Please give a brief background on yourself and your career.
Right now I’m working in Arusha, Tanzania with the Accelerating Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship (AISE) team to build and support an innovative and entrepreneurial ecosystem in Tanzania, beginning with Arusha and its surrounding communities. We run Creative Capacity Building workshops, hold events and showcase local technologies in our Community Space, and offer an Innovation Space for people to explore their inner creators. We are a small team of mostly Tanzanians – in fact, as the only non-native-Kiswahili speaker and female-identified person, I am a bit of the odd one out for now. My title is Director of Development, which has translated to me heading the business development side of the organization, amongst other things. This can involve anything from strategizing the big next steps, to defining our brand, to writing grants and reports for donors, to designing the furniture for our Community Space, to contacting potential advisers, to photographing our daily activities, to recruiting, interviewing, hiring, and training new employees.
In the end, I spend most of my time making things happen for my much more skilled colleagues by helping them define their individual goals to co-design pathways to success that fall under our mission at AISE that all of us are deeply passionate about.
How has your career changed since you originally envisioned it at Wellesley? What other careers did you consider as a student?
Like most Wellesley graduates, I studied something seemingly unrelated to what I currently do – astrophysics. I say “seemingly” because it’s the notion of unexpected connections and explanations that attracted me to astrophysics, and it is pretty similar in this world.
Also similar to many Wellesley graduates, I had no idea what I wanted to do when I graduated. I bounced from designing solar-powered autoclaves in Nicaragua, to researching love, sex, and marriage in India, to starting a financial literacy company in Tennessee. As a student, I was always dreaming about an even wider net of options – just ask any of my friends who witnessed me take classics courses convinced I would study literature, and then turn around and take architecture studios and music seminars. My jagged path took a little big longer for me to settle, but it was perfect for landing me here, in a “dream job” of sorts. I am incredibly grateful for my amazing luck getting all the opportunities and help I received, and of course, if there is some way I can help you (or if you just want to chat!), gentle reader, please let me know!
How has Wellesley contributed to your career?
Wellesley was (and still is, I hope!) this unbelievable mix of people, thoughts, and challenges. Everything I thought I knew was turned upside-down on a fairly regular basis, whether it was some mind-blowing reading for class, late-night discussions on the porch of our Orchard apartment, or that moment I finally grasped what “privilege” meant. People at Wellesley accepted my ignorance and embraced my differences, and that was such a new experience. I learned to be myself at Wellesley and realized that I have the ability to create my own path. As I have begun to say here: inawezakana (“It is possible”).
What is a typical work day or work week like for you?
The most frequent parts of my work day involve a lot of working with the team and planning, whether it is thinking about which schools and organizations we should partner with, or how to distribute our budget, or evaluating the value of various potential revenue streams. Like many jobs, mine has no “typical work day,” though the one common thread is the inability to get everything that I want to get done completed. Which I have accepted as reality. I am fortunate to have a team who really values the work-life balance, and though we do all work a little too much, we still respect each other’s time for families, friends, and selves.
What piece of advice would you offer students looking to get into your area of interest and expertise?
- Be open. Feel free to explore, if you have the resources and ability to do so, and I don’t mean just career-wise. Physically explore new (and old!) places. Take advantage of random opportunities, if you can, and always be learning. Reflect often – actively take time to just pause and/or think. Wander. Wonder.
- Find life mentors and supporters. Work experience is more valuable than I ever understood at Wellesley. Advice based on real stories and experiences will surprise you. Conversations will help fuel both the optimism and criticism you need for this type of career. And do not underestimate the importance of having loved ones around. It’s easy to lose touch with your friends, especially when you’re overseas with time zone conflicts and meeting new people. There is a special quality to Wellesley friends though (or maybe I have just been fortunate enough to have this experience).
- Know that this “do-gooder” lifestyle is not so straightforward and glamorous as people tend to think. Everyday, I question my role as a privileged foreigner working in “Africa.” Everyday, I guilt myself into thinking I am not doing enough. Everyday, I wonder if anything I’m doing has any purpose or meaning, and if it is actually doing good or if I am responsible for creating negative impact. After all, that Wellesley critical eye is ingrained in all of us, and of course, outsiders will add criticism for you and your work. But, honestly, nothing can replace that transition from the theoretical to the actual to truly understand what this is all about, and if you are able and ready to really look at yourself and evaluate your actions and understand the bigger picture, then karibu sana (” very welcome”) to this sort of work!
What do you wish you had known as a student?
Learn people’s stories! Especially professors, speakers, staff, alums, and obviously, other students. We’re all such interesting people with such different journeys and passions and ways of thinking. Wellesley attracts such specific yet diverse people – I wish I had spent more time exploring the reasons why.
If you could come back and take one class at Wellesley what would it be?
There are too many! I never had a chance to take any economics, political science, psychology, sociology, or WGST courses, and I would absolutely love to go back and rectify that.