Colleen Wade Spelder: Passion Personified

Colleen Spelder came to ND for all the reasons that matter most but with no firm idea where to put her considerable energy in terms of an actual major. She ultimately picked Information Technology Management (ITM) and took those hard skills, upon graduation in 2015, into a rotational development program at Abbott. The company slogan is Life. To the Fullest. and that could be Colleen's personal motto as well.  Those first two years as a working professional gave her marvelously rich and diverse experiences and set the stage for everything that followed. Along the way she also dove deep into the worlds of social entrepreneurship and sustainability, which have shaped her both professionally and personally.  There were also big opportunities and weighty mentors, but one of my favorite stories is how a little post-it note gave her the clarity she needed to make a really big decision.

Colleen's recommendations:
The Defining Decade by Meg Jay - best thing she read in her 20s
Thrive: The Third Metric for Redefining Success… by Arianna Huffington
Anything by Brene Brown

Find more on Colleen's background on her LinkedIn profile. Blog Links: Irish Impact blog - on social entrepreneurship at Notre Dame and A Summer at Stella Maris -  all about working for a social enterprise in Mailisita, Tanzania.

Please check out the pod's sponsor Fire Stationery and follow them on Instagram @firestationery to see and order their beautifully designed notecards.

Find more on Alison @ https://linktr.ee/alisonlevey. If you have questions that you'd like me to answer on the monthly bonus episode, The Highlighter Edition, send them to openbooktestpodcast@gmail.com.