Meet Kristen (Schooley) - Managing Director of Development for City Year Tulsa

How did you land in Tulsa?

I actually grew up here in Tulsa, a product of Tulsa Public Schools. I joke that I went to school within a mile and a half of my house my entire life. From elementary through high school, I was close to home. And then I went to the University of Tulsa also. So yeah, I love Tulsa. I'm married to a guy who's also from Tulsa, and our family is mostly in Tulsa. So yeah, we're Tulsans through and through.

How did you find out about your new role?

Well, it's really interesting. I was not looking for a new job. At the time, I was the development director at Tulsa Regional STEM Alliance. But I received a LinkedIn notification that Krista of inTulsa had reached out, saying that I was a good fit for this City Year Tulsa role. At the STEM Alliance, I was a one woman show, and I loved it there. It's a fantastic organization. But I have been a team leader before, a people manager, and I really love that part of my work too. So, what really drew me to this role was that I'd have the opportunity to lead a team again. I set up a meeting with inTulsa so that I could learn more about the role. And it was like a fast track from there. Krista and I had a 30-minute conversation. She talked with City Year shortly after that, and by the next week, I had scheduled an interview and went through the hiring process with City Year. And the rest is history.

What was it like working with the inTulsa team?

I really appreciated having somebody who was in it with me. inTulsa is like a matchmaking service. I've never used a recruiter before, so that was a new experience for me. But honestly, the part I really enjoyed was that they're looking to find a match between the organization and the applicant. They're not working just on behalf of the company. They're really trying to make sure you're going to be happy in this new role. I remember Krista telling me that even if this interview doesn't work out, inTulsa keeps people in their system, and they're always looking for where their applicants might succeed. It’s a more personalized experience than you would think.

What's a typical day in your role like?

I don't know yet what a typical day will be like, because so far, it's been like drinking from a water hose! We have a lot going on. But as a managing director of development in this particular organization, I'm leading a small team, which is wonderful. We're responsible for raising about $3.5 to $4 million a year for City Year's services in schools. So I'm involved in everything from grant writing to corporate partnerships to individual giving. We have a fundraising event that we manage. My team is also responsible for internal and external events and communications.  

What do you love most about the role?

What I love about the job is that there's never a day that's the same. We're always doing things that are different. And also, I love it because it's a relationship-based job. I wouldn't even call it a job most of the time. I get to be with people and build relationships, playing the matchmaker because we're trying to figure out what donors and partners are trying to accomplish in their community investment, and how that aligns with what we do. I get to play the matchmaker and figure out how we can support each other. I feel fortunate to be able to get to do this work.

What's the company culture like at City Year Tulsa?

The dedication and commitment to the work that we do is very apparent. You can tell everyone at City Year is trying to build a culture of open, honest communication and teamwork to make sure we're advancing our mission. I see that on a daily basis. We're there to support each other and get the work done. We had our first leadership team meeting earlier this week, and I came out thinking this is just a really bright, knowledgeable, experienced group of people that I'll be able to learn from and add my flavor to. I just feel really good about the decision I made to take this role.

You're using inTulsa for City Year recruiting now. What's that like?

Now that I am at City Year, we're actually in the process of hiring, so I'm using inTulsa's services to help fill a role on my team. And that has been awesome. At City Year, we're a very equity-based organization. We serve Tulsa Public Schools, meaning we serve a very diverse population of students. We want to make sure that our staff reflects that diverse population, so we try not to offer a job without having a very diverse pool of applicants. inTulsa goes out and finds those applicants for us. When you're a hiring manager, it's really hard to devote time to intentionally drum up the right prospects. It's so nice to have inTulsa on the hunt, finding a diverse pool of applicants with different backgrounds and experiences, to be able to make the best decision we can for our staffing.

I'm just really grateful for having crossed paths with inTulsa. It's been very eye-opening. I didn't even know this service existed until inTulsa reached out to me. It's such a fantastic service, and I'm very thankful for it because in the nonprofit world, hiring can be so hard. It can just be really hard to carve out the time you need to find the perfect prospect. So it's so nice to have an organization that's donating their services for nonprofits to be able to get the right people in place.

What do you enjoy most about living in Tulsa?

Probably the restaurants, the food and drinks. I've been here forever, so I've had the good fortune to watch Tulsa grow. I remember when I was in high school, going downtown, it was a ghost town. And now I work downtown. It's so fun to see downtown come to life. I just love what Tulsa has done to bring people out and connect people to each other.

My husband and I both love being outside too. I play tennis all the time. I love LaFortune Park. It's such an accessible facility for people who are interested in playing tennis or golf. We love being close to lakes and being able to spend time outside. I think Tulsa for us is just like home. I mean, it truly just feels like it's like this place that we love.

What would you tell people who are thinking about visiting Tulsa?

I tell people all the time that Tulsa really is a hidden gem. It's like the biggest small town, and everyone knows everyone. People are friendly. It's surprising how many great restaurants we have, how much great nightlife we have. If you're looking for a fun place to go, I tell people all the time that being in northeast Oklahoma is great because we have so much green space, so much accessibility to lakes and outdoor things.

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