend, entrepreneur and philanthropist Earvin “Magic” Johnson at a 2023 Rebuilding the Village conference in Omaha. Dogba impressed Johnson enough that he may do an L.A. internship under the living legend.

“I was encouraged to pitch myself to him,” Dogba said of his encounter with Johnson. “It was a great experience that sticks with me. Now, it’s much easier for me to pitch myself at career fairs—it’s something I actually enjoy.”

Dogba follows Phillips’ advice to leverage opportunities that come his way for meeting influencers. In 2019 Dogba attended an Africa Business Summit in Chicago with his mother that led to him conversing with H.E. Albert Muchanga, a Zambian national politician and diplomat then serving as commissioner for Economic Development, Trade, Tourism, Industry and Minerals of the African Union Commission. Dogba’s interactions with Muchanga, Barney, Warren, Phillips, Omaha city planners, architecture firms and UNL educators expose him to new ideas, networking and professional opportunities.

“I value building relationships and gaining insights from diverse perspectives. My goal is to connect with professionals across every field I explore.”

Phillips said besides the educational and career advancement opportunities afforded by such intersections, there’s value in interacting with people who think differently and who have different experiences. Such connections have helped him and he’s glad to see Dogba negotiating diverse spaces for the same purpose of building personal, professional and social capital. All of it feeds into the community-based, social enterprise architecture they both desire to practice. For them it’s all about serving people’s needs.

“My intention is to understand how things work and to be able to respond in a way that is effective,” said Phillips. “I know some people react out of fear, others react out of anger. I want to have a positive response to addressing the issues. I want to be able to address some things in the policy realm to make it easier for affordable housing to get built throughout the community so that areas that can really use it can benefit from it.”

Phillips plans to have Dogba job shadow him on Holland Basham projects he’s working on that pose different challenges when it comes to social-environmental impact, community and sustainability. Dogba looks forward to what he anticipates will be “a cool experience.” “I have the honor and privilege to be able to practice throughout the city, I’ve got a project on 204th Street and another project on 24th Street (Bryant Resource Center), so it behooves me to understand the different challenges throughout the city and how best to address them,” said Phillips.

Being responsive to the needs of underserved communities is a priority.

“There’s a housing shortage overall and an affordable housing shortage within that. There’s a lot of efforts being done especially in the urban core and it’s important having parameters in place to address different affordability ranges. Whether it’s so-called affordable housing or not, all housing should be built to a certain standard. I want to talk about affordable housing through a standard of quality. We need to be able to create those opportunities to put seniors and first-time home buyers into quality, affordable homes.”

While serving on a Front Porch greenlining committee, he said, the sensitive issue of gentrification came up. “One of the things we addressed is rising property taxes, access to obtain quality attainable housing, and the effects of development and reinvestment happening in the community so there’s no displacement of people that have been there for a very long time.”

Dogba can’t wait to be his wingman on projects that impact people’s lives in fundamental ways, knowing he has much to learn from his mentor.

For his part, Phillips sees nothing but a bright future ahead for his mentee. “I think he has it in him to be way better than me. Anyway I can help propel his success. I will do so. He’s definitely someone I want to invest in.”

Dogba is confident they will remain in each other’s lives. “I think it’s a lifelong bond,” he said. “We have mutual respect and want to see each other continue to grow. That won’t be lost over time.”