Kai Roberts, a 2015 graduate from Carnegie Mellon University, has always been a seeker of excellence. This has resulted in a history of being an honor and high honor student from his time at Pittsburgh Phillips Elementary School to Frick International Studies Academy (ISA) Middle School to Schenley High School.
While still in high school, he got involved in the Saturday Arts Greenhouse, a hip-hop music education program on the CMU campus that serves Pittsburgh teens through music technology classes, music recording projects, hip-hop performances and workshops on special topics relating to the hip-hop genre.
“I learned so much on those Saturdays, met so many mentors,” Roberts says. “I never thought I’d be one of the instructors in a few short years.”
He was originally in the CMU engineering program, but by his sophomore year he decided to pursue music. This was not surprising, as he comes from a musical family.
“My mother has a fabulous voice,” Roberts explains. “My dad used to DJ on the side, and my brother and I would sometimes help out, plus I sang in the Schenley (High School) Boys Barbershop Quartet and with the Madrigal Vocal Ensemble, directed by Rick Finkelstein.
“I knew this was my passion, plus my interest in music production started in sixth grade, but I did not have the opportunity to learn about it until ninth grade when I entered the Arts Greenhouse,” Roberts continues.
Interested in the business side of music, Roberts changed his major and graduated at age 23 with a degree in business administration, with a focus on marketing and a minor in engineering.
During the autumn of his junior year, the stress of Roberts’ school schedule, his outside business, being a resident advisor on campus and maintaining his hip-hop artistry caused him to develop extreme anxiety and depression. This resulted in a series of trips to the emergency room and visits to the campus health center.
“I had no idea what was going on,” he shares. “Finally someone from the health center suggested that my symptoms could be due to anxiety.”
His condition got so severe that he had to step back from school for the rest of that semester. His approach to his illness was to learn all he could by investing the time, energy and effort on finding out about mental health disorders.
“I was shocked to find out how common this was and right then, I knew that I wanted find a way to increase awareness and inform others,” Roberts says.
His father, Blair Roberts, a University of Pittsburgh employee, and mother, Yolanda Roberts, a City of Pittsburgh police officer, were very supportive.
“I told my son that there is nothing to be ashamed of when things fall apart, especially when he was doing all the things he was doing and doing them all well,” says his mother. “We let him know that we were there for him and would support whatever he needed to get through this.”
Upon his return to school, Roberts immediately approached Student Affairs administrators about the possibility of conducting information sessions and conversations about the prevalence of anxiety and depression on college campuses.
“I just wanted to share my story so no one would be blindsided the way I was,” Roberts says. “I wanted to come up with a creative way to do this; it was clear to me that music was a way to do it.”
Roberts turned his personal challenge into an opportunity to become an agent for change. He received authorization to host the “Carnegie Café Conversations” and produced a full-length, hip-hop album, which he aptly titled “Carnegie Café,” that addresses his college experience along with his story. The album is digitally distributed, and Roberts was awarded funding from CMU’s Student Affairs so it could be distributed among the students at the information sessions.
Additionally, he joined the Active Minds Speakers Bureau, a mental health advocacy group at CMU and other campuses nationwide that works to increase students’ awareness of mental health issues, provides information and resources regarding mental health and mental illness, and encourages students to seek help as soon as it is needed.
Roberts’ brilliant smile and the gleam in his eyes do not reflect his former challenges with anxiety, but rather a man excited about his future.
“I’m ready to transition from college life to the real world, and while there are still a few stressors and emotionally I’ve been better, I’m still passionate about my music, about helping others, and about the next steps in my life.”
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