Interview by Nina Angeles
- Can you share with us your experiences at Northeastern and specifically at SEI and how it impacted your life after Northeastern?
I graduated in May 2013 with a dual major in International Affairs and Anthropology and minors in Social Entrepreneurship and Latin, Latin American, and Caribbean Studies. I completed my first co-op at Boston Medical Center’s Grow Clinic for Children, and then spent my middler year abroad, spending one semester studying in Costa Rica and eight months teaching English in Honduras. I returned to Boston with a new perspective on poverty, and a conviction that there had to be a better way to solve problems than some of the traditional development projects I had seen, many of which seemed inefficient, ineffective, or both. I began taking Social Entrepreneurship (2206) with Professor Shaughnessy as soon as I came back to campus, and the concepts immediately clicked with my practical mindset. A seed had been planted!
I participated in the Dominican Republic & Cuba micro-finance field study through SEI, and then went on to complete my third co-op at Interise, a Boston-based nonprofit that provides management training to small business owners. Before graduating I took the Social Entrepreneurship Capstone class and was a Teaching Assistant for our spring break trip to Nicaragua, and then for the DR field study after I graduated.
The most valuable opportunities I had at Northeastern and through SEI were those that allowed me to learn by getting my hands dirty (sometimes figuratively speaking, but often literally speaking!). As I became more involved in SEI and spent most of my upperclassmen years away from classrooms, my learning style evolved to become less academic and more practical. I think this has definitely followed me away from Northeastern, helping me become a quick learner in any situation, and also led me to take my next step with the Frontier Market Scouts fellowship this year.
- Tell us about your experience in the FMS program at MIIS. Do you feel 2206 and your time at SEI prepared you well for the program?
Frontier Market Scouts is a fellowship program run by the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey whose mission is to train young and mid-career professionals from all different backgrounds for careers in the impact sector. It consists of a two-week training, resulting in a graduate certificate in Social Enterprise Management and Impact Investing, followed by a 2-12 month field placement anywhere in the world.
At the time I applied, I was working as an International Co-op Counselor at NU, and although I enjoyed my job immensely, I hadn’t lost sight of my goal to build my career in the social enterprise sector. I thought FMS would be the perfect step to transition and refocus back on what I wanted to pursue, and luckily was accepted.
I felt (and continue to feel) extremely fortunate to have received a strong academic base of knowledge on social entrepreneurship from SEI’s classes, especially during the intensive FMS training. That being said, I also learned tons of new knowledge at the training, both from the instructors—who are not professors, but professionals currently working in leadership positions in the impact field—and from my fellow cohort members, who were coming from fields as diverse as finance, environmental engineering, law, nonprofits, marketing, education, and more.
- We’ve been hearing great things about your time in Colombia! What did you do while you were there and do you plan on going back one day?
Thanks to FMS, I was able to spend six months working for a startup social enterprise in Bogotá, Colombia for my field placement. I knew from the start that I wanted to be in Colombia, where tons of really exciting things are happening in the social entrepreneurship field, and that I wanted to be in a small, startup environment where I would get to see and touch many different sides of the business that I might not be able to interact with much in a larger organization.
The startup, formerly known as SokoText Colombia and recently rebranded as Agruppa, is working to make fresh fruit and vegetables available to more people at better prices, while benefitting local small businesses along the way. They use mobile technology to aggregate the demand for fruits and vegetables in low-income, urban neighborhoods, source their products in bulk and directly from farmers, and thus are able to offer fresh, healthy, nutritious food at lower prices.
Since Agruppa was not yet operating while I was there, I was able to spend time working on supply chain research, market research, and fundraising, since we were actively looking for investment. On any given day, you might have found me working from our co-working space at SociaLab, where Agruppa is part of the portfolio of social businesses; working from home in my apartment or at a coffee shop; driving around tiny towns in the mountains outside of Bogotá with my team searching for potato farmers (quite literally stopping and asking random folks if they knew any potato farmers); or walking around different neighborhoods in Bogotá performing market research with store owners and building relationships with potential customers. However every day without fail you could find me drinking delicious Colombian coffee!
Colombia is a beautiful country with an undoubtedly complex history, but the collective desire for progress is truly a thing to behold. The government even has a slogan—“todos por un nuevo país”—that evokes a powerful feeling of everyone coming together to rebuild a new country after many years of violence. Despite the outdated, sensationalist image of 1980s Colombia still being glorified in the media (*ahem* Netflix), I think that if you choose to visit, you’ll find that Colombia is more inspiring and exciting than you ever imagined. And the entrepreneurship ecosystem is booming! I eagerly look forward to going back one day.
- What are your plans moving forward and where do you ideally want to be (career and location) in the future?
I am only slightly ashamed to admit that currently one of the most important drivers for where I’d like to go next is that I am terrified of suffering through another Boston winter. I grew up in Connecticut, but somewhere along the way my New Englander blood thinned out and left me completely defenseless. So all my serious options at the moment just happen to be in places that do not get very cold. My mother is both sad (the places are far) and happy (the places are good vacation spots).
On a more serious note, I left my FMS placement feeling more convinced than ever that I need to pursue a business education. After seeing my teammates at Agruppa working through endless real-life problems in their young business, I feel very strongly that I need to add more tools to my belt for solving business problems like the ones they were dealing with. I’m currently exploring options for an MBA in Buenos Aires (news flash, education outside of the US is much cheaper!), as well as work opportunities in the burgeoning entrepreneurship scene in Miami.
- What advice can you give to graduating seniors and for students who want to pursue a career in the social enterprise space?
The best thing about pursuing a career in the social enterprise space is also the most terrifying one: there is no existing path. It’s a new field that is constantly evolving around new ideas, new people, and new technologies, and building a career in it is not your father’s corporate ladder-climbing. But although the path ahead may not always be entirely clear to you, this just means that at every turn, you choose where you want to go!
I think the most important thing as a graduating senior or recent grad hoping to build their career in this space is to be patient with yourself. Though you may have set your sights on becoming the founder of the next hot social enterprise, remember that even those professionals that you admire so much started somewhere! I’ve said it to many graduating seniors (after saying it to myself many times as well): your first job—or even your second or third or fourth—doesn’t have to be your dream job. In fact, it’s pretty likely that it won’t—and that’s okay.
I think while we are in college we often get the idea that as soon as we have that diploma in our hands, we are reborn as Fully Developed Professionals and Adults. However the reality is that you’ll be (I hope!) learning for the rest of your life. Each job you take—from that waitressing gig to that competitive consultancy—will teach you something unique and form a new part of your personal and professional character.
Your career path isn’t a straight line—it will likely be a series of stepping stones, each one leading you to the next. In each job that you have, think about what how it can bring you to your next step: what new skills or knowledge are you learning? What part of this job puts you outside of your comfort zone? What skills or experiences would you like to build next when it’s time to take your next step?
Insert that cheesy Dr. Seuss line about having brains, and feet, and going any direction you choose.
