As an outsider, breaking into an industry can often seem like an impossible challenge and so we reached out to some very generous folks who agreed to share their stories of how they broke into their respective industries.
Dr. Deanna Wilson

Most people would not have done what I did to get my first job in the field. I was working for a local governmental agency and my sister, DiShell Hammond, called me and said, “send me your resume.” I asked her, “what for?” She told me there was a job at the agency that she worked at and she was going to submit my resume. I said, “okay” and sent my resume. Read more>>
Dr. Sam Von Reiche

When I graduated from grad school with a Psy.D, I figured it would be be fairly easy to get a job. Far from it! There were almost no jobs for non-licensed psychologists available (licensure was a few year away.) In this case, tenacity won the day! I began going through the phone book (yes, that’s what we used back then), looking at mental health programs I could work in. I found one addiction treatment program willing to interview me…Of course, that was after I had made multiple follow-up calls to them. After one interview, they hired me for an administrative position that launched my career. Read more>>
Thana Hickman

I started by volunteering at several residential non profits and then started my own mentoring program but quickly learned the need for housing for the demographic that we serve. Read more>>