Why did you choose Simmons University and your majors/minors?
My cousin went to Simmons, and originally I started in the nursing program. It didn't fit, so I decided to switch, starting first with managerial marketing because I wanted to work in business. I liked the rigor of it.
Then I did political science because I wanted my ethos to be balanced out. At the time, I thought of business as being very corporate, very capitalistic, and very unjust, which didn't match with me. So political science was the way for me to balance that out. It makes a lot of sense that I ended up now working at the crossroads of strategy, which is the business piece of it, and then impact, which is the political science piece.
Are there skills you learned at Simmons that you continue to use today?
What stands out are the projects in my marketing classes. I use those skills today. We had to draft our own business plan, which is so funny now, because back then it would be a whole semester project, and now, I can draft a business plan in five days.
What has been so impactful is not so much the business plan, but how I learned to think through the business landscape. Now I would never write a traditional business plan. I've moved away from that. But I use the process of creating a strategy and looking for small solutions.
What impact did attending a women’s-centered institution have on you?
What was beneficial for me was the psychological safety that happened in the classroom. There was this concern people had when I was going to Simmons. They asked, “Well, how are you going to learn how to manage and work with men?” But I found that didn’t matter. It allowed you to show up to class as you are.
That psychological safety was within the students. It’s just a different dynamic. You don't get made fun of, you can just be. It was an equalizer.
What advice would you give current students?
I wish I had documented my experience more. I wish I had journaled about it. I was so intent on completing and finishing and getting to this next point, getting this grade or check marking things, that I feel like I missed experiencing and enjoying the experience. I think at least, if I had journaled it, I could, like, at least relive some of it and like, at least experience it that way.