by Zacarri Walker (’25)

Katie Moran, once an undergraduate at Baylor University, acknowledges how classes and organizations at Baylor shaped her perspective today. Moran was involved in Alpha Chi Omega, Sigma Iota Rho, and Model United Nations. Having had the opportunity to talk to Moran, she mentions that diverse opinions and coming to a consensus are important in her work within the social impact sphere. Moran talks about how she was able to practice coming to a consensus in Model United Nations. She mentions that navigating through different countries’ positions played a vital role in learning how to creatively come to a consensus that will benefit all parties. While her earliest memory of practicing these skills started at Baylor, she vocalizes that it is a skill she has had to use throughout her career.

Moran has a strong interest in the way things are done on the bureaucratic level, which influenced her career path, but it’s important to note that her desired role has had its fair share of changes. Moran’s interest in bureaucracy started with an internship over the summer, where she worked with the Office of Global Women’s Issues. After seeing how things were run in the government office, she was inspired to move to DC and make a change on a larger scale. She started her career working at the Center for a New American Security and currently works at the Rodel Institute, preparing for her pursuit of her MBA. She desires to transition to the private sector, focusing on corporate social responsibility. From her journey and her interests changing over time, she’s come to realize that careers are not linear. Even though you might want to go from point A to point B, sometimes you have to take detours, which may change your interests, and that’s okay. It’s important that one is flexible during their pursuit of their career according to Moran.

One way that Moran was able to be flexible was by carrying out tasks, even if they weren’t in her job description. Through Moran’s various positions, she has learned that she is able to contribute to tasks that she takes interest in, even if they are not in her job description. Moran takes a strong interest in equity, which can be traced all the way back to her undergraduate experience when she had an article published by the League of Women Voters entitled ‘Women’s Equality Day.‘ Although Moran never had an HR role, she hasn’t let that stop her from advancing issues of equity in the workplace. Moran demonstrated these efforts at the Center for a New American Security by tracking and increasing the diversity demographics of current fellows and applicants, recognizing that diversity is necessary to create a high-performing and successful team. Again, at the Rodel Institute, she took the initiative and implemented a tracking system that was searchable and could pull numbers to ensure diversity as classes are formed for fellowships. Moran found being able to complete tasks that may be outside of her job description critical because it allowed her to engage in something that she is passionate about and allowed her to see the ways her desired career interacts with her passions and interests.

There is much to learn from Katie Moran’s journey, and she is setting out to achieve much more. Moran is passionate not only about her success but also the success of all Baylor students, which can be observed by her taking out the time to be interviewed by me and mentoring Baylor in DC students. She would like for the undergraduates of Baylor to know that it’s ok if their career paths are not linear, and it’s important to stay open to other things as they arise. You can do a lot within a job, even if it’s not in your job description.