Career Path of an Engagement Manager at University of Michigan

I was an English literature major in college at California State University, Northridge. While I was there, I did a lot of volunteer work. I started in retail and knew I wanted to get into the social justice space, but I wasn't sure what I wanted to do.

I volunteered with different organizations working on social issues. About halfway through college, I had the opportunity to work for Greenpeace, an environmental organization. I enjoyed that work but realized my passion was more for supporting people through difficult times.

While finishing my undergraduate education, I started volunteering for the Red Cross. After graduation, the Red Cross offered me a full-time paid position, which was incredible. Through that work, I had an interesting job doing disaster preparation with community partners and organizations. I worked in the Disaster Response Unit, focusing on helping underserved populations prepare for disasters in Southern California.

Through this work, I met many nonprofit organizations. Pepperdine University reached out about a new department connecting alumni in nonprofit and social justice work. I went to work for Pepperdine, focusing on community engagement and partnership, particularly with underserved populations in Southern California.

There, I met a professor starting a new program called Social Entrepreneurship and Change, focused on a triple bottom line: profit, people, and the planet. This appealed to me, and I realized it was more my calling than an MBA. I started the program, which included a Capstone experience instead of a thesis.

I went to Kenya and worked with women in Nairobi who were becoming the primary breadwinners for their families. It was a life-changing experience. Upon returning, I wanted to be more directly involved in helping people.

I started working for a social enterprise that supported people with cancer, focusing on everything except the medical side. We helped with yoga, meditation, and other practices that had clinical benefits, such as ensuring medication adherence and aiding recovery after surgery. This role taught me a lot about the business practices of social entrepreneurship with a focus on doing good.

Based on that work, I transitioned to UCLA. I worked with a program in the economics department for undergraduates called the Social Entrepreneurship [unclear]. It was an incredible program where students worked directly with nonprofits to create a social enterprise arm, benefiting the local Los Angeles community.

Through that role, I connected UCLA alumni with current students to focus on the practical application of theories learned in class. It was a dream job, but then my family moved to Michigan.

I was fortunate to transition to working at the University of Michigan. My current job is with a data archive, which is the world's oldest and largest social science data archive. We have data from various sources, including social media, brain imaging of patients, and the entire COVID-19 data repository.

If you need data related to social science research, this is where it lives. I work in Communications and Engagement, ensuring everyone can access and find the data they need. I work remotely from California for the University of Michigan, which can sometimes lead to early morning meetings, but otherwise, I really love it.