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Alumni in Action

“The fellowship was the intersection of business, policy, and education. Hearing the term 'hybrid leader' was an 'aha!' moment.”

Thalia Theodore Washington - 2006 New York

Spotlight on Thalia Theodore Washington

Thalia began her career as a first grade public school teacher in the South Bronx. She then joined Teach For America in Los   Angeles and directed the administration and human resource processes for a summer institute that trained 800 new teachers for national placements. She also coordinated volunteer and community programs at The Wonder of Reading, a Los Angeles-based literacy nonprofit. Thalia's summer as an Education Pioneers Fellow was spent at the South Bronx Classical Charter School, a newly chartered K-5 school, supporting the start-up of key operations - transportation, family orientation, student enrollment and staff professional development - and grant writing to secure critical seed funding for school-wide initiatives. She is now the Deputy Director of the Northeast region for DonorsChoose.org.

I loved the freedom of the nonprofit sector - supporting schools with innovative programming without the bureaucracy of school district regulations - but was also intrigued by the methods behind policy making that affected students and their families. I decided to pursue a graduate degree in nonprofit management and public policy to gain the financial, managerial and policy analysis skills that would help me to be a more effective leader.

Because Education Pioneers attracts people with very different backgrounds, I was eager to hear how others had arrived at the fellowship and what direction they hoped to go in after graduate school. The first time I heard the term "hybrid leader" was in the fellowship. I was surprised to hear a term that captured the multiple interests and skills I had but didn't know how to articulate career-wise. I felt like I no longer had to "choose a sector" and was encouraged to know that being a "hybrid" of skills and interests was of increasing value in the workplace.

I was pursuing an MPA but had a strong interest in education and was also taking business and law classes. I felt like I lived at the intersection of business, policy, and education and hearing the term "hybrid leader" was an "aha!" moment.

I had my eye on DonorsChoose.org as an organization I might want to work for. I had set up an informational interview with founder and CEO Charles Best during my first year of school. Then, coincidentally, he was one of the speakers during the fellowship session on education entrepreneurship. It was the perfect opportunity to re-connect with him, update him on the experience I was gaining that summer through the fellowship and get back on his radar. One month following graduation, I accepted a position with DonorsChoose.org!  

Working on a regional team at DonorsChoose.org exposes me to a great mix of first-hand interaction with funders and corporate partners as well as with superintendents, principals, and classroom teachers. Whenever I'm missing student interaction, I read through some of the thank you notes, crayon-smeared notes and wacky pictures that the students send the donors who funded the materials they use in the classroom.

Being able to interact with the front-line educators is very fulfilling because I get to hear directly from teachers about the amazing projects and learning experiences my work helps them to provide. That definitely keeps me motivated!