Non-Profits & Social Entrepreneurs Wednesday, May 6th

Non-Profits & Social
Entrepreneurs
Wednesday, May 6th
Noreen Rahman
Program Services Manager
Girls Incorporated of Orange County
What is your education background?
University of California, Irvine—Bachelor of Arts in Comparative Literature
Minors: Criminology, Law and Society; Spanish
University of California, Irvine—Master of Arts in Social Science (DASA)
What do you do at your current job?
A little bit of everything—lead the research team for a longitudinal study, spearhead new database
implementation, curricula development, agency program quality assurance, evaluation management, grant
management: proposals from start to finish, oversee offsite programs at 40+ sites, build community
partnerships, social enterprise, events (Girls Conference), and manage staff.
What is your favorite thing about your job?
Diversity of projects. Just last week I went to a high school with my team to surprise a 12th grader with news
that she won a $20,000 scholarship. I met with a superintendent for a school district to get approval for teen
pregnancy prevention programming. I put together a proposal for a national project that will allow us to install a
quality assurance protocol for all of our programs. I worked with the IT department to troubleshoot database
glitches. I also promoted a veteran staff and collaborated with an influential leader on how to provide Girls Inc.
programming to a niche population in Orange County.
A word of advice:
Your major doesn’t entirely matter during the job search, experience does—paid or unpaid. So volunteer, intern,
etc. and treat them like extended interviews. It’s much more assuring to hire a tried and tested intern than an
unknown applicant.
Non-profit doesn’t mean non-professional. Although it’s traditionally considered “the helping field,” it’s easy to
get too comfortable while at work/internship, especially if your colleagues are in your same age cohort.
Know yourself… and others. Knowing if you’re more of an action-oriented person/doer while your boss is more
of a detail-oriented person/thinker will ensure a smoother working relationship. Personality tests like Myers
Briggs can help with that.
Pay your dues. Your first job may not be THE job and it takes about 1 year to actually get the hang of your role
and about 2 years to move up.
Gabriella Mariani
Regional Recruitment Director, West Coast
City Year, Inc.
What is your education background?
University of California, Riverside—Bachelor of Arts in Psychology
University of California, Irvine—Master of Business Administration
What do you do at your current job?
Currently, I manage a team of recruiters throughout the West Coast. Our mission is to reach out to students
who are passionate about making a difference in some of our highest need schools throughout the US and are
willing to commit to a full-time year of service carrying out this work.
What is your favorite thing about your job?
I love experiencing the passion young people have for making a difference in the community, whether it is in
education, law, business, medicine, etc.
A word of advice:
Take advantage of the opportunity to experience as many future careers as possible. I had several internship,
volunteer, and research opportunities in undergrad and each helped in the formation of what my future career
would be.
Non-Profits & Social
Entrepreneurs
Wednesday, May 6th
James M. Schrage
CEO/ Executive Director/Lecturer/Board Secretary & In-Country Liaison
Families Uniting Families
What is your education background?
University of California, Irvine—Bachelor of Arts in Psychology
Cal State University, Long Beach—Master of Social Work
- Fluent Spanish speaker
I have been teaching at CSULB—School of Social Work for the past 14 years.
I am also the founding member of another nonprofit organization (Social Work Abroad Program—
www.socialworkabroad.org) where we take social work professionals outside the United States to work on projects in
other countries. I went to Ghana, Africa in the summer of 2007, and last year we went to Heredia, Costa Rica with 8
participants and 2 facilitators. I was the point person that trained and prepared the host families and created the
partnership with La Universidad Nacional (La UNA) with who we collaborated on the work projects.
What do you do at your current job?
A lot… I manage the day-to-day operations, programs (training, quality, compliance, and outcomes), staffing &
hiring, working with interns, budgeting, fund development, social media & marketing, strategic planning,
organizational culture development.
What is your favorite thing about your job?
I get to have my hands in a lot of different things. On any given day, I am working with clients, quality improvements
to a program, teaching, planning, or working on some new areas of need. I like most things about my job(s);
however, I am not super-excited about the auditing that goes on. Chasing money around is also not my idea of a
wonderful time.
A word of advice:
Look for mentors, be curious about wanting to know a lot of things, network, get on a board of directors and begin
learning new skills (and meeting different people), care about your work so that it shines through, strive for
excellence (and know when good is enough), read books, travel, put yourself in strange and uncomfortable
situations, learn to rely on your ability to improvise, become a student of life (be well-rounded), take care of your
health, and passionately enjoy what you do, and find & work towards a life meaning/purpose.