Starting out in a corporate workplace as a Recruitment Training Manager was intimidating to Jonte. Everyone around him had worked their way up through the corporate world after college, and he came with an associate’s degree and a handful of licenses and certifications collected over years of working in the trades. He got over that feeling quickly however, because, as he puts it, “I realized I was supposed to be there. You know, they came looking for me. I didn’t look for them.” And Jonte felt ready for everything that the job required of him. All of his years of working, building his own skills and training others on his teams, helped him in this new role. He drew on “communication skills, and being able to build those relationships and convey the information so people can understand it.” The hardest part was actually just putting together the training manual the company would use, but all of his other skills helped there, too.

In thinking about how far he has come in his career, especially given how he felt about trade jobs when he was younger, he says, “I never thought that the trades would take me to a position where I only answer to two people in a billion dollar company.” Jonte looks forward to what the future brings for him as the company grows. Though he sometimes feels like he “lucked up,” he will continue to challenge the negative perceptions of trade jobs and encourage others to broaden their horizons.

Growing up in foster care, Jonathan tried to take advantage of his state’s college tuition support system but the foster system’s dual demands that he be both employed and a full-time student were stressful and Jonathan dropped out of college to work full-time as a security guard. Now, a security manager, Jonathan believes that his alertness, patience, and flexibility have served to make him an effective leader. “A lot of managers are like ‘it’s my way or the highway’. I have not been that. I have to be presented with the information and then make the best judgment for the situation,” he explained.

Jonathan believes that he developed these traits and skills not from formal schooling, but growing up in foster care. “All the things that I’ve dealt with in my life helped me be more understanding.” Jonathan has had some employees who were also part of the foster care system. He found that when they raised workplace issues, “I immediately was able to connect to that, and make a decision in a way that made them feel as though at some point they could go out and be the type of manager I was.”

As a high school athlete, Tayshawn injured himself and had to go to physical therapy. He was amazed by his transformation back to good health. He thought, “why not learn more about what could prevent someone from getting injured?” He enrolled in college to pursue a degree in exercise and sports science but he found it challenging to focus solely on academics.

After taking a break from school, he started to work out diligently and, through experience and practice, built his knowledge of functional movement and the human body. He connected with trainers on social media to build relationships and learn other trainers’ techniques. “There were two guys who trained exactly the same way as me. I took the time to look at their style of training and listen to them on a daily basis. I would try new and innovative ways to focus on different muscle groups”.

He posted his own workouts and began to get a following. He decided to pursue an associates degree in Business Administration to study accounting and marketing so he could start his own business. A studio owner noticed his work and hired him to teach group fitness classes. She helped him complete his first certification. In the studio, he became a stronger instructor and also learned to market himself.

Now, a studio owner, Tayshawn remains focused on building his business and connecting with his clients.” You want to give them a reason why they want to come to you. Give them an idea of what’s gonna come from being consistent with the work”.

Casey wants to run a small business that serves people of all religions, sexualities, and cultures. He knows he has the skills and passion for this as he has approached his career development with intention. His first job, at 18, was as a door-to-door knife salesman. Though the job was “really awful” Casey learned the “ins and outs of how to sell a product” and quickly moved on.

Casey then worked various positions in a big retail chain — cashier, customer service, supervisor — while pursing other interests that integrated his queer identity and artistic expression, including performing drag and jewelry-making. He became a well-known local drag performer and met a supportive mentor who “pushed me to want more for myself and to make sure that whatever I do, I do it with intent.” In retail, his work ethic allowed him to scale the promotion ladder quickly. With drag, Case used YouTube tutorials to teach himself makeup and clothing design.  Having retired from drag, he now makes jewelry while continuing to work in retail.

Time management is critical to Casey’s success as a jewelry vendor: “I still have this nine-to-five job that’s so consuming of my week, so I have to be discipled to set aside time to focus on what actually gives me personal payback.” Casey feels a bit stuck in the world of retail, by his lack of a degree so he wants to go to school. He aims to become a funeral director and run a funeral home that meets the needs of people that he sees as left out.  His diverse experiences give him the confidence to pursue his goal. “I know how to sell myself, by listening to my customers and my community, and figuring out what people need. I also know I can adapt my skills to fulfill and satisfy that need.”

Taylor’s learning mindset was formed while watching her grandmother work her way from the mailroom of an insurance company to an executive position without a college degree. As she sees it “Just put out your best work. Work on exercising your mind as the muscle it is. Learn as much as you can and make relationships with higher ups”. She put her words into action at the law school where she also started in the mail room.

As mailroom coordinator, Taylor interacted with nearly every professor, staff member, and student in the school. Each day, Taylor was responsible for running the copiers, preparing course packets and printing student exams. She recalls, “I put myself out there and tried to do the little extra things. That’s how I gained more respect.”

In her current role as an academic assistant, she manages faculty finances, grade submission and edits course materials. She says, “I’m very much a self starter. If I don’t understand something, I’ll communicate that, but I don’t need anyone to tell me to do something”. Taylor’s experience working in a law school spurred her interest pursuing an associates degree in paralegal technology. She is now adding legal research, wills and estates, and legal terminology to her skillset.

Ali has always been a self-directed learner. In high school, he turned his hobby and passion for building websites into a profitable business. “I had to pay taxes when I was 15. A couple grand!” College did not fit his learning by doing style, so he dropped out. “I wanted to learn something that’s operationalized rather quickly.”

He held a series of tech industry jobs as a freelancer and technical consultant. As a young Arab American, he often felt his contributions were dismissed. “Older white dudes would not want to listen to me, but if someone older than me or someone that looked a little bit different repeated it, they’d say “oh yeah, that makes sense’.” This made him question himself at times but he moved on and founded his own web development and design company.

He acknowledges the stress of running a business, especially during the economic downturn. To stay grounded and energized, he engages in mindfulness practices including journaling, meditation, and exercises. His experiences as a STAR inform how Ali hires for his business. He prioritizes work experience and looks holistically at the candidate.  

“Let me see your portfolio, that’s number one, and let’s see how we work together on a test project.” Ali’s company has a pro bono program that designs websites for nonprofits, including one that helps people obtain their GEDs and prepare for their careers. Reflecting on his own professional trajectory, Ali encourages STARs to have a growth mindset. “I want them to have not just the relevant skills, but a learning ability.”

Though Dani always knew she wanted to be in party planning and hospitality, it was not a straight path for her. She realized college wasn’t what she wanted, so she dropped out to refocus and find some work. She started her own dog walking and pet sitting service, and picked a series of jobs in retail, as a housekeeper for an apartment complex, and doing ad sales for a local newspaper. Along the way, she developed strong communication, time management, and organizational skills.

Eventually, she was hired to work at a hotel as a front desk concierge agent. Dani thrived in this role, which tapped her customer service skills and her love of hospitality. She played an integral part in the guest experience at the hotel. She says, “at this hotel, we would break our backs twice over for anybody. If you wanted it, we made it happen. No question, without a doubt, we made it happen.”

This position confirmed for Dani that hospitality is where she wanted to be but she found that after some time her job wasn’t providing any opportunity for advancement. She applied for a different position at a sister hotel and was hired as a human resources coordinator. Now on the back end of the business, Dani helps support a team of almost 150 people and makes sure that they have the support they need to take care of their guests. She still gets to use her event planning skills, as she coordinates staff appreciation events and birthday and holiday celebrations. Dani feels like she’s come full circle to her original goal of working in hospitality.

Thinking about future hospitality jobs she may apply for, she says, “I’m gonna really just put faith in the fact that it will shine through on my resume and in my personality that I have work history and work experience.”

As a hairstylist, Meghan relies on her strong interpersonal skills to build lasting relationships with her clients. “It’s pretty common to carry on a conversation the entire time you are doing their hair.” The moment they enter her salon, Meghan asks herself, “What can I talk about with this particular person? What will we bond with?”

A former fashion merchandiser, she can find clues to their personality from what they wear. Her background in fashion helps in other ways too. In merchandising, she learned to create stories with clothing that would make people want to shop at her store. Her knowledge of fabrics and colors helps her think about textures, shapes and colors as she styles hair.

She also continues to build her technical skills, traveling to other cities to take classes, visit salons, and stay in touch with styles, trends, tools, and products. Ultimately, though, her success comes back to her people skills. “A lot of times they just can’t wait to get their hair done. It’s more about just hanging out with me than the haircut itself.”

Meghan is a lifelong learner so she sees herself making another career change. “There might be a time when I have to switch my career again and I don’t really know what that would be yet. I’m still trying to figure that out, but I will still probably do hair, even if it’s just a few days a week.”

Micah is a problem solver. He honed his problem-solving skills across numerous life and work experiences and applies them now to his own business. Micah was home-schooled and learned a lot about work from his dad who put him to work in his real estate and property management business. “He started finding properties that he could buy, fix up, rent out, and create income off of. And then I ended up being his tool boy. That’s how I got to spend time bonding with my dad, taking care of properties and fixing things.”

When he graduated from high school, Micah joined the U.S. Army. He trained in military intelligence, an area that he says taught him to “fix problems, put out fires, and deal with people.” He served as a security specialist in the military and remains a noncommissioned officer to this day. In his civilian life, he took a number of college courses and credits and obtained several certifications in real estate and maintenance. He worked in several small businesses, often moving quickly from line staff to management.

When Micah decided to start a property management company of his own, he had a lot of experience to draw on.  “We manage the rent collection, we manage maintenance repairs, tenant turnover, signing the leases, showing the apartment, cleaning up after the old tenants... We do windows doors, drywall, like whatever can go wrong with the property. We’ll fix it if we can.” And yet, Micah encountered barriers due to his lack of a degree.

When applying for a manager position at one store, for example, he was told he might not be qualified, even though he runs his own business. “They wouldn’t consider that without a degree. Simply a paper that says I graduated.” That hasn’t stopped Micah. He emphasizes his leadership abilities, his problem solving skills, his ability to learn in any environment, and his ability to work under pressure. In the long term, Micah hopes to continue to grow his business and maybe even go back and get his bachelor’s degree.

Sean was always “big time into art” but did not follow his passion until later in life. Growing up, “counselors drilled into my head: You’ll never make any money doing art.” Just as he was graduating from high school, Sean’s father passed away and “I had just pretty much checked out, you know? I think if it wasn’t for meeting my wife in high school, I probably wouldn’t be here having this conversation right now.”

For over 20 years, Sean worked in food service, enjoyed working with cars and became a seasoned shop foreman, and dabbled in website development. At 39, the age his father died, Sean decided to pursue a career that he was absolutely passionate about: an ice and snow sculpting business. Though in the beginning, business was slow, Sean’s drive and support from his family kept him going.

Today, Sean’s business expanded and he is a reputable 3D chalk artist and ice, snow, and sand sculptor. Fondly, he recalled how his mother-in-law, “always used to tell me that I was wasting my talent, cause she knew I could draw. I was like, I know, I know. I know. I was always working towards that. I just didn’t know what it was yet.”

“What this comes down to is knowing your worth, right?” Lakisha has spent a career learning her worth in the workforce. College was never really an option — her family did not expect it of her, her high school teachers and counselors did not encourage her, and the financial burden was simply too high.

Instead Lakisha worked for years in factories and eventually, in search of a change, applied to administrative positions. The work was new to her and, at first, she could only get temp jobs. However, her attitude, customer service orientation, and work ethic prompted one attentive supervisor to bring her on full time. “For me that was life changing. I actually had a full-time job where I had benefits. I had healthcare. I had a 401(k) and I was able to help my family out if they needed.”

When a colleague departed and Lakisha took on extra responsibilities, she spoke up for herself. “I sent the headmaster a note, we set up a meeting and we met. I told him I was going to be doing two jobs and I feel like I should be compensated more for them”. To her surprise, the headmaster readily agreed. Lakisha attributes her confidence to knowing the value of her skillset and her work.

Mark first stepped into a restaurant kitchen at 9 years old, when his aunt brought him to work at a diner one weekend. She put him to work, filling ketchup bottles and replacing napkin containers, and from that day he was hooked. As a teenager, he started his own candy business and got a job at a burger restaurant. These early job experiences confirmed for Mark that he wanted to work with food and be in kitchens.

After some time in the military and a year of community college, he decided to pursue a culinary education to build on the skills he had learned on the job. One big lesson was vocabulary, as he explains “not calling it a white wine and butter sauce. It’s a beurre blanc.” Mark continued to work, while studying, at a variety of restaurants, from country clubs to steak houses, perfecting his craft at each one. Though there were times when he had to step back from the industry, he always found his way back.

A job that is as physically, mentally, and emotionally demanding as working in a kitchen, takes years of practice and a constant willingness to learn. As he’s moved into head chef positions and now as a culinary manager, he’s learned that empathy, and being able to recognize others’ strengths and weaknesses, is also a large part of the job. “I’ve had prep cooks that are hundred pounds soaking wet that can burn through a 50 pound bag of onions in 30 minutes, and they’re all perfect. But you have to pick up that 50 pound bag for them because there’s no way they’re doing it. It’s realizing that they have so many strengths, but if they have a couple of weaknesses, that’s not a big deal.”

Mark makes it a point to also educate those who are coming up behind him. “I’ve always tried to make it a place of education and fun and a pursuit of something beyond ourselves. I mean, it’s one plate at a time. And all we’re trying to do is feed people. It’s not that difficult. Just try and try and show people love and grace.”

Dalton is an EMT and Security Officer at an assisted living community while he works on breaking into the content creation world on social media and finishing his bachelor’s degree.

He is building an online platform for the content and videos that he creates. “I have the mindset and skill set to be able to record multiple videos at a time and get those ready to go. Trying to post two or three videos a day to keep engaged with your crowd is hard. You have to have the drive to do it.”

He developed his skills and work ethic over time, first as an EMT and then through an associate’s program. As an EMT, he learned emergency health interventions and also built skills in problem solving, customer service, and communication. He even became a better writer through the detailed but succinct reports he filed on all of his emergency response calls. Dalton obtained a certification to become an EMT but he learned the most in the field.

“Most of it is practical work, like knowing how to bandage something, knowing how to do CPR, knowing how to intubate. All these medical things. You can learn about them through text and only by talking so much, but you don’t really know what you’re doing until you actually do it.”

Through his associates degree program, he added skills in editing and production software. He got a lot of hands-on experience with different types of cameras and techniques. He notes that being able to edit videos, movies, and pictures puts him a step ahead of others without those skills.

Though she was a skilled welder, Erika had to learn a lot of technical skills when she started at the manufacturing plant. “I learned how to connect, braze, lash, and motor. I learned how to surge test the motors. And then I learned one of the machines that physically winds and puts the copper coil into the motor.” She did her job so well, she became a quality technician, which means she is the last person to see a motor before it leaves the plant.

Erika’s job requires a high level of coordination between different departments and individuals. “You have to work with the person behind you. I work in a production facility, so the two positions behind mine would be nameplates and paint. So if they’re wanting to go slow on the painting or they’re having an off day anyway, you kind of have to help perk them up to encourage them.” Because she works second shift, Erika is also responsible for communicating with first shift engineers, to ensure smooth transitions between shifts.  

Erika identifies attention to detail, good communication, and teamwork as the most important skills she depends on every day. Though she has been professionally successful, Erika has had to prove herself over and over as a young woman and a working mother in manufacturing. She says, “It takes a lot for people to overcome their own mentality of what they perceive you to be. So they think, ‘Oh, she’s just a young 26 year old. It takes a moment for them to realize, okay, no, she’s in this position cause she’s serious.”

Sam has been picking up skills and work-based knowledge since his first job on a tree farm. He says that this job is where he got his first marketable job skills. He learned about logging, selling lumber, forestry, mechanics, and small business practices. Since then, he has worked in construction, as a roofer, a plumber, and an electrician’s assistant. He has also worked in schools, designed curricula for outdoor education, and served on the boards of two conservation nonprofits.  

Today, Sam runs his own sub-contracting business and does residential construction. He uses all the technical and people skills that he learned along the way, but Sam says that failure has been the best teacher. When he first got his business off the ground, he lost a lot of time and a lot of money learning tough lessons in fiscal responsibility, and in managing his business, his employees, and his contracts. He also had a hard time getting bids early on. “I just applied and applied and applied and applied and lost almost every bid. But then occasionally I picked a few up.” From there, things only grew.

Sam says that much of his success is due to the fact that he’s a “self-starter in every sense of the word” and he’s not one to back down from a challenge. “I’ve never said ‘I don’t know how to do that.’ I say, ‘Yeah, I can. Give me a week and I’ll figure it out.’” This positive attitude toward learning and this willingness to take on new work challenges, in addition to the sheer amount of experience that he has gained over the years, has helped him make his way in his field, where he often finds himself supervising workers who are decades his senior. These are also qualities that Sam looks for when he puts together a team.

“I will hire anybody who will put in a long day of work and has some degree of being able to retain information and learn a skill,” he says.

Jamie’s participation in the prison work-study program set him on a path of learning. He took college classes by mail and near the end of his sentence, he was placed at the governor’s mansion. He started on the governor’s household staff, and after a year, transitioned to an administrative position, where he had a lot to learn. “I remember my first day. When I got to my computer, I remember seeing ‘CLT-ALT-Enter.’ I didn’t even know what that meant.”

But he mastered typing at a fast pace, computers, and went on to learn social media management, communications, speech writing, and event planning. When Jamie left prison, he found work at an education-oriented nonprofit. There, he learned about human resources and charter school management.

Today, as a development coordinator at another nonprofit, Jamie does outreach to community members and potential donors to raise critical funds to support the organization’s mission. Every step of the way, Jamie pushed himself to learn more. Over the years, he’s attained his BA in Health and Human Sciences, Life Coach certification, NC Life Insurance license, a Non-Profit Management certification, Mental Health First Aid certified, Crisis and Prevention certification, and a professional development and conflict mediation certification. He is working towards his master’s and then doctorate degree.

One of the things Thaddaeus loves about his job is that he gets to help others. He is responsible for technical support in his academic department, on everything from projects to meetings to events. He guides faculty, staff, and students through difficult technical challenges and does projects of his own. His skills have been critical in the recent transition to online learning.

When Thaddaeus started at the university, he had no formal training in IT or tech support. He had developed all his skills over a series of jobs where he leveraged his affinity for computers into office-oriented technical work. He taught himself video editing, audio editing, and even to work with some operating systems. He also worked as a medical transcriptionist and a freelance designer. “A throughline to everything has been, just working within tech, working in IT. I have always sort of gravitated towards computer work and computer repair and stuff like that.”

Thaddaeus is also a professional performer. He has roles in local theatrical productions and works as a standardized patient actor to teach medical students effective and empathetic patient interaction. These theatrical projects provide an artistic outlet and make him an excellent communicator and public speaker. He is comfortable in front of an audience, skilled at explaining complex information, and good at giving and receiving feedback.

When Thaddaeus was first starting out, his dream was to design theme parks. While this is not where his career took him, he has found his own pathway to jobs that allow him to use his creativity, problem solving and interpersonal skills to create a positive learning environment at the university. “I’ve gotten a lot of satisfaction just being helpful and helping people find things or helping people connect dots that they didn’t really know were connected.”

When Kent interviewed for his current position, he was determined to get the job. To set himself apart from the other applicants, Kent asked to demonstrate his skills during the interview. “I said set me up with a temporary ID and temporary environment and I can show you what I can do. So that’s what I did and that’s how I got my job.”

Kent developed his first computer skills over 30 years ago in the Army Reserves, computing firing data for artillery sections. When he left the military, he pursued an associates-to-bachelors transfer program in computer science but found the school-work-home-life balance taxing. Providing for his family, paying the mortgage and covering healthcare took precedence over classes.

Instead, he built his skills on the job. He was lucky to have an excellent supervisor who served as a mentor and gave him the opportunity to learn. He had some ups and downs over the years as contracts came and went. There were times Kent found that as a young Black man doing a technical job, he was not supported by his colleagues.  

Now, Kent is in a stable job that he loves. After nearly 28 years of work in the field, he continues to enjoy his work.   “The job is awesome. The people and the politics is what makes it challenging, but I enjoy helping people. I enjoy the troubleshooting aspect of being able to take a problem, an issue, and come up with a resolution. Like I said, the job is great.”

Laura got her first pharmacy technician job during her associate’s program and she faced a daunting learning curve. She had to learn a lot of technical skills — filling prescriptions for patients, mixing medications, and preparing IVs. She also learned to navigate a hospital environment and manage communications with doctors and nurses. Laura earned her national certification for pharmacy technicians, and after working in hospital settings for almost ten years, transitioned to a compounding center. In this job, Laura works more closely with the actual production of medicine.

“We are making the drugs from scratch, like taking powders and liquids and mixing them together.” Laura says that the most important skill she has developed the job is the ability to multitask while maintaining extraordinary attention to detail. “If you’re running the main counter in the pharmacy, you’re answering phone calls from nurses, you are getting printed papers that are med requests from nurses from all over the hospital. You are having to listen to pharmacists. There might be a window where people are coming to pick up meds and there’s 15,000 things going and you have to keep getting stuff done the whole time and you have to do it correctly and accurately. It’s medication. I can’t send out the wrong thing!”

Today, Laura is looking to change careers because she has gone as far as she can go as a pharmacy technician. She has enrolled in a 9-month IT training program and is gaining certifications. She is optimistic about her future. “There are a million and a half things I could do with any of these certifications. I don’t know them though because I’ve never been in this world before. So like it’s the world is my oyster!”

Katy has a unique set of technical skills. Having started her career as a musician, she built on high school vocational training and an associates degree in media arts to become adept at sound design and electronics repair. She worked in record studios and music stores, running and repairing equipment. “All the pro audio equipment, all the PA equipment, all the recording equipment, DJ stuff, the keyboards, I kept everything connected and running.”

However, with limited prospects for job growth, she began to explore her options. Friends on her rugby team took her under their collective wing and helped her pivot from music to medical technology. They coached her through resume building and interview preparation, and helped open doors that she otherwise would not have known about.

“I had one or two people who really just sat down with me and really helped me polish up my resume and then found a bunch of examples of interview questions. And then they had me think through things like biggest strength, biggest weakness, and just grilled me on it and got me into interview shape.” Her technical skills helped her adapt to a new environment, even as she faced the steep learning curve that comes in a new industry, and she has moved up in the field.

Now, a Data Analyst, Katy continues to pay it forward, helping younger rugby players pursue their professional dreams. “I love being able to help people out now and I wouldn’t be able to do it if not for the fact that someone had done it for me.”

Lynnette has always learned by doing. After high school, she started working in factories where the pay was moderate and the hours long. Seeking change, she got an associates degree in Secretarial Science, studying records management, data entry, and psychology.

For nearly 31 years, she has worked in various student services at a state university. Due to an organizational restructure, Lynnette ended her time at the university as an Academic Coordinator. In this role, she was responsible for providing academic advising to undergraduate and graduate students. On her time in student services, Lynnette reflects, “I think it brought about variety. It pretty much kept me on my toes and I was learning and meeting new people”.

Now Lynette seeks a new challenge. When COVID-19 became a concern, several friends invited her to make masks. Lynnette learned to sew from her mother and grandmother but she hadn’t seriously sewn in decades. Despite some initial hesitation, with encouragement from her family, Lynnette started a sewing and crafting business. She says, “What is ironic is over the years, I’ve been collecting fabric. I had this giant bin full of cotton material and lo and behold, cotton material was being recommended for homemade masks by the CDC”.

Now, after more than 30 years working, as she contemplates her retirement plans, she says, “I’m looking into being an entrepreneur”.

Barbara's career was shaped by a purpose she never expected. Today, she is a respected advocate, trainer, and facilitator who has spent more than 35 years helping organizations better serve children and families with complex needs. Her expertise in systems change, community engagement, and family advocacy has influenced organizations across North Carolina and beyond. But her path to this work did not begin in a classroom; it began as a mother determined to help her family navigate challenges that seemed impossible.

When Barbara's daughter experienced a severe mental health crisis, she found herself navigating complicated systems while also caring for her mother, who had significant healthcare needs. Faced with overwhelming responsibilities, Barbara made the difficult decision to put her college education on hold and focus on her family. As she worked to coordinate care, advocate for services, and connect fragmented systems, she developed a comprehensive set of workplace skills that many employers and institutions often overlook: problem-solving, relationship-building, strategic thinking, and leadership under pressure. Yet without a bachelor's degree, her expertise was frequently underestimated, despite the real-world knowledge she gained through lived experience in crisis management and conflict resolution. 

Rather than letting those barriers define her, Barbara turned her experiences into a lifelong mission. She went on to help organizations transform how they engage families, design programs, and build systems that work for the people they serve. Along the way, she became a champion for recognizing skills gained outside traditional educational pathways. Barbara's story is a reminder that talent, leadership, and innovation can be built through many routes—and that when organizations look beyond credentials, they unlock the full potential of STARs whose expertise has been tested and refined through real-life experience.

Carmen has systematically put in place the pieces she needs to run her own home health agency. She always knew she wanted to provide nursing care, but the cost of college was a barrier, so Carmen took advantage of every resource her local community college had to offer. Carmen completed an associate’s degree in medical office administration, and multiple certifications for nurse assistant, medication technician, medical coding and CPR. She is one class shy of completing a second associate’s degree in office systems management.

She has years of work experience where she has moved steadily upwards from entry level Certified Nursing Assistant, to med tech to being a special care unit coordinator. She still has her eye on the nursing degree through an associates to bachelors transfer program. As she worked at various care facilities, Carmen developed a solid understanding of how they work and what patients need. “I’ve seen so many bad things. I want people to be able to maintain their independence at home if they can do so.”

Carmen has built strong relationships with her staff, many of who express interest in continuing to work with her. She recognizes that funding could present a challenge to accomplishing her goals but she believes that she can do the research to figure out the finances. Ultimately, she has confidence in her ability to start her business. “I know if I’ve got a good set of people and I do good business, then I can get good things in return.”

Quinn joined the military at 18 to become an infantryman. His dreams of a military career were dashed when he suffered an injury that led to a medical discharge, however during the two years he spent in the military, Quinn cultivated a strong work ethic, critical thinking skills, and adaptability. Quinn described the military as a place that rewarded problem-solving and efficiency and recalled, “If I look at a maneuver my squad is doing and I told my squad leader, ‘Hey, this route looks better,” nine times out of ten he’s going to say, ‘That’s very smart, I didn’t see that.’”

These traits served him well after he transitioned into civilian jobs. “Even if I apply for a job and don’t completely understand exactly what it’s going to take, it’s very easy for me to look at what’s being done and replicate it, and then usually very quickly find better ways to do things. It was just something you learned to do on autopilot in the military.”

While Quinn was well-liked and appreciated by employers, he noticed that it was difficult to get callbacks on his job applications and he has found it hard to find a career path that fits his interests. He thinks employers do not understand how the skills he developed in the military make him a valuable worker. He also believes there is a stigma associated with his military experience.

“I don’t know what it is that the media or the entertainment industry or news has done to make that employers think that everyone who has been in the military — especially medically discharged — is somehow unstable or not as good as an employee.” Quinn noted that people in the military are “people doing a job with a goal, the job just happened to be a little harder, which usually makes us better workers. We’re not the liability.” Quinn aims to attend college in the future to offset the challenges he faced in his job search.

“Really, anything I wanted to learn, I honestly learned it by myself.” When Daquan graduated from high school, college was simply not an option. “When you have to survive, you have to do what you have to do. You don’t think about college, you think about how you are going to eat, where you are going to live, and how you are going to support yourself”. To provide for his family, Daquan worked a series of service jobs in fast food and retail.

After some years in the workforce, he completed a medical certificate and became a home health aide. While he works as a professional caregiver, he continues to build skills and pursue his interests. He loves tinkering with electronics, and has thought about pursuing a degree in aviation engineering, but the cost is a barrier.

Instead, he is working towards an associates degree in liberal studies, aiming to eventually transfer to a four year college. He is also teaching himself carpentry. “I like building fireplaces and cabinets and stuff like that. I learned it from YouTube.” Daquan is confident these self-taught skills will always be of value. “As long as I have my hands and a trade or skill, no one can take it from me, so I’ll always have work”.

Experience can be the best teacher. When Tadarius had his identity stolen, he took control of the situation, repaired his credit, and learned the fundamentals of credit scores. He soon became a resource to his friends and family. “A lot of people look at it as just credit repair, but you have to learn the ins and outs of what actually goes into a great score and what to do to help someone go from a bad to a good score”.

Tadarius is now certified as a credit score consultant, a credit repair specialist, a financial planner and he is working on his life coach certification to round out his professional toolkit. In June of 2020, he launched his credit repair business and is actively recruiting clients. Running his own business is rewarding after years struggling to find work that made full use of the skills he got in the military and on the job.

Tadarius believes customer service, time management and a willingness to work with authority figures are the skills that will make him a successful business owner. When asked about the necessity of a college degree in his line of work, he says, “I think learning from other business owners and people who have already done it has been a lot better than going to the classroom.”

Mary began to work straight out of high school. Her father, a local politician, leveraged his connections to help her find work in local government. Mary began as an entry-level cashier and was promoted to cashier manager. As a supervisor, Mary’s philosophy was, “you’re only as good as your people”. She aimed to create an environment where her staff felt supported and treated with respect.

“As a manager, I felt anything I had been wronged on, I could undo.” She felt it was important to give honest and consistent feedback and to provide support when employees are struggling. She says, “When you give someone an evaluation, it should never be a surprise. If they are having problems, you should be telling them on a daily basis, no matter how hard it is”. Mary believes her efforts paid off. “I think I was well-respected and I hired a couple of supervisors under me who were well-respected. We were a good team”.

Unfortunately, after her boss lost a bid for reelection, Mary found herself unemployed for the first time in 20 years. This was when she realized the challenges related to not having a college degree. “I lost my job … It’s 2005. That’s the time when people want people with college.” Mary succeeded at finding new jobs both in nonprofit and the public sector but she never quite found the same good fit again. She is now retired.

As an employment counselor, Elizabeth helps people find good jobs, but her own path to a job she loves was anything but smooth. Inspired by a post 9/11 television commercial, she enlisted in the military out of high school. After her service, she struggled to find her footing and was incarcerated for five years.

In prison, she participated in a program that earned her certifications in administrative assistance and industrial cleaning. With her work record and certifications, she was recommended for a job upon her release at a 5-star hotel where she thrived. Since then, Elizabeth worked in several other jobs before finding her current role with a nonprofit. She enjoys building relationships with employers and supporting job seekers, many of whom were also justice-involved.

This job, however, was not Elizabeth’s first choice. With a certificate in administrative work and fluency in Spanish, she was certain she could be successful as a medical transcriptionist so she enrolled in a medical transcription degree program at a community college. Disqualified from loans and grants by her criminal record, she paid for the program out of her own pocket.

Over a year into the program, her program counselor told her that she could never work in the medical field because of her criminal record. “I was pretty much in there and was starting to try to find out about internships or part-time jobs… It is really discouraging that the counselors at college, when you’re signing up will not tell you ahead of time, ‘Hey, you might not be able to work here doing this job. They just tell you ‘yes, sign up!’”

She now helps formerly incarcerated individuals avoid these barriers and pursue their dreams. She says, “to have a criminal background, have no education, but be a social worker and be a teacher at a college? I think any of us can do it.”

Debrena makes the most of every opportunity. From her very first job as door-to-door saleswoman at 14, a job that only lasted a day, to a job as a QA engineer, she has developed a deep and broad skill set. She never wanted to go to college but through training programs, bootcamps, and self-guided learning, she learned technical skills like HTML, CSS and JavaScript. On the job, in roles she sometimes characterized as “survival jobs”, she learned to leverage those skills for professional success.

Debrena recalls, “I learned really, really, really solid HTML and CSS. I just didn’t know how to organize it very well and do it professionally. [Working] helped me understand the role of HTML, CSS and JavaScript. You know, HTML is the framework and the framing of a house, the CSS is the paint and the décor, and JavaScript turns the lights on.”

Debrena recognizes the importance of advocating for herself. For example, two weeks before her graduation from coding bootcamp, she overheard two other students in the program talking about an event they were attending just up the street, hosted by a company she aspired to work for. She had written to the company asking about internship opportunities but she was discouraged by her prospects due to her lack of college degree. She did not know what the event was but she knew it was a way to get in the door so she got in the car and drove there.

She recalls, “I was aggressively pitching myself and I made it… I made an impression, I filled out the application, and then I got the invitation to participate in their Make-a-thon. I remember screaming in my car, like I can’t believe this is happening. I participated in the hackathon and they selected me to be an apprentice there for three months.”

Debrena feels that all her skills have come together to get her where she is now. She shares that, “every single skill that I think I’ve built, all of the experiences that I have, are kind of coming through in these projects, and it feels almost kismet.” Looking forward, she hopes to use her skills and experiences to do more educational and advocacy work.

Courtney grew up in a family of hard workers who pushed him and his sister to seek out opportunities. He initially set out to pursue a career in mechanical engineering. While still in college, he interviewed for a job as a CAD designer at an architectural firm, and because he had a background in construction and experience managing people, the firm hired Courtney as a project manager instead.

“My plan was to be a CAD designer, because I have the skills and knew the craft, and then just finish up my degree part time. Well, they ended up hiring me to be a project manager, because on the side, I was doing a lot of construction work and I had people working for me. I didn’t know what a project manager was, but I was basically doing project management work.”

Courtney thought this job would launch his career but the 2008 housing crash hit the industry and he was laid off. He continued to work in construction through his own construction company and then moved to California, where he made a career shift into IT. In his current job, as Client Services Manager, he is responsible for project planning, troubleshooting, writing API scripts, and producing highly technical project implementation guides.

Courtney says his project management skills facilitated his transition between fields. “I had that strong project management background, and I was able to demonstrate, through my work, a lot of soft skills that were highly desirable, especially dealing with customers... Being able to translate technical information into layman’s terminology, a natural curiosity, and things of that nature that are desirable, regardless of industry.” To complement these important transferable skills, he went through a formal training program to build additional IT skills. In the future he hopes to get a project management certificate and continue to grow his technical skill set.