Alumni Spotlights

Jesse Schaefer ’12

Early in her college career, Jesse Schaefer ’12 realized that she wanted to work in the nonprofit space. She discovered this passion during her time on the Washington College Service Council, an organization she would go on to lead and that held some of her fondest college memories. 

“The campus was our playground. We got to explore all sorts of fundraising opportunities,” Schaefer said. “It felt good to feel like I was giving back and contributing to something beyond myself.”

During her time as a student, Schaefer wrote a thank-you note to the donor who had funded the scholarship she had received. The College’s development team was impressed by her note and invited her to speak at an alumni event. In her senior year, she was approached by the vice president of development, who had a new position in mind for her: the team was looking for a young alum to join their staff as the first point of contact for graduates.

She worked in this role at Washington for a year and a half before moving to Baltimore and taking a job in Washington, D.C. While working for nonprofits was the through-line of her career, she found herself specifically drawn to fundraising. 

“The more I learned about the nonprofit world, the more I started to see myself in fundraising or the back-end functions,” Schaefer said. “As much as I enjoyed direct service, I felt I could move the needle even more by supporting behind the scenes.” 

After D.C., she began working for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metropolitan Baltimore as director of development and communications and advanced through the organization, now serving as the chief operating officer. She attributes her success there to being a versatile employee, helping with everything from human resources to financial projects. 

“Outside of any specific skillset, Washington College teaches you transferable skills,” Schaefer said, “the kind of things that will take you far no matter what you end up doing.”

—Timothy Corrao

Margie Delao ’17

Margie Delao ’17 began her career in the private sector as a project manager for a translation company. There, she primarily worked on government accounts, including the Maryland Department of Education, and major federal contracts, including those for the Securities and Exchange Commission. For her, this was a great marriage of her Hispanic studies and political science majors, as much of what she was translating helped the community or was related to policy and law. 

“I’ve always been someone who wanted to help people,” Delao said. “I wanted to help communities in need, and I’m a big believer in equal justice and upholding the rights of all people. This was something I really wanted to pursue in my work.”

This desire to help others drew her to the nonprofit sector, where she began as an associate at the National Women’s Law Center. She started out doing generalist policy work, helping uphold, among other initiatives, voting rights, reproductive rights, and anti-discrimination policies. 

She discovered her niche in gender justice and upholding the rights of women and girls. Today, she’s moved her way up to the role of federal policy manager for strategy and policy at the National Women’s Law Center. 

Looking back on her time as a student, Delao says the small school environment of Washington College helped her discover and develop her skills. 

“As a student, I was involved in maybe too many things,” Delao said. “But those were the experiences I’d bring into interviews, and those are the experiences I use to help the communities I serve today.”

—Timothy Corrao