I’ve always been the non-profit girl.

Always. In high school, I was saving my spare change to buy a FEED bag. I was spending birthday money on TWLOHA shirts, Abort73 gear, Invisible Children campaigns. In college, I interned for countless orgs – local and international. For some reason, social injustices have always seemed to cut me just a little bit deeper than most people. I don’t care more than other people – I think everyone, on some level, cares about the broken state of our world – but I think I feel it a little more. I’ve always felt a bigger need to go, to do, to act. I’m the girl at the party, in the corner, talking about the international aid world and development problems in sub-Saharan Africa. Or the person on Facebook who’s constantly sharing feminist news clips and third world statistics. In college, I found myself putting my plans of law school on the back burner (as I discovered my passionate argumentative skills had other potential uses – advocacy). I found myself spending all my free time with a group of high school girls. I found myself on a plane to Malawi, three years in a row. The non-profit girl.

And when I moved back from Malawi? I started the American office of an Ugandan nonprofit. Which I’ve been overseeing, by myself, for the past year. When I came home, I got so many “This is perfect for you!”s, “Of course you found a job like this”es, and “I can’t imagine you doing anything else!”s. Because I was Krysti, the non-profit girl. I always have been. Except, now I’m not. Read More