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How Did I Get to Where I Am?
I was recently asked by a student for some career advice. Like many talented young adults, this person was at a crossroads wondering what to do upon completion of her undergraduate degree. Faced with a myriad of options ranging from graduate school to Americorps to getting a good old-fashioned job, she asked, "How did you get to where you are?"
How did I arrive at Global Explorers? It's hard to say. As I look back at the past twenty years, it seems at times strategic and at others random career and personal decisions led to my current life's passion at Global Explorers.
My abbreviated history would read something like this: After receiving my B.S. in Biology from Xavier University, I spent three years working as a staff member or intern at informal environmental/wildlife education centers in different parts of the U.S. During that time, I was fortunate enough to start traveling a bit throughout the world, including a transformative three month trip through Central America. During these years, though I knew that I loved teaching kids, I found myself drawn to strategic discussions about education, leadership and global conservation. I went to graduate school at Duke University hoping to deepen my understanding of these areas. Grad school provided me a great growth opportunity, though not necessarily in the areas that I expected. Most of all, it connected me with a network of amazing individuals that I continue to cultivate to this day. I traveled more as a result of grad school and the connections I made... to South America, Africa and Asia. Through a seemingly random set of circumstances that I attribute to my dog Flash, I headed out to Colorado to lead up a new environmental center called The Catamount Institute. At Catamount, I learned a great deal about building a nonprofit organization from the ground up. Four years later, due to a combination of luck and acquired skills, Julie Dubin, a grad school friend, and I launched Global Explorers.
That's it.
Well, not really.
This history, though accurate, hardly portrays the reality of the decision-making processes along the way. Two years after college, I took a nine month foray into learning about community organizing in poor communities. I took unpaid jobs, barely paid jobs and short-term jobs both through college and after to help make ends meet and to give me good career exposure. In grad school, I almost went the DC conservation organization route, thinking I would eventually head up some country conservation program in Latin America. I spent six months working on a still-unfinished book. I ran into a neighbor in North Carolina who was looking for a home for my dog Flash. Because I took Flash, I started talking with her about careers and she connected me to the folks who would eventually hire me at the Catamount Institute. My colleague Julie randomly ended up in the same town as me in Colorado because her husband decided that, of all places, Colorado Springs was where he would do his residency program for becoming a medical doctor. We got to talking and crafted Global Explorers and through a combination of luck, timing, relevant experience and skill, received start-up funds to launch the organization we dreamed of back in graduate school.
At many points along the way, I feel I could easily have gone any number of other routes. Would those routes have led me to Global Explorers? I'll never know. Through all of my experiences, travel continued to provide me with fresh perspectives on myself and the world. I came to understand that travel was something I passionately wanted to share with others.
My advice to young people is colored by my own experiences. My process worked for me and I can only hope it will work for others, even though today's job market is incredibly competitive and sometimes daunting.
In short, I would say, participate in experiences, whether they are jobs, internships or education, that sharpen your creativity, your ability to multi-task, your understanding of how things really get done, your opportunities to work with diverse groups of people and your chance to take leadership roles no matter how small. When you're in your job or internship, make the very most of it. No job will ever fulfill everything you want but give 110% to it and always look for and ask for new growth opportunities. As an employer, generally speaking, when I’m looking to hire, I much more value on-the-job experiences than education. I want to see that you understand how to get things done given limited resources and diverse teams. And I want examples that show me you've done this.
Last of all, I would say follow your passions and trust that they will lead you in the right direction.
