Monica Meriweather was sure she was going to become a lawyer—until she was not.
“I knew—I just knew—that I was going to law school,” she says. “I majored in African American studies in undergrad [at Northwestern University], and I probably should have majored in theater. It didn’t matter what I studied, I just needed some core competencies and an undergrad degree.”
Meriweather, one of two full-time students in the Master of Arts Program in Social Sector Leadership and Nonprofit Management at the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice, worked as a conflicts assistant at a law firm after graduating with her BA. But when it came time to apply to law school, the economy had tanked, and what had once seemed like a safe bet was now a risky proposition.
“The economy was absolutely insane, and the idea of paying six figures in loans knowing that I wanted to do more public interest, public-facing work—and that I probably wasn't going to recoup that expense for quite some time—didn’t seem like the best route,” Meriweather says.
Making an Impact
As she mulled over potential career paths, the nine-to-five nature of her law assistant job gave Meriweather time to volunteer with Chicago Cares, a nonprofit that partners with a number of community-driven organizations on Chicago’s South and West Sides. Through Chicago Cares, she became aware of and eventually spent years volunteering with SOS Children's Villages, an organization on the South Side dedicated to family reunification.
“It’s an important part of my story,” Meriweather says of her volunteer work. “It made me ask, ‘How can I get paid to do things that are impactful and meaningful to me?’”
