Michelle de Stefano

Mentorship Commitment Preference: Engage in a long-term mentorship (connect with your mentee throughout the semester, outside of LinkUp events — frequency and format are flexible). Available for virtual mentoring. 

Industry: Government Contracting - Medical Disability Policy

Employer: Juncture Consulting

Job Title: Chief Operating Officer

Areas Michelle is interested in mentoring: 

• Resume Review
• Work-life Balance
• Career Planning
• Networking Strategies
• Interview Preparation
• Skill Development
• Leadership Growth
• Communication Skills
• Time Management
• Industry Insights and Trends
• Goal Setting and Motivation
• Graduate School Advice

Bio: My life has been all about the road less taken: I studied art instead of being the business administration major I had originally applied to college for; I married a guy in the military even though my art professors warned me this would kill my chances for a painting career; I had a good painting career in two countries while being terrible in the official role of a commander's wife; I started my own arts business instead of relying on galleries; I went back to school to get an MFA and ended up with an MA in philosophy; my painting business morphed into a government contracting business. Anyone looking at my resume would say I'm unqualified for a COO position, yet here I am, successfully doing it. I live out in the woods of Central VA, I've raised three terrific daughters, two of whom I've trained to take over the company and are now majority owners, and I'm still happily married to that military guy. 

How did you get your first job? The first real job I had, sort of in my field, was working as a graphic artist in the medical illustration department of a medical school. There's a huge difference between graphic and studio art, so I basically knew nothing. I talked them into letting me volunteer there for free one day a week as what I guess would now be called an intern while I was still in art school. I learned everything I could and made myself as helpful and useful as I could be. When I graduated, they offered me a part time position as a graphic artist (all that I wanted, because I wanted time to paint), but the official job slot available was for a secretary. I had to pass a timed typing test. Luckily, I had taken typing classes in high school, aced the test, and got the job. You just never know when a skill is going to come in handy.

If you were starting your career today, what is the one piece of advice you would give yourself? Don't put all your trust into the straight path career progression concept. Everything is an opportunity to gain skills and/or experience if you are open to it, and everything turns out to be useful at some point in life; do as many and as varied of those as you can without fear of getting off track, because they will give you the advantage of unique problem solving abilities later. 

In what ways has your career path been unique or unconventional? Well, for my generation (I'm 65) the pressure was on women to not prioritize marriage and family. I always put those first. All the success in the world is valueless if you've got no one special to share the joy with; and nothing cushions the blows of failure like the hugs of those you love. The jobs and all their important deadlines go away. What remains is your family. I made a family and invested  the majority of my time, energy, and love into it. Everything in my career has been second to that. No regrets.

What career paths have you explored or transitioned between? I was set on becoming a medical illustrator for many years. After finishing art school I went back to college for the necessary science courses and got into a medical school graduate program for this. It was amazing (I got the first year of medical school in addition to the arts training), but I learned that mostly the job prospects were for creating ads for drug companies and that didn't appeal to me. I was so in love with doing the art work that I never really thought through who I'd be doing it for. 

What skills or experiences have been most valuable in your career? 

Being able to pivot gracefully from one intense project to the next and sometimes back again. 

Being willing and able to learn anything that's needed and knowing how to find the information I need to do that.

Knowing when I've found a great person for a job and trusting them to do what they think is best.

Michelle is open to participating in informational interviews