Institute Alumni Profiles: Chelsea Creech

Chelsea Creech is originally from Smithfield, North Carolina and graduated from NC State with the Nonprofit Studies Minor in spring 2015. She initially found out about the minor through some Institute for Nonprofits Ambassadors. Chelsea always had an interest in working with nonprofit organizations, and knew she wanted to continue to work with them after she graduated whether it be in a professional or volunteer capacity.

Chelsea felt that the minor gave her real-world experience as well as insight into the culture of nonprofit organizations and why people choose to work as nonprofit professionals. Chelsea’s favorite minor professor was Mindy Sopher who is the instructor for the COM 466 course, which is also the course that she found most useful in the minor curriculum. Her favorite moment as a minor student came early on when she volunteered with an organization in Durham that provided affordable housing to those receiving long term care at Duke Hospital. The students played bingo with the patients, and the patients were so pleased to see new faces and find joy in the midst of difficult situations. This encouraged Chelsea to continue with the minor and see what kind of difference she could make.

Chelsea currently works for Sageworks in Raleigh, North Carolina as a Public Relations and Recruiting Manager. Although she does not work directly for a nonprofit, she regularly works with Inmates to Entrepreneurs, an organization run by Sageworks that helps ex-offenders start successful small businesses. Her advice to students who are considering the Nonprofit Studies Minor? “It’s a great decision. If you have any interest in ever being involved in a nonprofit, it gives you a greater outlook on what it’s like to work in a nonprofit and the commitment it requires.”