Gemma DelRossi: I cannot believe how well CDAE prepares you for work in the nonprofit field.

Speaker 2: This is officially the first episode of the CDAE Alumni Podcast, where current students interview former students and learn about how their experiences as interns and undergrads led them to where they are now. Today, we're with Gemma DelRossi. Gemma was an environmental studies and community international development major who graduated in December 2018. She now works as a fund development and communications assistant at Vermont Council on Rural Development. Hey, Gemma.

Gemma DelRossi: Hi, there.

Speaker 2: How's life? How's everything post-college?

Gemma DelRossi: It's good. It's been quite a wild road over the last 10 months or so since graduating from UVM, but I think it's all part of the learning and growing experience.

Speaker 2: Do you miss it? Coming back to University of Vermont today, how do you feel?

Gemma DelRossi: I do miss it, but it's funny because I still do a little bit of work for a professor in CDAE at UVM, and every time I see my friends on campus, they're like, "What are you still doing here?" I'm like, "Guys."

Speaker 2: They're like, "Get away," right?

Gemma DelRossi: Yeah, I know. I know I'm not a student, but I can hang out here, right?

Speaker 2: Yes, of course. You're always welcome back. I want to know about your internship. How was your internship at the University of Vermont through the internship program? Is that correct? Was it through UVM?

Gemma DelRossi: It was through UVM, but my internships, I never got credit for them actually. I kind of just found them on my own as a summer experience.

Speaker 2: And how relevant to your work is your undergraduate major?

Gemma DelRossi: Oh, incredibly.

Speaker 2: Yeah?

Gemma DelRossi: Yes, I cannot believe how well CDAE prepares you for work in the nonprofit field and development and project planning and development. So my main kind of day-to-day responsibility is grant writing and finding grants, as well as researching donor relations and that sort of thing. And I think that my internship with 1% for the Planet, which I did in between my sophomore and junior year, working in nonprofit management was incredibly helpful in kind of giving me the ability to work in the nonprofit realm and communicate openly with individuals who I don't know, working with other organizations. Additionally, I canvassed at VPIRG the summer between my freshman and sophomore year, I think that gave me a very eye-opening experience into donor relations and being very comfortable in soliciting individuals for money.

Speaker 2: And were there any hesitations you experienced when picking your internship or just being a part of the internship in general?

Gemma DelRossi: Definitely with VPIRG, there were some concerns, I think more just being a woman out in Vermont with no cell phone service. There were some safety concerns there, which I was well aware of, but nothing ever happened. And then with 1%, no hesitations. I loved the organization and what they did, and I went in very excited to learn from them.

Speaker 2: And what are some things in your internship that helped you in your career now?

Gemma DelRossi: So I think, with VPIRG, as I said, it kind of really helped me understand donor relations and be very comfortable communicating with people because, in fundraising and fund development, it can be really hard and challenging and uncomfortable to ask people for money, especially wealthy strangers. And so I've learned through canvassing with VPIRG that the worst thing anybody can ever say is no, and it's not the end of the world, and you just move on and just know that there are plenty of other people that are willing to support the cause that you're trying to accomplish with your work.

Speaker 2: That's a good piece of advice. So, talking about advice, tell me something that you feel like, as a student about to graduate, what's something I should know? What's something I should take with me out of my internship and into the workforce?

Gemma DelRossi: One thing that students should take forward with them is knowing, especially if they want to go into the nonprofit world, that there are so many different types of structures of nonprofits that you really should think about organizationally what type of structure you like to work in best. So where I currently work with VCRD, I like to say it's four and a half people because I'm only part-time right now, and so it's a very small organization. I work one-on-one with the executive director. He's my immediate superior. Everything's very teamwork-based and collaborative. Whereas at different nonprofit structures, it can be a lot more hierarchal, and so I think, when you're doing that job research and when you're interviewing people, always making sure to ask how the organization is structured can be very useful because it... For me, I don't think I'd necessarily like having a chain of command to report to. I think it's really great to have kind of that open space and collaborative environment. And I feel like I can go to my boss with anything. I feel like, even only being 23 and the youngest person at the organization by 15 years, that my thoughts have equal weight and contribution as more established people do.

Speaker 2: All right, we're going to get you out of here. But last question, if you could do it all over again, would you pick the same exact path for yourself? And if not, what would you change?

Gemma DelRossi: I would go to CDAE earlier. One of my kind of not regrets because it is my path in life was I came in as a freshman in environmental science in Rubenstein, and it took me two and a half years to switch from Rubenstein environmental science to CDAE and environmental studies. And so I did kind of... I wouldn't say I wasted time, but definitely I wish I had more time to take more CDAE classes because I did have to cram it in my last two years when I declared my double major as a junior, which would not recommend, by the way. If you're going double major, declare it earlier. And so I wish I found CDAE earlier than I did, kind of the main regret I have.

Speaker 2: Well, we wish you the best.

Gemma DelRossi: Thank you.

Speaker 2: Thank you for doing this for us. We're so happy for you. Thank you.