Career Path Of An Administrative Fellow At City Of Hope
Saba's career path evolved from a chemistry major to a focus on advocacy and public health, driven by a desire to "make one person's life better". Their experience in student government, internships with a congressman and nonprofits like Blue Future and Rise, progressively channeled their passion for elections and community engagement toward public health, culminating in the current Administrative Fellow role at City of Hope.
Public Health, Nonprofit, Student Government, Political Advocacy, Career Pivoting
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Saba Ansari
Administrative Fellow
City of Hope
Cal State Fullerton, graduated in 2019
University of Michigan, Masters in Public Health
Political Science, American Studies
Healthcare, Medical & Wellness, Nonprofit, Foundations & Grantmaking
Operations and Project Management
Worked 20+ Hours in School
Video Highlights
1. Saba's undergraduate career started with chemistry, but her passion for advocacy led her to heavily involve herself in student government, working her way up to vice president.
2. Her internships at a congressman's office, Blue Future (a non-profit focused on youth voter turnout), and Rise (combining elections work with hunger and homelessness initiatives) provided valuable experience in the public sector and non-profit work.
3. Saba's career path demonstrates the value of combining interests; her background in science combined with her passion for advocacy and public service led to her current role in healthcare administration.
Transcript
Could you walk me through your career path, starting with your experiences in college? Please include any internships or jobs you had before your current role.
Absolutely. I started my undergraduate career as a chemistry major. I was looking for any and all opportunities to do things outside of chemistry.
I immediately joined student government and was mainly interested in advocacy and getting people out to vote. I did this for the rest of my four years at Cal State Fullerton, becoming heavily involved in student government.
I worked my way up and, by the time I was graduating, I was the vice president. We did a lot of lobbying at the state, local, and federal levels. It was there I realized I wanted to work closely with people and figure out how I could make a more direct impact.
My peers always told me that if you make one person's life better, you've done your job. Towards the end of my undergraduate career, I realized I wanted to combine my love for working directly with people with my interest in health and the sciences. I was trying to figure out the best way to combine these two things I enjoyed.
Primarily, I was involved in student government and heavily invested in all things elections. I also interned at a congressman's office and at Blue Future, a nonprofit focused on elections and youth voter turnout.
During my last year of undergrad, I started working at Rise. They were also working on elections, and that was essentially everything I was doing at the time. However, Rise was also focused on hunger and homelessness work, and that is what really drew me further into public health.
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