This story is part of an occasional series, Why Liberal Arts, that explores how a liberal arts education helps people grow as thinkers and leaders and opens doors to meaningful careers.

Lauren Marshall '12 grew up in a family full of Hokies, and when she toured the School of Communication as a prospective student, she felt like she was home.

“I thought, ‘Wow, I think I want to be a journalist, and Virginia Tech has a good communication program,’ so I went in thinking, ‘I’m going to be a journalist,’” she said.

Since graduating with a dual degree in communication and human development, Marshall has spent her career cultivating brands for different businesses.

Now she’s doing the same while serving the community as director of marketing and communications for Richmond Metropolitan Habitat for Humanity.

How have you navigated your career and what ultimately led you to Habitat for Humanity?

I did a few internships during college and then right after college, but my first real job was with an architecture firm and it was totally random. I kind of fell into it, but quickly learned that it was a really exciting place to be and really easy and fun to share those cool stories of building unique buildings. I stayed in the architecture and engineering world of marketing for over 10 years, and I really enjoyed doing that. I got to work with a lot of great companies who were building really cool things, a lot on university campuses. Some of them were at Virginia Tech, which was a fun connection.

I felt like I wanted to do something more meaningful that had more of an impact on my community. I saw that Habitat had the director position open and I applied and just went for it, not having any nonprofit experience but feeling like architecture and building affordable housing could semi-relate. I went for it, and I’ve learned a whole lot about affordable housing while on the job and just how much more Habitat for Humanity does than I even realized beforehand. It’s been a real blessing to be here.

What does Ut Prosim (That I May Serve) mean to you and how do you embody it through your work?

Ut Prosim is all about looking for ways you can help build up your community or make a stronger community, and Habitat for Humanity does that really well from a standpoint of helping people get into homes when they may not have had the opportunity before. Also from having a lot of volunteer opportunities where people can get engaged either in helping build houses or donating items to our ReStores. There’s just so many ways you can get involved through Habitat for Humanity, so that really is what drew me to it, from that Ut Prosim mentality.

Why do you love your job?

Going through the homeownership program at Habitat for Humanity takes people a little while. It’s a lot of work for them to come into the program. They have to take 10 classes on financial literacy and saving and how to be a responsible homeowner. They also have to volunteer — it’s called sweat equity. They do 350 hours helping build their house or other houses, volunteering in our ReStores or at special events. It takes a while, but at the end of the process, we do this thing called a home dedication ceremony, where we get to have this big celebration with the homeowners at their completed house and tour the house and eat and drink with them.

It’s just really exciting to see them in their completed house for the first time and feel what it means to their families. That is definitely something I love about my job.

What challenges have you faced in your career and how have you overcome them?

I’m kind of an introvert, a shyer person, which I feel like when people think of marketing, that’s not what jumps out. I had to learn how to feel more comfortable breaking out of my shell, asking questions and speaking up, but it’s something that I feel like I’ve gotten better about through my time. So that’s personally something that I’ve found as a challenge, but also something that I’ve overcome.

What advice would you give to students interested in pursuing a career in your field?

Take every opportunity to learn something new. Virginia Tech does a great job of being on top of the latest technology, so even though I had very little experience in graphic design, I was looking into those things. I think learning a little bit about that helped set me apart in the beginning of my career, and then also just constantly continuing to learn and look for opportunities to learn throughout your career, whether that’s specific to the marketing industry or something totally different. Just keep your eyes open for those opportunities.

What do you want your lasting impact to be?

Our vision (at Habitat for Humanity) is a world where everyone has a decent place to live. And if you think about that for a little bit, it feels a little bit overwhelming. But I think by taking it as a community approach, and what you can control locally, really helps you digest it a little bit better. If I can have an impact on helping more people in our community achieve the dream of home ownership in some small way, I’ll feel pretty good about that.

Some answers were edited and condensed for clarity.

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