Major(s): College of Letters
Minor(s): Medieval Studies
What is your current role? What was your journey in arriving there?
I am currently the Chief of Staff for Ameelio, a tech nonprofit in the criminal justice sector. I was first motivated to join the criminal justice reform space and amend systemic inequalities following my First Year Seminar at Wesleyan. However the path to get involved in change seemed unclear and unattainable. After finishing up my bachelor’s in the College of Letters, my first job out of college was as a government consultant at Booz Allen. My experience there working across federal government agencies helped me pivot towards engaging with the government agencies that run our country’s prisons, jails, and juvenile detention centers. The two main pivot areas I’ve taken so far have been: 1) shifting from a humanities background into a consulting firm and 2) moving from a huge consulting firm into the nonprofit sector. Both of these changes took a lot of soul-searching and clear articulation to the decision makers that ultimately brought me onboard.
What do you enjoy about your work? What challenges does your industry currently face?
I really enjoy that my role provides me with a lot of autonomy to structure my days and that I have a lot of responsibility with downstream effects. It gives me a deep sense of pride to know that my efforts translate into a meaningful difference for incarcerated people and their families. There are naturally a lot of difficulties that arise when tackling such a massive, complicated systemic issue (mass incarceration). But it’s incredible to be working alongside extremely motivated, intelligent, and thoughtful people towards a common goal. I do think that the wheels of progress turn slowly and that incremental change is happening. It can just be challenging to see these changes in a day-to-day sense.
Do you have any advice for students thinking about entering your industry?
It depends on what you think my industry is! I think the strategies for entering the nonprofit sector are generally quite different from the tech sector and the criminal justice sector. I would recommend finding organizations and roles with a track record of hiring candidates from schools like Wesleyan. It makes things a lot easier when you don’t have to advocate for the virtues of a liberal arts education. Searching for companies that embrace innovation, intellectual curiosity, and critical thinking will all serve you well in demonstrating that you’re a strong candidate. If it’s hard to ascertain that from a website, job description, or LinkedIn page, then try your best to speak directly with an existing employee. Knowing ‘the inside scoop’ from the beginning typically pays off down the road.
How did your time at Wesleyan influence your career choice/journey?
I was incredibly lucky to have worked at the Gordon Career Center and engage with a multitude of prospective recruiters and other students to understand what pathways were out there. I knew that I was never going to have a linear career, especially given that my starting place was the College of Letters. I started with such a broad, generalist skillset that really just developed an innate sense of curiosity and adaptability. All I had been seeking after COL were opportunities that either benefited people through public services, public resources, or public infrastructure. My focus on other people, however abstractly, probably stemmed from all the literature, philosophy, and history I was reading – those things are inherently ‘people-focused’.
Navigating the world of work has been difficult because of course I had to pick a certain job title or a certain industry and typically those things force you into pinning down a narrow scope. Fortunately, I was able to identify roles that allowed me to preserve a large scope and a vague title and I will likely continue to keep doing that – ha!
Updated as of February 4th, 2025
