Chauntay Mickens: How I Built Professional Wealth During and After College

Chauntay Mickens ’10 (CLAS) is a firm believer that building professional wealth early is important, especially to supplement earning a college degree. Chauntay was a double major in sociology and African American studies while balancing her academics and student athlete role on UConn’s Volleyball team. She simultaneously worked with her professors and coaches to figure out her post-grad plan. She landed a role as a teacher in the D.C. area before shifting her career trajectory to working in philanthropy and fundraising. In her current role as Associate Director of Development at Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT), Chauntay’s work supports the organization’s mission to eliminate the economic mobility gap for African American, Latinx, Indigenous communities through programming. Through her own experiences and the work she does with MLT, Chauntay has learned that earning a college degree is valuable, but it’s not enough on its own; building and sustaining professional relationships and participating in experiential learning are equally important.