Staying Ahead of the Game: Fighting Injustice

Simon Cecil, ’17 MBA, made significant use of the Graduate Business Career Center (GBCC) throughout his time at the Carlson School, from reformatting his resume to developing a LinkedIn profile. It even helped him with his wardrobe. “My prior career was in outdoor education so I knew little about professional dress before beginning to work with the GBCC,” he says.

Perhaps most importantly, the GBCC, through its work with the Sands Fellowship, provided seed money that allowed Cecil to pilot an idea that eventually became the Minnesota Freedom Fund. “It would be fair to say that support from the GBCC was key to us getting 70 people out of jail over seven months, leading to two dozen cases being dismissed, and saving the taxpayers over $80,000,” he says.

The nonprofit Minnesota Freedom Fund, of which Cecil is the co-founder and acting director, helps low-income people stuck in jail to pay bail, allowing them to keep their jobs and homes. It also helps to prevent wrongful convictions.

“The coaches at the career center were instrumental in helping me shape my career search in a way that was authentic to my non-traditional background and interests in organizations focused on social impact,” he says.

“Their understanding of me as a person and the MBA career search was tremendously useful to me. I was grateful for the guidance I got from Ashley Bowes-Johnson at the GBCC—she was a fantastic coach.”