Nonprofit strategy leadership in youth development and mental health
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FILLER
Atlanta, GA
New York City, NY
Director of Strategy, Youth Villages
Manager, ZS Associates
Consultant, FW Cook
Analyst, S&P Capital IQ
Nonprofit strategy leadership in youth development and mental health
I have long been motivated by the idea of building a career in service of something larger than myself, though it took time and experimentation to understand what that should look like. Before Fuqua, I built a strong analytical foundation through roles in financial services and consulting, while staying connected to service through volunteering and other community-based work. I came to Fuqua looking for a way to fully align my professional strengths with the mission-driven work I cared most about.
After Fuqua, I returned to consulting, this time working with mission-driven healthcare organizations and nonprofits. That experience, combined with my own experiences navigating mental health challenges, gave me the conviction to move fully into the social sector. Today, I serve as Director of Strategy at Youth Villages, a national nonprofit with a roughly $600 million budget that supports more than 47,000 children and young people across nearly 30 states each year who face emotional, behavioral, and mental health challenges.
In my current role, I spend my days…
Helping Youth Villages make more strategic decisions about how we grow, innovate, and increase our impact. I guide strategic planning and enterprise decision-making, partner across teams to advance complex initiatives, and support policy and advocacy efforts that strengthen youth-serving systems. On any given day, that might mean shaping a multi-state growth plan, leading a cross-functional project on staff experience or data and technology, or helping the organization respond to new policy guidance or funding opportunities.
A recent impact highlight I am proud of
Is helping secure more than $50 million in philanthropic investments to expand services and influence policy for young adults aging out of the foster care system. Those investments extend support to thousands of young people as they navigate adulthood without traditional family support, including help with stable housing, caring relationships, and pathways to education and employment.
This work is especially meaningful to me because it has not just been about scaling our existing services. At Youth Villages, we say we try to “fall in love with the problem, not our solution.” Even though we already operate a leading national transitional living model, we know the broader system is still not producing the outcomes young people deserve. This funding created room not only to expand our existing services, but to also improve the model, generate evidence, and advocate for policy change. In that sense, we are truly helping to raise the bar for how our country supports the 20,000+ young adults aging out or on track to age out of foster care each year and ensure every one of them has the best opportunity for a successful adulthood.
A critical resource in my impact work
I would recommend The Water of Systems Change by John Kania, Mark Kramer, and Peter Senge. It is short, practical, and greatly influenced how I think about social change. The piece helps explain why so many efforts focus on visible symptoms while overlooking the underlying relationships, power dynamics, and mental models that keep social problems in place. It pushed me to think beyond direct services alone and to work more collaboratively, relationally, and systemically.
How Fuqua influenced my impact journey
One of the most formative experiences I had at Fuqua was participating in the Fuqua Client Consulting Practicum with a social enterprise last-mile health provider in Africa as our team client. Working on a real-world project with impact-oriented classmates to address a challenge the organization was facing made social sector work feel so much more tangible and energizing.
More broadly, Fuqua helped me see that I did not have to choose between analytical rigor and mission-driven work. It gave me exposure to social impact in practice, a community of peers who deeply care about using business as a force for good, and the confidence to pursue a career shaped by my sense of purpose.