This is a Q&A with Maureen Klovers, the Director of Social Impact for MPOWER Financing. Among other experiences, she previously taught the urban poor in Ecuador, worked in US Intelligence, was a Presidential Management Fellow for the US Department of Commerce, and helped launch the US Department of Treasury’s State Small Business Credit Initiative.
This profile is in three sections: Maureen’s current role, her professional background, and her career advice.
Current Role
Q: Maureen, thanks so much for volunteering to share about your social impact journey. To start, please share about your social enterprise and your current role.
A: I’m the Director of Social Impact for MPOWER Financing, a fintech startup based in Washington, D.C. that was named the best lender for international students by U.S. News and World Report. We’ve also been named by American Banker as one of the best fintechs to work for three years in a row!
I oversee our scholarship programs and our Path2Success Program, which provides resources on immigration/work authorization, career preparation and financial literacy for our borrowers and other international students. I also serve as a liaison to current or prospective impact investors, and recently my role has expanded to include customer engagement— newsletters, video contests and case competitions, and the like!
We like to say that “when our borrowers succeed, we succeed,” so a lot of my role is just that: ensuring our borrowers succeed!
Q: Why did you join MPOWER? What do you find fulfilling about your work?
A: As I’ve matured, I’ve realized that most of my job satisfaction comes from working with great people to accomplish something meaningful. Intellectual stimulation is also important to me.
During my job interview, I felt like I “clicked” with my potential boss and the team. Plus, I was drawn to MPOWER’s mission and its fast pace. (I didn’t enjoy the slower pace of the government, although there were many other things I did like.)
I constantly try new things and the attitude is “if something doesn’t work, that’s okay—just be sure you learn from it.” That appeals to me a lot, too.
Plus, I think I have one of the best jobs in the company! I give money away to needy, high-potential students and help them achieve their dreams. I also develop cool webinar series, meet lots of interesting people, and do lots of writing.
Q: What are the most important skills to succeed in your job?
A: Our HR team looks for a fit with our mission first, as well as whether you have a strong understanding of our business model. Then they look at whether you have the skills necessary to succeed in your job. In my case, they probed whether I could effectively measure and communicate our social impact, support our fundraising efforts, and grow our scholarship programs.
Professional Background
Q: I’d love to hear more about your background before working at MPOWER.
A: I have an eclectic background, which probably isn’t surprising given that social impact wasn’t even a “thing” when I graduated from college. There was Ben & Jerry’s and that was about it! No one made a career in social impact. So I graduated with a degree in International Relations, and I worked at the first organization which offered me a job, which ended up being in U.S. intelligence! So I worked as an intelligence analyst for several years, before deciding I wasn’t cut out for that life.
I planned to go to grad school, but I wanted to get more “life experience” first, particularly in Latin America. So I moved into a convent with two nuns, a Jesuit priest, and 20+ volunteers in Quito, Ecuador. I taught the urban poor from Quito’s shantytowns. Talk about an education! This experience made such an impact on me that I even wrote a book, In the Shadow of the Volcano: One Ex-Intelligence Official’s Journey through Slums, Prisons, and Leper Colonies to the Heart of Latin America.
From there, I went on to get my MBA and Master of Public Policy from Georgetown. I didn’t realize it at the time, but the dual degree program was a good mix of the business and policy work that I’d later be doing in my social impact work. At the time, though, there seemed to be an unbridgeable divide between those two worlds. I couldn’t imagine two more different sets of classmates!
After Georgetown, I was a Presidential Management Fellow at the Department of Commerce, where I was thrust into managing our troubled $850 million Revolving Loan Fund Program. That was my introduction to both grants and lending. From there, I took a job as the second employee of Treasury’s brand-new $1.5 billion State Small Business Credit Initiative.
Starting a brand-new government program whetted my appetite for entrepreneurship, so once everything was humming along, I quit my job to start my own consulting business, working with universities and state and federal agencies to become more efficient, effective, and outcomes-driven.
And then I had a baby and decided that I wanted to go back to a more “normal” job. When I saw MPOWER’s LinkedIn job posting, it spoke to me, because the role combines my entrepreneurial streak with my experience in lending, grants, education, and outcomes measurement, plus my passion for exploring other cultures and crossing cultural divides.
As a side gig, to keep my creative juices flowing, I moonlight as a mystery writer!
Career Advice
Q: How did you find your current position?
A: LinkedIn! I know everyone always says that you have to network to get a job, but that’s not always true. If you see a job that appeals to you, apply! Also, don’t limit yourself. I only met two-thirds of their “must-have” criteria…and I still got the job. Studies show that men typically apply for a job if they meet half the criteria, while women won’t apply unless they meet all the criteria.
How to Transition into a Social Impact Career
Q: What advice to you have for those aspiring to a career in social impact?
A: Hone in one what industry you want to work for and what functional skills you can bring to the table. There’s no one way to do social impact. Most roles focus on measuring and driving impact, but typically you’re expected to also support the bottom line, whether it be by launching initiatives that drive social impact and brand recognition/sales volume (e.g., our scholarship program helps students while also serves as an effective marketing channel and means of garnering good will from the universities we support) or by supporting fundraising efforts (e.g., by cultivating relationships with grant-making organizations or impact-focused equity or debt investors). Know what YOUR value proposition is and then be able to communicate it.
So if you’re already a marketing or communications professional, emphasize that. If you have a finance background, figure out how to parlay that into a social impact role.
What if you don’t have much relevant professional experience? Then try to join a nonprofit board, or volunteer to write grant applications for a nonprofit. Or, if you’re still in school, join NetImpact and enter social impact-focused case competitions. Winning a competition or having a leadership role in NetImpact is a great way to showcase your talent.
Finally, prep for informational interviews and job interviews like a pro. Be sure you can connect the dots on your résumé and showcase both your passion for the organization’s mission and how you can accelerate their double bottom line impact.
Is Grad School Necessary?
Q: Should an individual go to graduate school to make the transition into social impact?
A: That depends. If you love school and someone else is paying for it, or you are getting a full scholarship, or you’re independently wealthy, then definitely! If not, though, you want to think about whether the cost is justified.
Very few social impact jobs really require you to have a specialized degree in a social impact-related degree program, and such programs are few and far between anyway. If you were going to get a degree, I’d suggest a Master’s of Business Administration at a school that has a very strong social impact focus; then, once you being the program, get a leadership position in NetImpact, compete in social impact case competitions, take social impact-focused coursework, and do internships and consulting work for social impact firms.
But for most people, you’re probably better off spending a portion of the time and money you would have spent on another degree to (a) do a year-long volunteer assignment at a social enterprise abroad, or (b) accept a lower salary to work in a job that will leverage your current experience while getting you exposure to the field of social impact. Either of these options will give you more practical experience than a degree at a fraction of the cost.
Work-Life Balance
Q: How do you balance your work/life, especially with having a young child and working full-time?
A: I’m very fortunate that my company actively discourages working nights and weekends. Being a parent is tough on any career, but social impact jobs are generally more family-friendly. However, in some social impact jobs (particularly those focused on micro-enterprise in the developing world, or those that are investor-facing), there could be significant travel, so be sure to ask about that.
Other Relevant Life Lessons
A: First of all, don’t sacrifice your personal life for work.
Second, the “following your passion” advice is terrible: it leads too many young people to pursue passions that don’t allow them to earn a decent living and/or to agonize about finding the perfect, most fulfilling career. Instead, figure out what you’re good at, that people will actually pay you a decent salary to do. Then narrow it further based on the lifestyle you want (if you are a homebody, being a McKinsey consultant won’t work; if you’re a city girl, don’t work in forestry) and your personality type (do you want to manage people, or are you more of a lone wolf?). That will help narrow down your job function and maybe your industry. Then research organizations which would allow you to do those jobs while fitting with your values. Then narrow further by figuring out which organizations have a work culture you’d like.
Third, a lot of people think about switching careers when they just need to switch jobs. Being miserable in your job may not mean you need a new career – you may need a new organization or a new boss.
Fourth, when you interview, it’s not just about you being chosen, but it’s also about you choosing them. Approach an interview almost like a date; put your best foot forward and make sure you’re not only answering questions, but asking them. Try to get a feel for your potential co-workers and whether you’re truly a good fit. Ask yourself: is this the right boss for me? Do our work styles mesh well? Will I learn something from this person? Can we communicate well?
Finally, cut yourself some slack. Remember that no one really has everything figured out. Lots of people in their 30s and 40s (myself included) are still trying to decide “what they want to be when they grow up”…and that’s probably a good thing. The world of work is changing so fast that the last job you have before retirement is probably one that hasn’t even been invented yet. So being willing to leap to a new field is a sign that you’re curious and committed to lifelong learning.