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- Name: Tolu A.
- Year Of Graduation: 2021
- College/University: Hobart and William Smith Colleges
- Major: Political Science
What do you currently do for work?
From March to September, I worked as a program director for the Summer Employment Program. This was a seasonal role. Which is a very large employment program in New York City. I’m currently trying to decide what’s next for me at this organization and/or beyond.
How did you decide what you wanted to study?
I moved into the neighborhood that I’m currently living in when I was 14, and I got involved in the summer youth program, which then led to community organizing. I started working with my community’s non-profit as a food justice aide, helping in my community garden. This really helped lay the groundwork for me to get involved in my community. I love to help people and I want to make a change, which pushed me towards political science because I want to understand the inner workings of our system.
Getting to college was difficult though, because I didn’t actually know how to apply. So I used my local nonprofit which had a college access program. They were helping me with my personal statement. I was there all the time. I applied to all the CUNY (City University of New York) and SUNY (State University of New York) schools, and didn’t get into any of the SUNY schools. They advised me to go to community college for two years and then figure things out after, but I applied to Hobart and William Smith, and got accepted into their program. I wanted to study political science because part of me wanted to become a lawyer, but the other part of me wanted to just get involved in my community and understand how to make a change that way.
I realized law wasn’t really for me though. I grew up in a Nigerian American household, so you have a few options: engineer, doctor, or lawyer. I wasn’t going to be an engineer because I didn’t like math. I also don’t like science, so probably not a doctor. I like history. I like reading and writing, so I thought law was going to be my next step. However, I don’t really do well on tests. This is something I’m still battling with, like, am I going to study and take the LSAT? Do I have a passion for law? Am I willing to sit and read 70 pages per night? I don’t know if I see myself as a lawyer. Most people who do want to become lawyers, they have that passion. They graduate, then they apply to law school. For me, I knew that I wanted to work in the community. I knew I wanted to work in a nonprofit and I knew I wanted to work with people directly.
Can you tell me about your job search experience after graduation?
I knew I wanted to leave New York City. I wanted to live and work in Washington, DC, so I was applying to a lot of places like the ACLU, a lot of nonprofits, and policy work, and I was not getting anywhere. I ended up talking to my professor, and he said that I kind of just have to send applications and wait to hear back. I was doing that, though. I was sending applications to places that I really cared about. I got very discouraged.
I first got a job as a receptionist in a dermatology office, which obviously wasn’t in my career field, but I just needed money. In the end, I think I applied to about 50 different places, and at the same time, I was also writing cover letters for every single one. I graduated in May 2021, and I didn’t start working at the dermatology office until September, and then was there until December. It really was not for me. The admin part was easy but my passion was not there. I didn’t want to answer phone calls and deal with insurance, so I didn’t stay there for long.
I started working as a teacher in a charter school after that. Charter schools in New York City are very desperate for teachers. They’re going to call you back and they’re gonna hire you like a week or two later. It was a very fast transition. The role kind of just fell in my lap. It was a good salary and decent benefits, however, I realized it was also not for me. There was no room for growth. I didn’t feel comfortable with their curriculum or behavior management, so I needed to move on.
Next, I transitioned to working as a case manager at a nonprofit, which was an asylum shelter. I was working with asylum seekers and helping them with their paperwork: filing for asylum and employment. I loved the fact that I was able to help people one-on-one, and that I was able to make a serious difference in someone’s life by just speaking to them and giving them resources. It really aligned with what I wanted to do, but case managers don’t make very much money and are also very underappreciated. It felt like I didn’t have enough space to grow in that environment. To this day, I still keep in contact with the clients that I worked with. If they have questions about finding work or applying for ESL classes, I’m here to help them.
Most recently, I ended up applying for a job at another non-profit and got a role as a director, which was a huge transition for me. One minute I’m a case manager and the next I’m a director working with the Summer Youth Employment Program. They employ young people, ages 14-24, and they give them jobs over the summer in fields they’re interested in. So again, I was doing work that I was really interested in, making a difference in people’s lives. I was working with about 260 young people, making sure they got jobs, making sure their paperwork was right. We also hosted a job fair where the young people were able to come and do practice interviews and connect with employers. A lot of them are really young. They’re 15, they don’t know what they want in the future. They don’t know what they want from their career. So it felt good to be that person who was able to say, “Hey, have you thought about that? Or this? What are you interested in?” It was work that was really beneficial to people’s lives.
If I asked you 3 years ago, what would you think you’d be doing right now (in life/career)?
I’m 25 right now, so I would have been 21 or 22. I would have told you I’d be going to law school. I didn’t study for my LSAT, I didn’t have tutors, and I didn’t do much research, but I knew that’s what I wanted to do. I didn’t know the type of law I wanted to practice, but I really felt that this was my calling. But you know, things transition. I felt like doubt played a big role in this. I don’t do well with tests and I think that played a role in me being scared to study. I kind of just psyched myself out of taking the exam and putting in the effort.
What is your biggest struggle right now?
Finding myself. I think for a long time my identity was linked to whatever my surroundings were, you know, being a student, a teacher, a friend. I want to find who I am outside of these titles and I think that’s been weighing on my mental health, because, at the end of the day, I’m trying to find my purpose. What is my reason for being on this planet right now? What am I here to do? What is going to bring me joy and make me want to wake up in the mornings?
We look at other people who have it all figured out, who know their plan, but plans don’t always work out how they’re supposed to. Having that conversation about what it feels like to feel extremely lost is valuable. I may have a job now, but I still feel lost in terms of what my life is going to look like in the next five years. Who am I going to be when I’m 30?
If money was not a factor, what would you spend your time working on?
I would be traveling the world. I’d like to talk to people and understand their perspectives on things. I’d love to hear how different people see the world and how they take on life. Being from Brooklyn, from East New York, which is a low-income community, a lot of the time we feel trapped. We feel like there is nothing outside of our four city blocks. There’s nothing beyond our train station. I think traveling has really opened up my mind to understand different people and see how others handle different struggles.
Specifically, I’d like to go to Brazil and Peru. I also want to see Venezuela, but there’s so much politically going on there right now. I think South America in general has such a rich history in terms of the African diaspora, so I feel like it would almost be like exploring a little bit of me as well.
I would also love to go back to my mother country, Nigeria because I think there is a lot going on politically that I would like to take an interest in. A lot of the places I want to visit have to do with my interest in politics.
If we traveled three years into the future of your life, what would you hope we’d see?
Hopefully, I start writing again because I do enjoy writing a lot. And hopefully, I’ve done something for my community that’s tangible. I’ve done something that people can say, “This thing has changed my life.” My values align with helping people and I want to aspire to that. Maybe I’ll even go to law school, who knows?
What does a fulfilling life mean to you?
Helping people. It’s waking up knowing that the work I’m going to do will have an impact on someone’s life. I think knowing that I’m helping someone and making a difference, even if it’s in a small way, is the most fulfilling thing to me.
Any advice or learnings?
Explore the things that you care about and explore things that you’re passionate about. I think a lot of the time we fold into the mold of going to work, getting a paycheck, paying your bills, and maybe planning a vacation, right? Spend more time actually diving into your passions and diving into the things that you really enjoy, and build a community around that.
I would also say it’s okay to send out a thousand applications and a thousand resumes, and not hear anything. Don’t be discouraged. If it’s something that you can see yourself in, keep going for it. I regret not pushing myself more, and I think a lot of us really want that instant gratification, like okay, we got the job, everything is fine. We’re making money, everything is fine. I think it’s important to realize that the things we really want are going to be hard, but will be worth it at the end of the day. Sending in applications and cold calling and doing the hard things, it’s going to take you out of your comfort zone but it’s going to pay off. It’ll put you in a completely different place than if you were to play it safe.
Connect With Tolu:
- LinkedIn: @ToluA
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