Mo McKenna
Strada Education Network & InsideTrack
"I used to think that your passion and your job had to be 100% aligned. I now see that pursuing my passion as a hobby can be a lot more enjoyable."
Career Roadmap
Mo's work combines: Non-Profit Organizations, Education, and Helping People
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Day In The Life
Skills &
Education
Here's the path I took:
High School
Sparta Senior High School
Bachelor's Degree
Sustainable Agriculture / Environmental Science
Warren Wilson College
Graduate Degree
Rural Sociology / Latin American Studies
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Here's the path I recommend for someone who wants to be a Director of Partnership Solutions:
Bachelor's Degree: Higher Education/Higher Education Administration
Bachelor's Degree: Business/Commerce, General
Learn more about different paths to this career
Life & Career Milestones
I've taken a lot of twists and turns
1.
Didn't go straight through in college - I dropped out after 2 years and traveled and worked before coming back to finish.
2.
I wasn't sure what I wanted to study in college and accrued all sorts of credits that weren't applicable to my degree. It was fun, but expensive.
3.
I pursued my education in agriculture, but realistically if I wanted to farm, I shouldn't have accrued student loan debt.
4.
For a decade, I worked a lot of multiple jobs at a time - typically short-term, seasonal, and temp jobs. It has made me a very resilient employee, but it wasn't great for my retirement.
5.
I fell into the field of education 10 years ago and have been able to advance as a result of a lot of investment in my professional development from that company.
6.
I used to think that your passion and your job had to be 100% aligned. I now see that pursuing my passion as a hobby can be a lot more enjoyable.
Defining Moments
How I responded to discouragement
THE NOISE
Messages from Family:
Why do you want to go away to college? What's the value of it?
How I responded:
I come from a very economically depressed and rural area of Wisconsin. Several of my family members didn't support me in leaving my community to pursue college. When I was in college getting a liberal arts education, they didn't understand what I was studying or what the value of it was. I actually left college after my first two years largely as a result of this discouragement. When I returned, I changed majors to a more career-focused track that my family could understand - agriculture.
Experiences and challenges that shaped me
My father had a gambling addiction growing up, so it was always feast or famine. Not having a model for healthy financial decision-making led me to make some poor financial decisions when I was a young adult in college. I've worked hard to come back.