鈥淚f you鈥檙e interested in making a social impact,鈥 said David Jasso, 鈥渢here鈥檚 an avenue to do that.鈥
Jasso 鈥20 was one of about 50 Boston College undergrads to gather in the elegant Fulton Honors Library last month, the room lined with books and graced with vaulted stained-glass windows overlooking the Carroll School atrium. In business-casual threads, the students milled around tall cocktail tables, munched on brownies and blondie bars, and peppered upperclassmen and young alumni with questions about their recent internships and new jobs鈥攁ll aimed at changing the world for the better.
The occasion was Career Paths with Social Impact, a networking and panel event co-sponsored by the Edmund H. Shea Jr. Center for Entrepreneurship and Managing for Social Impact and the Public Good, an interdisciplinary co-concentration and minor offered by the Carroll School of Management and the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences, respectively. What are the avenues open to budding leaders and managers who want to make a difference? That鈥檚 what the students came to find out.
For the first portion of the evening, they mingled and met informally with a scattering of their peers, identified by nametags, who had internship experiences to share.
Tiffany Liu 鈥19, for example, told a small clutch of students about her internship at Gravyty, which harnesses big data and machine learning to help nonprofits determine the optimal time鈥攐f year and day鈥攖o call potential donors. An information systems student, Liu handled all of the startup鈥檚 social media and marketing, and she spearheaded a case study on Gravyty鈥檚 partnership with the Cure Alzheimer鈥檚 Fund. Liu caught the social impact bug in the Carroll School鈥檚 Portico course. 鈥淭ech doesn鈥檛 just exist in a box,鈥 she said. 鈥淚t can be used for good in the world.鈥
Alumna Caroline Grindrod 鈥17 works full time for Building Impact, an organization that links corporate volunteers with nonprofits. She told students about her efforts bringing sixth-graders from the Boston Public Schools to meet with tech professionals, collaborate on mobile app prototypes, and compete in a Shark Tank鈥搃nspired competition called Guppy Tank.
Jasso鈥攁 Management & Leadership student also co-concentrating in Entrepreneurship and Social Impact鈥攔ecounted his summer in San Francisco managing logistics for Lava Mae, a nonprofit that turns old buses and trailers into mobile shower units for the homeless.
Then, once students took their seats, they heard the perspectives of four seasoned professionals, prodded by questions from moderator Julianne Smith, assistant director of the Boston College Career Center. This collection of execs illustrated the diversity鈥攁nd unpredictability鈥攐f career paths for the socially conscious.聽
鈥淭ech doesn鈥檛 just exist in a box鈥 it can be used for good in the world.鈥
To start with the resident Eagle, Rory Cuddyer left the Heights in 2011 with a degree in English and Philosophy and a plan to attend law school. But after working for a year as a paralegal, 鈥淚 woke up every morning with a pit in my stomach,鈥 he said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 when you know it鈥檚 time to leave that job.鈥 A volunteer stint on the U.S. Senate campaign of Ed Markey, Morrissey College 鈥68, J.D. 鈥72, led to a job on Marty Walsh鈥檚 campaign for mayor of Boston. That in turn led to a position as the city鈥檚 鈥淪tartup Czar,鈥 a liaison to the local tech and entrepreneurship scenes.
In June, Cuddyer was promoted to chief of staff for the Environment, Energy, and Open Space Cabinet. He鈥檚 thrown himself headlong into the city鈥檚 efforts to become carbon neutral by 2050. 鈥淲e鈥檝e got to take concrete, actionable steps鈥 on resiliency, Cuddyer said, citing a flood barrier under discussion that might cost billions of dollars, but would protect tens of billions in assets and businesses, not to mention hundreds of thousands of residents.
The Brit on the panel, Nick Propper began his career in the 1990s as a buyer for a London department store; today he is the COO of New York鈥揵ased Porter Novelli, a PR and marketing firm that specializes in corporate social responsibility. At times, he said, doing the right thing has meant turning down business. When a fast-food chain wanted to update its image by highlighting a new salad, Propper pointed out that 鈥渕ost of your menu still exceeds the recommended daily allowance of everything鈥 and suggested they spend the money on changing their practices instead of peddling spin.
Panelist Gregg Croteau has helmed UTEC (formerly the United Teen Equality Center) in Lowell, Massachusetts, for nearly all of its 18 years in existence. As executive director of a small nonprofit, Croteau must do a little bit of everything, from policy work to operations to marketing to working directly with youth. UTEC provides a safe haven for teenagers and young adults struggling to shed gang ties and get past significant rap sheets. 鈥淭hese are young people with serious criminal backgrounds,鈥 Croteau said, making straight employment difficult.
To that end, the organization has opened three social enterprises in which the youths can gain work experience. There鈥檚 a culinary program鈥攚hich includes a caf茅, a catering service, and a commercial kitchen鈥攁s well as a woodworking shop and a mattress recycling business. Cutting boards made by UTEC-trained workers are sold in Whole Foods stores across New England, and almond butter will follow in the spring.
And there鈥檚 a Chestnut Hill connection: UTEC鈥檚 director of social enterprise partnerships聽is Ed Frechette, the Carroll School鈥檚 new (and first) social entrepreneur-in-residence. Next semester, Frechette will teach Social Innovation & Entrepreneurship, a course that had to be expanded to meet demand.
The course鈥檚 growth, like the turnout that evening in the Honors Library, is a testament to what many see as the growing passion among today鈥檚 students for careers having social impact, whatever the sector.
Indeed, aspiring world-changers 鈥渟houldn鈥檛 think in terms of profit versus nonprofit versus public sector,鈥 said the fourth panelist, Jennifer Aronson, associate vice president for programs at the nonprofit Boston Foundation (which, coincidentally, was involved with the Guppy Tank). Instead, she told the students, think of where you can have the most impact. Nonprofits like hers are only part of the solution, she said. Often, if it鈥檚 motivated to be responsible, 鈥渢he scale of what a corporation can do is larger, because it鈥檚 well funded.鈥
When pressed on first steps for the students in the room, all four panelists suggested applying to internships and fellowships in the fields they鈥檙e interested in. 鈥淣inety percent of our entry-level hires are interns who move up,鈥 said Propper.
In that sense, one can already see the avenues opening up for Liu, Jasso, and the other undergrads who鈥檝e begun interning鈥攇aining experience and making connections while doing good.
Patrick L. Kennedy, Morrissey College 鈥99, is a writer in Boston and the co-author of Bricklayer Bill: The Untold Story of the Workingman鈥檚 Boston Marathon.