Meet Janna Fernandez: A Terp with Purpose

Welcome to Terps with Purpose, a web series from the Center for Social Value Creation featuring undergraduates, MBA students and alumni working to create social and environmental prosperity through their careers. Follow along with us this summer to learn more about their career journeys and the impact they have had along the way.

Introducing the first Terp with Purpose: Janna Fernandez.

Janna is an MBA candidate at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business transitioning from public service into human capital. This summer, Janna is interning as a Human Capital Fellow at Harlem Village Academies (HVA), a charter school in New York City.

This fantastic opportunity was brought to her through Education Pioneers, an education non-profit group that recruits and trains young professionals and graduate students for careers in education. To land her current gig, Janna had to apply and be accepted into Education Pioneers as a Summer Fellow through multiple interviews and group exercises. Once she was named a fellow, Education Pioneers matched her with multiple summer opportunities to explore and provided her a personal mentor to help her through the process. “Once you’re enrolled you have this huge alumni network that you’re able to work with,” Janna said. After accepting the internship with HVA, she traveled to the Big Apple to begin to this new chapter of her career.

In the first few weeks as an HVA fellow, Janna had the opportunity to shine as she took on an unexpected role that would have a huge impact on the future of the organization - and she loved it.

“There was this ambiguous role for me to play, and that’s kind of my favorite part,” Janna explained. “I get to design my project, I have a lot of autonomy, and I get to apply my MBA more specifically. I looked at the landscape and said ‘how do I refine processes or create processes?’”

One of Janna’s main priorities has been to make data collection across the organization more effective and efficient by optimizing and streamlining company forms. By refining processes like these in her department, Janna is able to do simple things to assist employees and ultimately help the company achieve greater impact.

Working to help the Harlem community isn’t much of a deviation from Janna’s past experiences. After graduating from the University of Guam, Janna worked as the Deputy Press Secretary for the Office of the Governor of Guam. “It was cool because I got to help people, I got to meet them, I got to create programs, I was part of something bigger,” Janna recalled. While she liked how this role allowed her to help others, she realized it was somewhat indirect - and decided it was time to move on.

Janna then accepted a position as Project Coordinator at Guam Community College, a role where she could directly help change lives for the better. Outside of her normal job description, Janna opted to teach Adult High courses in communications. Through her interaction with her adult high students, Janna solidified the fact that she wanted to pursue a career that helps others.

As an instructor, Janna aimed to be sympathetic to her students’ concerns and problems and gave some individualized exceptions to those who were putting in the work. During one of her courses, there was a student who needed a little extra support. She realized that for this particular student, actually attending class was the hardest part about going back to school.

After the semester was over, this traditionally quiet student came up to Janna and to thank her profusely. “No one had ever taken the time out to really listen to the issues he faced in the classroom,” Janna said. “It didn't seem like a big deal to me, but it was a big deal to them.” Just by taking to time to talk to him and check in when he was having an issue, she made a huge difference in his education and his life.          

While everyone looking to get into the social sector may not have had a moment like this yet, Janna offered up three simple tips to help hopeful students get there.

1. Find something you’re passionate about and pursue it. “If you’re passionate about something now, keep exploring it,” Janna said. “I truly believe that you can be happy, do something good for the world, and also provide for the lifestyle you want to live.”
2. “Be comfortable being uncomfortable.” She wants aspiring social innovators to understand that getting out of their comfort zone is crucial to discovering what truly means the most to them and where they can have the biggest positive impact.
3. Don’t be afraid to do something big. In true New York fashion, Janna relayed a Notorious B.I.G. quote for last piece of advice: “Stay far from timid; only make moves when your heart’s in it.”

Between optimizing human capital processes at HVA, checking in on her students in need, and communicating with Guam’s citizens, Janna clearly finds joy in going the extra mile and finding little things that can make a big difference in others’ lives.

To learn more about the work the Robert H. Smith School of Business is doing that relates to social, environmental and economic prosperity, check out the Center for Social Value Creation.

By: Sam Harris, Marketing and Information Systems, Class of 2018
Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland