>> So I went to Rollins College and I majored in international relations, which I love.
It was another way that I could take a multi-disciplinary approach
to different problems.
And that's something I continue to do in my career today.
I wrote an honor thesis on [inaudible] political communities when I was here,
so I got to design a research project.
And I think one of the things that I got the most
from Rollins was critical thinking skills because, when I was taking a wide variety
of classes with different peers and different professors,
I was really able to learn different ways to approach a problem.
So I'm able to take that same set of skills and apply it today and to be able to look
at an issue and how it concerns many different stakeholders and then kind
of troubleshoot the best solution.
So I went to grad school right away, which isn't something I recommend for everybody,
but I had a very, I think, clear focus on skills I wanted to get.
I wasn't quite sure how I was going to apply them.
I thought I would have more of an international focus than I do but,
when I got out into the field, I realized that I was really good as a change agent
for public service organizations and helping them get to be
where they wanted to be; so I fine-tuned that.
I still had the opportunity to work in the international field differently
without needing to do the travel.
But I think one of the things that surprised me was how well Rollins prepared me to go
to graduate school and to think like on a higher level.
During graduate school, I worked as an assistant with the Fellowship that I now direct
and realized that I had this passion for not only helping organizations grow but individuals
who are interested in public service.
So I've been with that Fellowship now for seven years.
But I think, besides that, I started to target roles where it really seemed
to like there wasn't one generic day-to-day.
Because I realized that if the job was going to entail the same thing on a day-to-day basis,
9 to 5, that was not going to be a situation where I felt motivated to go to work,
and I really want to feel challenged.
So I typically take organizations that I can tell are struggling or roles that haven't
yet been defined and try step in so I can help define them.