Guest

My name is Angelique Albert, I am the CEO of Native Forward Scholars Fund. We are the largest scholarship provider to native students in this country, and we provide annually about $15 million in scholarships to students from over 500 tribes in all 50 states. Part of why I do what I do is to make sure that we have native people who are highly educated and have representation in spaces that we usually don't have that. So that could be Congress, that could be political, that could be business, it could be every industry. I've worked as accountant for our tribal college, I've worked as a CASA worker, helping kids in our tribal communities, I've worked in philanthropy and funding other non-profits. But ultimately, all of those skills that I learned at those different places really led me to be a strong CEO of this non-profit. So it wasn't a linear path and I just took every opportunity I could and made the best of it. And I really feel like those skill sets brought me to my dream job. Find something that you love and you're passionate about. And you can build that into whatever you want and build it as big as you want. 

I recommend studying business. I implement the skills that I gained from my business degree regularly. It's a strong field that complements the nonprofit space nicely. I also recommend gaining skills in finance and building infrastructure of an organization.

My mom only finished eighth grade and my dad finished high school, so I didn't really have anyone to help me navigate college or grad school. That's part of the reason that I'm so passionate about helping students now. 

Every day is different. I could be working with our staff to make sure they have what they need to provide scholarships and programming for students. I could be meeting with donors or corporate partners to figure out how we can partner together for the benefit of our students. I spend time fundraising, traveling, and developing relationships with people.

Angelique Albert

About Angelique

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