How did you arrive at these career interests? How have you or how will you position yourself to pursue them?

As an educator, I sometimes find myself up at night thinking about the business-minded education reforms that affect my day-to-day work, such as new school models, value-added teacher evaluations, merit-based pay, or school funding changes. I see value in some but am critical of others. While I’ve always been excited by education innovation and reform, I believe that new ideas must be rigorously examined and tested before broader execution. In addition, I’ve often observed even the most promising new models or initiatives derailed in their effort to scale.

I want to be a leader who influences the strategic planning and management of innovative education reforms. To evaluate the costs and benefits of new ideas and scale them successfully, I need multidisciplinary knowledge across private, public, and social sector perspectives. Yale’s integrated approach across disciplines will provide the knowledge and analytical tools needed to address these leadership challenges.

After Yale, my goal is to influence education reforms as a social impact consultant helping cross-sector clients scale K-12 education initiatives, starting at a firm such as AAA, BBB, or CCCC. With my education experience and new business perspective after Yale, I will be well-equipped to have an impact in this role.

Consulting will enhance my ability to think strategically about innovative change models to determine which are scalable, efficient, and impactful. This will help me pursue my long-term goal of launching or leading an organization which identifies and assesses innovative social enterprise models and support their growth.