I Didn’t Know Social Work Would Open Every Door — 15 Years Later, I’m Still Grateful It Did

Fifteen years ago today, I was accepted into my Master’s of Social Work program. At the time, I thought I was choosing a path. What I didn’t realize was that I was building a set of tools — tools I’d carry into rooms I never expected to be in, sitting across from founders, executives, and entrepreneurs, helping them think through the things that feel too big to say out loud.

I thought I was going into social work. I had no idea I was becoming a systems thinker.

Systems Thinking Was the Foundation I Didn’t Know I Was Building

Social work is fundamentally about systems — how they intersect, how they impact and influence each other, and what it means to exist within them. At the time, I was focused on wanting to lead. I knew I wanted to be a director. I knew I wanted to manage teams and be in positions of influence. What I didn’t know was that the curiosity I’d develop about systems, about how people and structures interact, would become one of my greatest professional assets.

That systems lens didn’t stay in the nonprofit sector. It followed me everywhere.

Learning to Sit in the Unknown

One of the most underrated things my MSW taught me was how to be comfortable in ambiguity. In spaces of uncertainty, most people freeze. I learned to get curious. I learned that even when you don’t have the answer, you’re never fully stuck. There are always micro moves you can make:

• Asking the right questions

• Figuring out the most appropriate next step

• Approaching barriers and obstacles in a way that’s grounded in empathy and strategy

That’s a skill set that translates anywhere. And I mean anywhere.

The Nonprofit Years: 150 People, 25 Staff, and a Leadership Education Money Can’t Buy

After grad school, I spent nearly a decade at my first nonprofit job, leading a team and a community unlike any other. What made it unusual was that the members of the organization worked side by side with the staff. That meant I wasn’t just managing 25 employees — I was also responsible for engaging, knowing, and leading over 150 people.

I knew their strengths. I knew their rhythms. I knew who showed up every day and who came sometimes, and I made it my job to make every single one of them feel valued, expected, and important. That experience gave me something most people don’t access in their 20s: a deep, lived understanding of what it takes to lead humans — not just manage them.

Breaking Big Things Into Manageable Parts

One of the quieter gifts of my MSW was learning the power of structure. Complex situations, complex people, complex organizations — social work teaches you how to take something overwhelming and break it into parts that can actually be moved. Micro steps. Manageable chunks.

And with that came an appreciation for routine that I don’t think gets talked about enough. Routine isn’t flashy. It’s not the exciting announcement or the big pivot. But sitting in a routine, letting something establish itself, giving it time to create a real data point — that’s doing something. That’s discipline. And it’s one of the most undervalued moves in business.

Now: Sitting Across the Table from Founders and Executives

Today, my work is in consulting. I sit across from founders, executives, entrepreneurs, and teams, and I do something I’ve been doing my whole career: I create a space where people feel safe enough to say the thing they haven’t said yet.

Something interesting happens in those rooms. People will say things out loud that they haven’t even admitted to themselves. The vision that’s been living in their head suddenly has language. The pressure they’ve been carrying alone gets shared. And in that space, we can start to build toward something.

Not a plan that’s etched in stone. But a next step. A direction. Something that’s less overwhelming because it’s no longer unspoken.

That’s my social work in action. Every single time.

What I Want You to Take From This

If you’re someone who has a background that doesn’t look like a “traditional” path to the work you’re doing now — lean into it. The skills I built in my MSW program, the skills I honed over years of nonprofit leadership, were not detours. They were the direct route.

Humans need humans. In every organization, at every level, behind every strategy and goal and deadline, there are people who need to feel heard, supported, and like they’re not in it alone. That’s what I bring to every room I walk into.

And fifteen years after saying yes to that program, I’m still grateful I did.