Q&A with CareerSpring’s Strategy Consultant, Monica Piquet-Rodriguez
As we celebrate CareerSpring’s fifth year anniversary, we thought what better way to celebrate then to go back to the drawing board of CareerSpring—but this time with our current Strategy Consultant Monica Piquet-Rodriguez.
Monica has been with CareerSpring since the beginning as one of the organization’s very first team members—helping build out this dream from the ground up as an idea all the way five years after to what it is today. We asked Monica about how she started out in joining our Founder and President Paul in this journey, her favorite milestones so far, her dreams for CareerSpring in the years to come, and more.
What drew you to join Paul in building CareerSpring, and what role did your professional experience play in shaping its early direction?
Paul is undoubtedly a force. His vision, his determination to realize it, and his willingness to invest himself in the process, were clear to me in the first couple of weeks after meeting him for lunch and talking about his idea to start a non-profit. There was also a lot he was managing in his head – the profundity of his impetus for wanting to serve the FGLI demographic, the importance of pioneering a service model that would be scalable, and the breadth of content and contacts he needed to pull together to launch everything. Somewhere in between being enamored and overwhelmed by the magnitude of what was on the brink, I had the audacity to start organizing his thoughts in my own head and then repeating them back to him in a comprehensible way, and Paul – with great humility and gratitude – would reply with a resounding “yes!” (To this day, Paul will sometimes joke with me and say ‘Let me say it and then you’ll help me figure out how to say it so that it makes sense.’ Lol.) But in all seriousness, that joke sort of captures the chemistry that I think has always been at the heart of Paul’s and I’s working relationship. I’m an organizer, by nature. I love the process of translating an idea into a plan for execution, and communicating it in a way that meets everyone where they are. And that’s a role that I’ve been very fortunate to play alongside Paul and a ridiculously talented staff at CareerSpring. My background in education and nonprofit leadership (granted, on a smaller scale) in Houston have also allowed me to lean into CareerSpring’s strategy with the prioritization of student-centered decisions, sound governance and sustainability, and measuring impact.
Looking back to the earliest brainstorming sessions, was there a specific moment or “aha” when you knew this would not only be something that would work, but something great?
Hands down, it was the first time I had a one-on-one video conference with one of CareerSpring’s Advisees on the Platform. It was only about a month after the Career Platform had gone live to students (which was about six months after I had begun working with Paul on the organization’s launch). Everything before that point was theoretical for me… the notion that a student could gain meaningful leverage from a virtual call with a well-meaning and committed real-world professional seemed totally plausible, and I was jazzed about seeing that theory play out in action. Then comes the day that I have my first video call with Xiomara Alzate, a University of Houston senior who wanted to discuss ideas for her career – perhaps in the nonprofit space. It took me seconds to log on, 30 minutes to facilitate the call, and the conversation wasn’t only nice, it was profound! And to think that we had launched a Platform that could make hundreds, if not thousands, of those encounters possible every month… that’s when I knew CareerSpring was something truly great.
When you reflect on CareerSpring’s first half-decade, what moment or milestone stands out as particularly defining?
There are so many! It’s hard to choose just one… a few that I think of (that make me smile): when we had an Advisee land a full-time job through the CareerSpring Employer Network for the first time, when we reached 1,000 Advisors on our first Career Platform, and when we (very recently) migrated our Platform – the users, the information, and all – into an entirely new technology that we believe will prove more effective in CareerSpring’s long-run. But if I had to pick just one moment or milestone that stands out as particularly defining I think I would have to pick the phase of “hyper growth” that CareerSpring experienced (internally) between 2021 and 2022. In just one year, the staff doubled in size and expanded into four new regions. Thanks to the philanthropic support of several forward-thinking financial stewards, we went from what felt like a start-up with a core team of founding employees – some volunteer, some contract, a few full-time employees – to a full-fledged, legit operating machine of wickedly skilled and passionate human talent. And that’s when I thought “now, we’re really getting started.” Because people make things happen. And we were blessed to on-board some amazing people to join forces with the amazing ones we already had. (insert Paul’s “Let’s go!” here).
If you could invite anyone in history (dead or alive) to be a CareerSpring Advisor— who would it be?
The research professor, author, and thought leader – Brene Brown. 🙂 Her work in helping individuals lean into their vulnerability as a way to enrich their emotional fortitude has been life-changing for me. So much of what she unpacks about courage, self-compassion, and leading with empathy is really at the heart of what we want every young professional – especially FGLI young professionals – to realize and live, on their own terms, for their own greatness and to leave the world a better place.
If you could imagine CareerSpring 10 or 20 years from now, what impact do you hope it will have had on the career landscape for FGLI students?
CareerSpring has the potential to become the “LinkedIn” of the future for FGLI career seekers – only its scope of influence will not only be anchored by professional networking, but also by solidarity to a mission that transforms the potential of America’s workforce. In this future, FGLI career seekers will see CareerSpring as *the* Platform to be on and *the* Network to be a part of. Companies will see CareerSpring as *the* talent recruitment hub for a new generation of employees from first-generation and/or low-income backgrounds. Like today, everyone in this future wins. But unique from today, the synergy, systems, and success of CareerSpring 10 to 20 years from now won’t be made possible by the founding staff or volunteers of the organization; instead CareerSpring’s future will soar on the wings of the very young people benefiting from it today.
Join us in our celebrations and volunteer to be a part of the success of millions of FGLI students across the United States. We couldn’t have made it all this way without our Network, Partners, volunteers, and advocates. Read more on how you can get involved here. Let’s make the next five years a great one together!