Carmen Rojas
President & CEO
Marguerite Casey Foundation
Seattle, WA USA
“Ask for help.”
Milestones
My road in life has been direct.
In high school, I realized the inequalities faced by people of different races and it inspired me to want to find a career where I could help rectify that.
I earned my bachelor’s degree in politics and then continued on to graduate school.
Before starting my doctorate, I got the opportunity to work for a very wealthy couple that wanted to give their money away to good organizations—that job opened a lot of doors for me.
Since then, I worked a set of jobs that built my skills up in money management and really taught me how to move money around to benefit the most people.
For the past 20 years, I’ve worked with nonprofit organizations, financial institutions, and foundations to improve the lives of working people across the country.
In 2014, I co-founded an innovation lab called The Workers Lab, which helps workers successfully develop new ideas.
I now work as the president and CEO of the Marguerite Casey Foundation, which supports organizations doing good work in the racial and economic justice space through funding.
Education
High School
Bachelor
Politics
University of California, Santa Cruz
Politics
University of California, Santa Cruz
Doctorate
City and Regional Planning
University of California, Berkeley
City and Regional Planning
University of California, Berkeley
Career
President & CEO
I support nonprofit organizations doing racial and economic justice work.
Career Roadmap
My work combines:
My work combines:
Non-Profit Organizations
Politics
Upholding a Cause and Belief
Advice for Getting Started
Here's the first step for high school students
Ask for help. Find two or three people who are already working in the job that you want to have and ask them to have a conversation about their job. That's a great way to figure out if it's something you really want to do. I also recommend trying a bunch of different things. Explore different options.
Recommended Education
My career is related to what I studied. I'd recommend the path I took:
Bachelor
Politics
Politics
Doctorate
City and Regional Planning
City and Regional Planning
Hurdles
The Noise I Shed
From Peers:
"There's a ceiling for what you can do. You can't dream bigger than that."
