Liv Vidal: More Than a Strategy: Purpose Over Profit
Coming in with a marketing background, I assumed I had a decent handle on what the work would look like. But what surprised me was how much intention goes into every single thing the Advancement Team puts their hands to. Every social post, every donor email, every event is about building and sustaining relationships with students, donors, families, alumni, and the broader community. The strategy is just as rigorous, but the stakes feel completely different when you know the outcome is something greater than a sales metric.
This shift is what has changed how I approach skills I thought I already understood. For example, relationship building in the business world is framed around networking and client management, but here at CRSJ its understanding why a long-time donor continues to give or what moves a first-time donor to give again. But honestly, the skill that had proven most valuable here is storytelling. You can have the most polished design and the most optimized post, but if it doesn't make someone feel something, it won't move them to give, show up, or stay connected. Whether I am capturing a spontaneous moment at a Friday assembly and tuning it into a same-day social post, or creating a video that showcases what Rey of Hope (our donor fundraising event) means to this community, my job is to find the stories that make CRSJ’s mission tangible and share them in a way that resonates. My classes introduced me to storytelling as a concept, but this fellowship is showing me what it actually looks like in practice.
I came into this fellowship knowing the how, but CRSJ is teaching me the why. Every task I take on, big or small, connects back to the students and families who are depending on this school to show for them. This sense of purpose has made me more intentional and genuinely more proud of the work I produce. I am so grateful to be in a place where business skills aren't just useful, but transformative.