Alumni Personal & Career Development Center

🎩NEW DEACON SPOTLIGHT🎩

Mary Daniel Cheek (‘19) works as the Development and Communications Coordinator at Little Lights Urban Ministries which is a faith-based nonprofit that provides compassionate support and practical resources for underserved children, youth, and families in📍Washington, DC. She spent 9 months post-grad in a spiritual formation and vocational discernment cohort which prepared her to enter the full-time world of work.

Here are some fun facts about Mary Daniel:

🖤 Some of her most cherished memories while at Wake Forest include playing intramural basketball, writing for the Old Gold & Black, and going to Cook-Out with friends.

🎩 As a student, Mary Daniel tried out to be the Demon Deacon mascot. Sadly, she didn’t make the cut, but it was a fun experience she’ll never forget!

📚 She has a goal to read one book written by an author from every country in the world. So far, she has read 58 books on the way to her goal.

We’ll leave you with some advice from Mary Daniel for new grads and young alumni:
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“For anyone considering working for a nonprofit, I would emphasize the importance of being flexible. Needs, resources, and the scope of work are ever-changing when you work for a small, mission-driven organization. This means that employees who want to contribute well and succeed need to be okay with change and willing to adapt to that which benefits the organization and those it serves.”

Read more of our Q&A with Mary Daniel at the link in our profile or stories! Plus, you can always check out our past alumni spotlights in the “Deacon Spotlight” highlight reel in our profile.

https://alumni.opcd.wfu.edu/deacon-spotlight/deacon-spotlight-mary-daniel-cheek/ …

Our final Coffee Chat with Alumni for this spring is coming up in May (last one until the fall)! ☕️ Deadline to sign-up and be included in our pairings for alumni conversations is next week on Friday, May 2nd. 📆

Whether this is your first time participating or you’ve signed up for every coffee chat this past spring, this is an awesome (and easy) way to expand your network. 👥👥👥👥👥👥

*This is an alumni-only event (students – connect with @wfuopcd for student networking opps!)*

[Side note: This is NOT a live, time-specific event! And yes, you have to register for each month in which you want to participate!]

If you’re new around here, this is how it works:

1️⃣ You register.

2️⃣ We pair you up with another 🎩 Wake alum and introduce the two of you via email.

3️⃣ The two of you find a mutually convenient time for a conversation (phone, Zoom, in-person, whatever makes sense for y’all!)

💥And just like that, you’ve grown your network, one conversation at a time!💥

It’s super simple. Sign-up at the 🔗 in our profile or stories to give it a try!

https://wakenetwork.wfu.edu/events/online-coffee-chat-with-alumni-05-06-2025-0011492 …

Whether you’ve played around with AI to help you brainstorm an idea or write an email, or have stayed away from using AI tools completely, you might want to consider using AI as a resource for your career development!

Did you know that AI can be a great tool to help you figure out next steps in your career or job search process? 🤖

You can use prompts to ask AI to help you:

💡 Assess your current skills and experiences in relation to your career interests

🔎 Identify emerging trends and opportunities in specific career fields or paths

📈 Predict future job market demands

💛 Explore career paths based on your interests and skills

🗒️ Create a learning plan with suggested courses, certificates, or training opportunities to grow your skill set for the job that you want

Read this article from Dice (use the link in our bio or stories) to get sample prompt ideas for using AI to navigate what’s next for you.

https://www.dice.com/career-advice/can-ai-help-you-plan-out-your-career-goals …

Have you graduated from Wake Forest within the past 5️⃣ years (Classes of 2020-2024)? 🎓

We have a ⚡️free⚡️open enrollment course to help you develop five key competency areas that we believe all young professionals need to master in their first five years after college.

In our Five For Your First Five online course, we cover topics such as:

💛 Discovering your why – being able to articulate what motivates you to do what you do each day.

📝 Redefining failure and learning from those experiences when you haven’t been successful.

🔁 Building your network and finding your people post-college.

👔 Navigating impostor syndrome, organizational politics, and gathering data on your experiences to figure out what’s next for you.

🏆 Learning how to play the long game in your career.

Register and access this course at any time using the 🔗 in our bio or stories!

https://wakenetwork.wfu.edu/events/online-05-25-2024-0010889 …

🎩NEW DEACON SPOTLIGHT🎩

Get to know @wfualumni Charity Wagenti (‘09) who works as a Manager for Pharmacy Procurement and 340B Program in📍Columbus, GA! Charity knew she wanted to work in healthcare from an early age after traveling on mission trips to Jamaica with her father. Now, she manages the 340B program at her local hospital which involves using limited federal resources to serve at-risk patients.

Here are some fun facts about Charity:

😍 She decided she wanted to go to Wake Forest on her very first visit to campus. She thought (and still thinks!) that it was a beautiful campus and it was love at first sight.

🎾 Charity played club tennis at Wake Forest and still plays today.

💛 She was a perfect match and was able to donate a kidney to her mother!

We’ll leave you with some advice from Charity for new grads and young alumni:
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“Personal habits for life after college are critical in order to thrive as a working adult. Prioritizing and staying on top of finances with issues like taxes or investments lead to success. It is also important to maintain healthy habits with nutrition and exercise habits by sticking with a routine. Work/ life balance is also critically important, as it is not wise to say yes to every opportunity. However, it is important to not miss valuable opportunities as well.”

Read more of our Q&A with Charity at the link in our profile or stories! Plus, you can always check out our past alumni spotlights in the “Deacon Spotlight” highlight reel in our profile.

https://alumni.opcd.wfu.edu/deacon-spotlight/deacon-spotlight-charity-wagenti/ …

🎩NEW DEACON SPOTLIGHT🎩

We recently caught up with Bridget Ring (BA 2021, Communications & Entrepreneurship) who works as an Account Executive at Ogilvy in New York, NY. During her time at Ogilvy, Bridget has worked across an array of consumer-facing brands and currently sits on their travel team, where she works with international tourism boards to promote their destinations to the US market.

Here are a few fun facts about Bridget:

🏡 Bridget grew up in Manchester, Vermont.

🇬🇧 She studied abroad in London in 2019!

🐈 Bridget adopted her cat Momo from the cat cafe in downtown Winston-Salem.

We’ll leave you with some wisdom from Bridget:
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“The most important thing is finding what makes you happy and fulfilled outside of the office and making it a priority. Whether it’s cooking, reading, or running, you need to actively make the effort to keep these things in your life. While you’re adjusting to a new job, it is easy to want to go back to your apartment and crash after work, but making the effort to do the things that bring you joy are always worth it.”

Read more of our Q&A with Bridget at the link in our profile or stories! Plus, you can always check out our past alumni spotlights in the “Deacon Spotlight” highlight reel in our profile.

https://alumni.opcd.wfu.edu/deacon-spotlight/deacon-spotlight-bridget-ring/ …

We’ve had this Alumni Conversation Group topic on the calendar for a few months now, and within the first few weeks of opening registration all of the spots were completely filled (these are space limited programs designed to foster dialogue amongst a small group). That’s a great way for us to know that @wfualumni are interested in this topic of finding part-time or flexible work!

Currently, this registration page has a waitlist with several alumni signed up. ⚡️If you’re interested in this topic and still want to join the conversation, please sign up for the waitlist! We’ll plan to offer a second conversation group (same topic, same agenda) for the waitlisted folks so that they can participate as well.⚡️

Here’s a quick overview of this conversation group:

Trying to find or land a solid, professional part-time job role in your desired career industry can feel like trying to spot a unicorn🦄 (it’s difficult or maybe even impossible!). Perhaps you’re wanting to reduce your work hours or dip your toe back into the working world after a career break and a flexible, part-time role would be best for you. How do you go about finding these types of positions? Who in your network could help you? Let’s talk about it.

Put your name on the waitlist at the link in our bio or stories and we’ll be in touch about another date/offering of this group. *Please note this is only for alumni and not currently enrolled students.

https://wakenetwork.wfu.edu/events/alumni-discussion-group-finding-part-time-or-flexible-work-04-29-2025-0011536 …