Who is the Scholarship Lady®?
Sometimes students ask me “How did you get this job?” or “How did you become The Scholarship Lady®?”
Colleges don’t offer a degree in “scholarship lady,” so I guess you could say it was on the job training - although I didn’t start out as a scholarship expert. Over the years, I’ve built my own version of scholarship advice - one that is informed by all of my experiences but is independent of a college, sponsor or student loan company. When you talk to The Scholarship Lady, you are talking to a parent and student advocate who knows the ropes.
Here’s a condensed version of my scholarship-related career:
My earliest jobs in high school and college were the kind that “built character” as my parents would say.
At my first professional scholarship-related job I learned how to administer a program, handle marketing and communications, and raise money for scholarships. In the peak year, we distributed more than $4 million in scholarships for students at the K-12 level. I also had the chance to meet the donors (the people who give the money), the parents, and the students (the people who need the money). I often presented workshops for parents and loved helping families reach their educational goals.
In 1999 I began working at a university. I directed a pre-college outreach program and was the founder of Wisconsin’s first online searchable database of scholarships. It was my job to build a community-wide resource for college prep, market that service, build partnerships with schools and community centers, and, ultimately, assist college-bound students. Again, I was in a unique situation where I was able to meet donors, parents, students, college administrators, high school counselors, librarians, teachers, and pre-college advisors who all looked at scholarships from a slightly different angle. Every day our staff learned about the technical side of scholarships, the charitable side of being a donor and the student side of being a hopeful applicant. My job was to manage the programs and my ultimate goal was to connect the people who had the resources with the people who needed those resources.
After leaving the university I had three goals:
What’s next for The Scholarship Lady? Visit again to find out!
Colleges don’t offer a degree in “scholarship lady,” so I guess you could say it was on the job training - although I didn’t start out as a scholarship expert. Over the years, I’ve built my own version of scholarship advice - one that is informed by all of my experiences but is independent of a college, sponsor or student loan company. When you talk to The Scholarship Lady, you are talking to a parent and student advocate who knows the ropes.
Here’s a condensed version of my scholarship-related career:
My earliest jobs in high school and college were the kind that “built character” as my parents would say.
At my first professional scholarship-related job I learned how to administer a program, handle marketing and communications, and raise money for scholarships. In the peak year, we distributed more than $4 million in scholarships for students at the K-12 level. I also had the chance to meet the donors (the people who give the money), the parents, and the students (the people who need the money). I often presented workshops for parents and loved helping families reach their educational goals.
In 1999 I began working at a university. I directed a pre-college outreach program and was the founder of Wisconsin’s first online searchable database of scholarships. It was my job to build a community-wide resource for college prep, market that service, build partnerships with schools and community centers, and, ultimately, assist college-bound students. Again, I was in a unique situation where I was able to meet donors, parents, students, college administrators, high school counselors, librarians, teachers, and pre-college advisors who all looked at scholarships from a slightly different angle. Every day our staff learned about the technical side of scholarships, the charitable side of being a donor and the student side of being a hopeful applicant. My job was to manage the programs and my ultimate goal was to connect the people who had the resources with the people who needed those resources.
After leaving the university I had three goals:
- Spend more time with my family. (I’m working on that.)
- Start my own company to help other nonprofit leaders manage their businesses. (I’m the President of Stezala Consulting, LLC.)
- Write a book about scholarships. (Done!)
What’s next for The Scholarship Lady? Visit again to find out!
About this website
Thank you for visiting.This is a bonus website for the book Scholarships 101: The Real-World Guide to Getting Cash For College by Kim Stezala. The tools mentioned in the book are provided here for the benefit of the readers.
Kim Stezala is a consultant with nearly twenty years experience in the nonprofit and education sectors. She has realized the benefits of working with community groups, public and private high schools, colleges, churches and scholarship programs. She understands the people who need the money and the people who have the money. Her goal is to share her expertise with as many young people as possible (and their parents) in the next five years.
The book, blog, podcasts, boot camps, Scholarships 101 workshops, website and program consulting are all Ms. Stezala’s efforts to help students make it to college with more money to pay the bill.
Kim Stezala is a consultant with nearly twenty years experience in the nonprofit and education sectors. She has realized the benefits of working with community groups, public and private high schools, colleges, churches and scholarship programs. She understands the people who need the money and the people who have the money. Her goal is to share her expertise with as many young people as possible (and their parents) in the next five years.
The book, blog, podcasts, boot camps, Scholarships 101 workshops, website and program consulting are all Ms. Stezala’s efforts to help students make it to college with more money to pay the bill.
