“I grew so much after I left ϳԹվ," remarked Sara Edel ’02. Through the mentorship of friends, she explained, she developed the confidence and leadership skills to build professional relationships.
Her advice to students is not to be shy about networking. “There’s no shame in this game,” she stressed, adding that she secured at least three job interviews “out of nowhere” thanks to the ϳԹվ alumni network.
"Now, I like to tell people I do sociology for profit,” said Edel, who majored in the subject before pursuing a successful career in marketing. “I use my sociology skills every day,” added the consumer insights consultant and brand strategist.
Edel was one of several alumni who came to campus recently to offer leadership advice to students as they consider career options.
The conversation was the final phase of a new four-week program hosted by a new leadership development initiative in Student Affairs, along with the Center for Multicultural Life, the Office of Career Exploration and Development, and Thrive, an initiative aimed at helping students from the first generation to college or from a limited-income background.
The Center for Multicultural Life’s Jasmine Ross helped organize the program. “We are looking at how to activate student leaders who may not originally think of themselves as leaders or who want to learn more about their leadership styles,” said Ross. The goal, she explained, is to incorporate your identity into your leadership style and the way you engage with leadership.
Over the four weeks, students learned how to discover their individual leadership styles and boost their career readiness by developing leadership skills to set them up for success after ϳԹվ.
“I have been told multiple times my interview skills were the reason I was picked for a job, and that’s because of all the practice I did here.” Edgardo Sepulveda ’15.
The final session of the program involved connecting with four multicultural alumni, including Edel, who spoke to students about the various ways they have learned to bring their identity and moral compass into their leadership style.
History and gender, sexuality, and women’s studies major Maya Dowling Wolfe ’23, who is the interim director of identity and culture at ϳԹվ, said she never regarded herself as a traditional leader (“I was never the president of a club or anything”). But, she explained to the students, her ϳԹվ experience helped her develop the confidence and “soft” leadership skills required to land her current job and her forthcoming position at Northeastern University, where she will go in July to become assistant director of the Asian American center.
Edgardo Sepulveda ’15 describes himself as working in the fintech space in Chicago, where he is vice president at a major financial services company. When he arrived at ϳԹվ, Sepulveda explained, he came from a first-generation, under-resourced, immigrant background (his family are from “the hills of the Dominican Republic”), meaning he had little knowledge about the skills required to navigate the career marketplace. In his senior year, though, Sepulveda took advantage of the career planning center (as CXD was then called), learning how to network and how to talk to potential employers. “I have been told multiple times my interview skills were the reason I was picked for a job, and that’s because of all the practice I did here,” he said.
Another key quality of leadership is to be your true and authentic self, said Adriennie Hatten ’90. “You’re going to be happiest and most productive when you’re at your most authentic,” explained the anthropology and sociology major. Just as important, she added, is to allow others the same privilege. “If people are in a space where they cannot be who they are, it’s going to be difficult for them to be at their most innovative,” said Hatten, a leading management consultant with extensive experience in the nonprofit and education fields. “Even if you have to criticize people, they can accept that criticism if you’ve fostered a culture where we get to be ourselves, because we all make mistakes.” If you’re pushing people to play a part, she stressed, you’re raising the risk that things could fall apart or “fall through the cracks.”
Click here to learn more about career skills workshops and other programs run by CXD.
