Thanks for including me in the Social Impact Yodas community – although these days, I look and feel more like Chewbacca! 😊 I hope my advice can be of help to others who are interested in breaking into the social impact sector.
Q: Please share about your organization and your current role.
I work at Kaiser Permanente on the Community Health team, which is broadly focused on addressing the systemic drivers of health outcomes, such as housing, food, and economic insecurity. The team I work on specifically focuses on improving economic well-being for individuals, small businesses, and their surrounding communities through partnerships with community organizations. As a graduate intern, It’s been great to learn so much from my peers and provide operational and research support for the different portfolios on the team. I’m really inspired by Kaiser Permanente’s commitment to equity and inclusiveness, and I am proud to have been here when the organization recently announced a $60M joint investment with LISC and a $40M commitment to support businesses led by Black and other underrepresented groups.
Q: Please briefly share your professional background with us.
I’ve been fortunate to have had a long career working across many industries. The common thread for me has been an interest in applying a data and research-driven approach to problems. I started out in banking at UBS, working as an analyst in portfolio management for ~2 years, later transitioning into journalism as a freelance reporter for a few years. I then switched my focus to philanthropy, spending 7 years at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation focused on education research.
My time at the Gates Foundation was incredibly fulfilling, and I drew great inspiration from both the mission and the people. As a Data Officer, I provided data analysis and research insights to support the development of new investments and performance management of program strategies. While I worked on U.S. based programs, I was also always in awe of the Foundation’s global impact and was continually learning about the incredible work across various divisions.
I recently completed my MBA from Berkeley, where I did a few internships to gain additional perspectives across the corporate finance, social enterprise, and healthcare sectors. Finding the right balance between data work and social impact is something I am constantly evaluating. I believe that the work to become a social impact professional is never done and I am constantly learning and improving my existing skill sets.
Q: What are the most important skills to succeed in your job?
A sense of curiosity, a growth mindset, a collaborative approach, effective communication, a determination to clear out roadblocks in projects, a strong point of view, and taking action to drive work forward.
I’ve always deeply admired leaders who’ve been able to demonstrate values-based leadership, and I aspire to grow that competency.
Q: How do you balance your work/life? Or, do you balance work/life?
I’ve answered this differently at different phases of my life. Ideally, you’re giving yourself enough breaks to allow yourself to rejuvenate and feel excited to do the work – and if you’re lucky enough, it doesn’t actually feel like work. I think there’s a tendency particularly in social impact work to burn out, because it’s not just a job – it’s a mission to which you are committed.
But, the truth is there are times in which finding a balance was difficult. When I was a part-time MBA student with a full-time job, I had to accept there would be a few years of imbalance. But I wanted to push myself, so I accepted that discomfort.
I think this pandemic has made me reevaluate this question and prioritize self-care more intentionally.
Q: What advice would you give to others who are looking to work in social impact careers?
I was recently introduced to the 3P Framework for Social Innovators which resonated with me. It’s a flexible framework that introduces some questions that help frame how an individual may contribute to social impact, and hopefully narrow down which types of organizations and roles to target:
(Source: http://sici.hks.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/3Ps-Framework_SICI-Note-004.pdf)
I’m paraphrasing and adding my own interpretation to this framework, but answering these set of questions may be useful for someone thinking of going down this path:
- Problem: What is the nature of the problem you’d like to be involved with? What are the key stakeholders’ perspectives on the issue?
- Person: What are your personal motivations? What are your skill sets? How and in what function would you like to contribute? How ‘close’ to the end recipient do you want to be? What are the sources of power that contribute to this issue?
- Pathway: What are the potential vehicles for change? What are existing solutions in this space? What models are being used and what stage of development do you want to participate in (for instance, early stage/exploratory, incubation/development, or scaling tested interventions)?
Q: What other advice do you have for those aspiring to a career in social impact?
- You’d think nonprofits would be countercyclical with the economy, but my observation has been the opposite. There are always outsized community needs and funding shortages. Brace yourself for that environment, whether you choose to work on the nonprofit or funder side.
- Don’t feel pigeonholed into one area of social impact: There are so many different ways to get involved in this space and you’ll be richer from getting exposure to different facets of the field (nonprofit direct service provider, corporate social responsibility, impact investing and donor-advised funds, traditional funders like private foundations and community foundations, social enterprise, MLE evaluation, government, etc.)
- Every organization has its grounding philosophy – some have a grassroots social justice angle with an emphasis on capacity building and responsiveness to immediate needs, some are more focused on system-level change across specific issue-areas. Both are incredibly important perspectives.
- Working on large ambitious problems can often devolve into feeling that these are intractable issues. It can be particularly difficult when you’re not seeing interim progress. Developing patience in those moments where you feel totally stuck will help you work through the demoralizing moments. I’ve also tried to develop a creative outlet outside of work to lean on when I’m feeling work isn’t going well. There are times where your motivation comes from work, but other times when you lean on family life or creative pursuits to give you that energy back.
- There are many rewards of engaging in social impact work, but monetary compensation isn’t often one of them. There are very few (if any) roles in the philanthropic sector that pay equivalently to other sectors like tech or finance. These effects are of course amplified for women of color. You have to be really honest with yourself about what lifestyle tradeoffs you’re willing to make.
Q: Life lessons learned: Any other general advice you’d like to share about careers? Is there anything you would have done differently?
I’ve followed the path of a generalist, and these suggestions are very much informed by that choice:
- Careers are marathons, not sprints, and building emotional resilience is really important to keep you going. This is particularly true in the social impact space where there aren’t clear playbooks for career progression. The pros of this are that there isn’t one defined path, but the cons are that you can always feel like you’re struggling to figure out what the next step is.
- At the beginning of your career, focus on building a variety of concrete skills in as many ways as possible. That will maximize your chances of:
a) figuring out what you’re good at
b) figuring out what you like doing (and people tend to like doing what they are good at)
c) being able to contribute in a variety of ways and keep options on the table
- Ideally, it’s best to find yourself part of a growing team at a growing company. You’re bound to be part of exciting opportunities and be able to shape that growth. This advice, of course, may vary based on your own risk tolerance but overall your learning will accelerate in this environment.
- You can always take career risks, but it only gets harder with time as you add in other life elements. Studying for standardized tests becomes harder the further you are out of school – if you’re in a position to do so, try to finish academic training or experiment with the risky startup when you can unilaterally focus on that goal and have the energy to do so.
- It’s generally easier to transition from the for-profit world to the nonprofit than the other way around. Most people who have made the transition from nonprofit to for-profit have used graduate school to make the transition.
- People matter just as much (if not more) as the work itself. Your team members and your boss all have material impacts on your ability to get your work done, feel valued as part of a community, and grow professionally. You also pick up your work habits from the people around you. Having good role models and a support system at work is important for your career progression, and you should be screening for that just as much as you are for the actual role and company.
- Two books I am currently reading and recommend: The New Job Security by Pam Lassiter and Principles by Ray Dalio.