Emily Browder sets her own path

INA, Ill. (Aug. 1, 2017) - “I had been drawing maps and dreaming of travelling since age twelve. I was concerned that if I didn’t move while very young, I might become complacent and never venture out. To position myself to stay in my hometown would have contradicted my most long-lasting ambition.”

Those are the words of Rend Lake College graduate Emily Browder, almost her mantra, a thought that has powered her unique journey from Woodlawn to world traveler and is currently trending towards a Master’s degree abroad for someone who wasn’t even sure college was right for her initially.

Browder at the Grand Palace Square in Brussels. Click on the image for a larger view.

Browder graduated from Woodlawn High School as valedictorian in 2014, thanks in part to the dual credit classes she took at RLC. With those courses, she was able to raise her GPA to an astounding 4.4 on a 4.0 scale.

While she had initially planned to transfer and earn her degree, Browder felt the world calling, explaining that a few months before graduation she felt discontent with the traditional route of education into the workforce. So, she hatched a plan.

“From January to May 2014, I worked two jobs, Rare Chophouse and Cracker Barrel, to save up and be financially independent. Between the two serving jobs, I once kept track and realized I worked a stretch of 50-60 days without a day off.  I had to keep straight A’s to be valedictorian, and in general, it was a very stressful semester for me,” she explained.

Her hard work paid off. In July of that year, she moved to Charlotte, N.C. to begin the next chapter of her life. She said she picked her destination on a whim, “mostly because it’s between the mountains and the ocean. The day I moved there was my first time in the state.”

The change in location wasn’t the only alteration Browder made. She wanted to actively start building her career. To that end, she took an entry-level sales position for a direct sales and marketing firm called Capstone Consultants.

“I quickly learned that I enjoy sales, and as the youngest person in the office, I was promoted to an account manager position within two months. Pay was 100-percent commission, and I worked a bare minimum of 65 hours per week, with the typical workweek ranging between 70 and 75 hours from Monday to Saturday,” Browder said.

“But, I loved every second of it. From leading staff meetings to recruiting to refining my sales technique and style, I absorbed an immense amount of valuable information at Capstone. I learned that when I’m excited about the work I do, long hours don’t bother me at all. I also appreciated the people aspect, having to recognize different styles of communication and build relationships to produce high sales.”

Her new position also allowed her the ability to do the thing she loves, travel.

“I spent about a week each month on out-of-town business trips. The owner of Capstone was one of the most inspirational leaders I have ever had the pleasure of working for, and desirable performance was rewarded with free concerts in South Carolina and the occasional day off while in Wilmington, an adorable little beach town.”

Even with her success, Browder said not having a degree simply posed too great a risk to her career advancement opportunities. So, after a year in Charlotte, she returned to Southern Illinois to finish up her associate degree at RLC.

While she saw the importance of education, she wanted to complete her degree as quickly as possible. Browder also began researching her undergraduate options to transfer on after graduating from Rend Lake.

Someone like Browder wasn’t content to just attend school though. When she returned home, she resumed working at Rare Chophouse in Mt. Vernon and was promoted to management within a few months.

“I took my first college course in summer 2015 and graduated at the end of summer 2016 with straight A’s and two associate degrees. To graduate in such a short period of time, I took between 18 and 21 credit hours each semester, and as a manager at Rare, I worked full-time,” she explained.

Despite moving states away and experiencing a new career, Browder took a different kind of journey when she returned to the classroom. She found a setting where education wasn’t a means to an end, but rather, its own unique development opportunity.

“Mr. Jornd’s (RLC Business Associate Professor Mark Jornd) macroeconomics class was really the turning point in my view of education. Prior to that class, I saw a degree as necessary in obtaining a successful job but didn’t have an extremely high appreciation for the knowledge gained,” she relayed.

“Suddenly, I was introduced to these amazing concepts of supply and demand, the invisible hand, the game theory, etc. Mr. Jornd’s classes are not easy by any stretch of the imagination, but I would come home from working a ten-hour shift and still find energy to do those horribly difficult assignments. I appreciate the education for itself rather than only for where it would take me.”

At the same time, she was also getting to apply what she was learning in the classroom to her professional life.

Her role at Rare Chophouse began to take off as she became involved with the restaurant’s finances, gaining first-hand experience in the business subjects she was actively consuming in her coursework.

“The concepts I learned in my classes, whether business communication, ethics, marketing, or economics, directly helped me grow in my positon as a manager. The opportunity to take a concept learned in class and apply it directly to my career was extremely rewarding,” she expressed.

The academics at RLC weren’t the only thing to leave an impact on Browder.

A Rend Lake College Foundation scholarship recipient, she was asked to be the student recipient speaker at the 2016 RLC Foundation Annual Dinner, an experience that allowed her a special glimpse into the amount of community support available to students.

“I really appreciated the opportunity to speak with the members of the community and thank them for their support of RLC and the community. I know the quality education I received while still in my hometown would not be possible without the donors. It was wonderful to see the students and the generous donors who contribute to our education together. I truly look forward to giving back to RLC and the community as I advance in my career because without RLC, I sincerely doubt I would be on the CPA path,” she said.

That was a path that Jornd persuaded Browder to consider when he urged her to look into an undergraduate degree in accounting or finance, and Dean of Math and Sciences Andrea Banach came through by working with her to assist in the initial steps of the transfer process.

In fall of 2016, Browder transferred to Loyola University as an honors accounting student. She joked that her initial criteria for a university was that it would be large and in a cold-weather climate, and yet, she found herself at a small, private Jesuit university in beautiful New Orleans.

“After being accepted to both Loyola and Tulane, we went back to New Orleans to tour the campuses. In the honors program at Woodlawn, I had the opportunity to tour several schools. I always heard students say that something about their choice of school ‘just felt right.’ Personally, I always thought that was ridiculous, but Loyola changed my mind. I had a sense of contentment and belonging. I cancelled my Tulane tour and decided on Loyola within 24 hours,” she said.

Browder explained that Loyola University "just felt right."

Again, not content to just be a student, Browder holds a position in the consulting department at a public accounting firm in New Orleans, working primarily on litigation engagements. She explained that her duties can range from anything from uncovering fraud to calculating an estate’s worth.

With her undergraduate nearly complete, the ambitious Browder is already looking for her next adventure.

First off, she plans to sit for her CPA exam to further her career.

On the education side, she has already taken steps to transfer abroad and continue her graduate degree in Europe.

“My two great passions are education and travel
why not combine them! Aside from a mission trip to Puerto Rico, my first time out of the country was to Argentina when I was 18. I had never travelled alone before, but exploring Buenos Aires and immersing myself in their culture was a life-changing experience,” she expressed.

“After that, I’ve travelled as much as possible. Europe has charmed me each visit, and I can easily see myself living there. My suitemate first semester was a Dutch exchange student. She’s now one of my best friends, and after we took a road trip to Illinois where she met my family and Midwestern way of life, I visited her in Amsterdam over Christmas break after exploring Belgium and Germany for a few days …. The reality of graduating in one year made me ask myself if I would actually be content with stopping my education at that point. I said no. About 40 phone calls later to various European universities and my international friends, I realized going abroad was quite achievable, especially since Europe has lower tuition rates than American universities.”

Browder at the Rhine River in Germany. Click on the image for a larger view. 

And while she may be Europe bound, Browder is quick to look back on RLC as one of the cornerstones that helped pave the way.

“A lot of students like myself go to RLC with plans to transfer. I think that’s a great strategy, but I can say with certainty that RLC should not be viewed as merely ‘a necessary step’ in getting a four-year degree. No, the education I received and the connections I made at RLC have been vitally important to me. I would encourage everyone to maximize those opportunities.”

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