Meet the Staff Monday: Meet Amy!

Amy Willard

Associate Director for Career Education & Coaching; Engaged Liberal Arts Programs.

Amy loves that students reach back out to give updates about what they’ve accomplished since their coaching appointments.“It’s why we do what we do!”

Amy’s favorite events, appointments & experiences: 

• Amy’s favorite appointments are when students have an “a-ha!” moment where something clicks and they walk away feeling less anxious and more confident.
• She also loves connecting students with alumni on LinkedIn and helping them find out where Wake grads work.
• Amy loves strategically broadening students’ perspectives about what they can do with their major. One example she gave was when she helped a student who’s passionate about healthcare see how they could contribute to the field even though they aren’t pre-med or pre-health.
• Amy’s favorite event is Diversity Matters because of the positive impacts and outcomes she’s seen and heard about on both student and employer learning.

A fun fact about Amy: 

• “I tried out and submitted several videos for Survivor, even Big Brother, but I, unfortunately, did not make it!”

A piece of advice: 

• “When you’re networking and speaking with someone, one of the last questions you should ask is, ‘Based on our conversation today who do you recommend I reach out to?’ This helps extend your network.”

Amy, who’s from Southern Maryland but who also grew up in a military family and moved often, has lived in North Carolina since she moved here to attend college at NC State. She graduated as a Spanish major and began working as a public school teacher before beginning her work in the Wake Forest community. Now, Amy has worked for Wake Forest for 17 years — nine years at the Graylyn Estate, eight years at the OPCD, and going on five years as a coach. Amy focuses on helping students and graduates with financial literacy and wellness, serves as a liaison to the departments of religion, history, philosophy, communication, and the languages, including the classics, and works with the marketing affinity group within the OPCD. One of Amy’s passions is around liberal arts engagement, so she helped determine what professional competencies students need and would like to have by the time they graduate that they can develop through their liberal arts education. This framework now serves as a key part of the curriculum in the OPCD’s EDU 360 College-to-Career courses to help students build a working e-portfolio and for the OPCD signature event, Anything & Everything, which allows students to unpack their skills and hear from successful liberal arts graduates about the value of their education. 

Want to connect with Amy for coaching or advice? Email her or register for an appointment on Handshake!