Marketing and Events Intern for the Loeb Center, Isa Nava ’28, sits down with Alumni-in-Residence guest Elaine Vilorio ’17 to discuss her career as an Associate Director of Research and Evaluation for Year Up United. Hear why she selected Amherst College, how she found her path, misconceptions about research and evaluation, and advice she has for current students as they pursue their careers.
Content Note: This episode includes mentions of grief and death. If you would like to skip these sections, please see the timestamps: 1:14–1:32 and 14:26–15:18, or the sections marked in the transcript below.
The transcription below has been edited for clarity.
Isa
Welcome back to the On AiR podcast. My name is Isa Nava, and I am a marketing and events intern at the Loeb Center. Today, I had the pleasure of interviewing Elaine Vilorio, a member of the Amherst class of 2017. Elaine is an Associate Director of Research and Evaluation for Year Up United, a national workforce development nonprofit that offers free job training programs to young adults as alternatives to a college education.
Before we begin, a quick note. This episode contains discussions about death and grief. If you’re not in a place to hear that today, please join us for our next episode or skip the time marks noted in the podcast description or on the web page transcription. Thank you, and I hope you enjoy the interview.
Isa
Welcome, everyone who’s listening. My name is Isa Nava, and I’m a Marketing and Events Intern at the Loeb Center. I have the privilege today of speaking with Elaine, who I’m going to let introduce herself in a moment. But first, I just wanted to ask what it’s like to be back on campus.
Elaine
That’s a really good question. It’s bittersweet. The last time I was back here was for my five-year reunion, so I graduated nine years ago now. Which means I’m due for my ten-year reunion next year. But it’s bittersweet because I remember some good moments here. And I also remember some not-so-great moments.
Begin Content Warning
Elaine
And one of my classmates passed away. So I actually remember the last time I saw I was walking around, and I remember the last time I saw him. So bittersweet. Not to start off on a morbid note, but, you know, reflecting on the good and the stuff that doesn’t feel as great.
Isa
I’m sorry for your loss.
Elaine
Thank you.
End Content Warning
Isa
So a traditional first question here on the podcast is, just an elevator pitch, a brief introduction to who you are and what you do.
Elaine
Oh wow. Yeah. Okay. So, yes, like I said, my name is Elaine Vilorio. When I was here, I double-majored in Black Studies and Latin American and Latinx Studies. I know that there’s a program that exists now that is worded slightly different[ly]. But back when I was here, there wasn’t a program like that, so I had to make the major through the interdisciplinary major option, which I think is still around. Not sure. Okay. You’re nodding.
Isa
I believe it is.
Elaine
Okay. Cool. So those are my majors. I live in New York City. I’m originally from New Jersey, and I do research and evaluation work for a nonprofit, and that’s the job, the main job that I do, which is informed a lot by the work I did at Amherst, doing a lot of social science research.
Isa
What does your job involve doing? Seeing?
Elaine
Yeah. So it involves a lot of data collection and analysis. So we survey students that do the programs that the nonprofit I work for administers. It’s a lot of surveys, a lot of interviewing, a lot of focus groups, and then turning all of that data into insights. So we help answer the question, are these programs actually working, are they working as intended? Why or why not? What could be improved? What is working well that could be expanded? Yeah, things like that. So lots of data collection and analysis. But all in the service of a social problem. So, social science research specifically.
Isa
Got it. Thank you so much.
Elaine
Yeah.
Isa
You talked a little about how you grew up in New Jersey, and I know that your bio says that your experience as an immigrant and in your childhood have affected your career decisions. Did they play any part in why you chose Amherst? And if not, why Amherst?
Elaine
So I grew up low-income, in northern New Jersey. And so, Amherst, I was actually thinking about Amherst and Williams. I was deciding between the two. And they both had generous financial aid policies. I knew that- I knew I wanted to go to college. I knew that I wanted to hone my critical thinking skills, and I felt like I could do that at a small liberal arts college, more so than at a larger research university. And I loved, you know, the classic open curriculum, I love that. And ultimately, I was here for what is now called Access to Amherst. But back when I was here, it used to be called DIVOH [Diversity Open Houses]. So I participated in that. And just really loved the campus, I loved the breadth of things I could get into. I was interested in neuroscience, but I was also interested in writing, and I was interested in sociology and history. And so I love that all of those fields were high quality here. So I could dabble in them, and it [would] be high quality, and then I could specialize in one when I finally decided what I wanted to do. Yeah. So I guess that’s why Amherst. I remember Williams had a similar fly-in program that I also got into, but my parents didn’t understand what fly-in programs really were, so they forced me to choose one. So I never actually got to go to Williams to really compare; I chose Amherst for the reasons that I just stated. And then I was like, this is, this is good. I’m going to apply early decision. And then, you know, I applied, and I was, I did it, I graduated.
Isa
Well, we were happy you were here.
Elaine
Thanks.
Isa
So you mentioned that when you were here, you double-majored in Black Studies and Latinx American Studies. How do you feel that your interdisciplinary academic background at Amherst informs your approach to research and evaluation?
Elaine
I think it makes me more equity-centered. So I think my training here at Amherst made me really aware of just historical inequities, present inequities. And so when I collect and analyze data, I, at the end of the day, the data is about people, so I’m always looking for how a program that we’re administering or a policy that we’re administering at our organization. How could it have unintended consequences? How is it like leveling the playing field for students so that one group of students isn’t necessarily elevated at the expense of another? I should say that the organization I work for runs year-long job training programs. So, workforce development programs for 18 to 29-year-olds. Most of the people that do the program are, you know, grew up low income, close to my heart as somebody who grew up low income. And so I’m just always on the lookout [for] any discrepancies in the data that we collect. Whether some group is performing better than another group and exploring why that is. Yeah. It made me also able to ask better questions in the work that I do. I feel like I really sharpened my ability to ask questions through that interdisciplinary training, being able to look at a problem from different lenses.
Isa
Yes. I found that’s the benefit of the liberal arts college.
Elaine
Huge benefit.
Isa
Pivoting a little bit, what are some common misconceptions students or early career professionals have about social research or evaluation work? If you can think of any.
Elaine
Maybe you need a Ph.D. to do it? I don’t have a Ph.D., though I heavily considered it at some point. And to do the research and evaluation work that I do, you can partner with academics, and you could have a Ph.D. and choose to do this work as well. But all you really need is obviously your bachelor’s from Amherst, social science research experience, while at Amherst, a thesis, doing research for a professor, and sharpening those research skills in class. Because in addition to taking a lot of history, black studies, sociology, and poli sci, I also took a bunch of statistics and econ classes again, open curriculum. You know, we– I look at academic research, and my team partners with academic researchers, but you don’t necessarily need to be one. The only way I would encourage somebody to get a Ph.D. and still do this work is if they wanted to be the lead author on a federally funded project. A lot of federal grants, well, you know, not so much anymore with this current administration, but historically, the federal government is a huge funder of research and innovation. And so if you want to be a lead author on a research project that’s federally funded, you might want to get a Ph.D. But a lot of Ph.D. programs train you to be academic researchers, which is amazing. But less so, how to be a researcher in service of a nonprofit, philanthropic body, or a government entity. And so that’s- I would say that’s a misconception. You need your bachelor’s, social science research experience, the skills you learn in class, and some, you know, experience from an entry-level job. Happy to, I guess, spotlight some possible jobs there, some entry-level jobs. And then, a master’s in public policy or public affairs or equivalent experience. So either you do more research work within all those entities I named or, and/or, you get a master’s in one of those fields. Yeah. So I would say that’s a common misconception. People also don’t really know what research and evaluation really is for, you know, social impact.
Isa
Well, hopefully this lets some of our listeners know that that’s a possible pathway.
Elaine
I hope so, yeah.
Isa
And any common misconceptions that you don’t necessarily need a Ph.D.
Elaine
Yeah.
Isa
For you, how did you navigate the transition from college to your first role? And what did that early stage of your career teach you?
Elaine
I think that it was kind of jarring, in the beginning, because when I graduated from Amherst, you know, everybody I cared about here was kind of scattered all over, which is also a blessing too; you have people that you can visit in different cities all over the world. Like recently I visited my good friend, who was an Amherst alum, who was in Mexico City working there, you know, and so, but it also means that people are scattered. You don’t have, you know, your friends, in the next building from you. And so it’s kind of like a splash of cold water to the face, like, oh, I kind of have to figure out how to cultivate a community. As an adult that has now exited a residential college. And so that was, I guess, an aspect that was not- I’m not speaking- that doesn’t speak to the professional, but I just wanted to say that. And I think my early career experience professionally was, I think, helped a lot by the fact that I did a fellowship. So I worked for the mayor’s office in San Francisco as a San Francisco fellow. So there’s a San Francisco Fellows program in San Francisco, and then there’s an Urban Fellows program, a sort of equivalent program in New York City, which I don’t know if I mentioned this, but that’s where I’m, that’s where I’m based, in New York City. And both of these programs are specifically targeted towards early career professionals who are looking to understand what it means to be in local government, like how does local government actually function? What does it mean to administer a policy or program that affects a city? And so I got to be with a cohort of other early-career professionals. Even though I had a placement in the, you know, the mayor’s office in San Francisco, I worked on affordable housing policy, which was close to my heart because I grew up in section eight housing in New Jersey.
So I kind of- it was very trippy to now be, I guess, in a position of more of a decision maker. As opposed to kind of, it was just it was that that was a little trippy, you know, to be on the other side of the social services. But I had my placement working on affordable housing. But then there was one day a week dedicated to being with my cohort. So it was kind of like we had a shared experience. And then, and now I’m an alum of that program. And so that type of program really helped me ease into [my] early career. I think, I think maybe I’m trying to think of pros and cons, I guess, to the early career situation. I think a pro was that, of having a cohort experience. Also, I was new to San Francisco. I had no business going to California. I’d never even been there. But I had always wanted to go, and, I didn’t know anybody there. And so having a cohort experience, both in my personal life, community-wise, and professionally, was super helpful. People were able to give me feedback. I was able to learn about other city government functions from other people’s experiences, which, you know, the more you know, the better you’re able to make a career decision that aligns with who you are as a person. And so those were the pros. I think the cons for me were–I was really eager to see social change, positive social change happen very quickly. My North Star career-wise has been working in service of a program on policy that is about poverty reduction. So the work I do now, it runs job training programs for 18 to 29-year-olds, so that they can get living to thriving wage jobs. And so that in that way, it’s in line with poverty reduction. And so when I was in San Francisco, I was sort of eager for the work that I was doing to translate to immediate positive social impact. And what I ran into was it’s very hard, which is kind of dumb. But it’s really, really hard to gather a bunch of different stakeholders in a room, get them to agree on how to move forward on a social problem, get the people that are most affected by the social problem to even be in the room as critical stakeholders in their own situation. And it was hard to work with communities that face obstacles that were outside of their control.
Begin Content Warning
Elaine
I remember my first month there, a young man, you know, was shot and killed, and I remember thinking to myself, we had a responsibility to that young person. Because the initiative I worked for in the mayor’s office focused on four public housing sites in San Francisco. And, the person that passed was a resident on one of our public housing sites. And that was really hard. And I felt like, you know, nobody had a sense of urgency that I felt in the moment. But I think reflecting on it now, several years later, I do think people could have stood to have a greater sense of urgency, but I also recognize that it is hard to, you know, make progress.
End Content Warning
Elaine
And so I think I have learned to be a little bit more patient. So I was a little bit more impatient in my early career, for valid reasons. But still, I think I could have been a little bit more patient. Yeah, I don’t even know if I answered all your question.
Isa
I think you did. I think you answered it very thoroughly.
Elaine
Okay.
Isa
As someone who’s going to be in the early career stages in two years,
Elaine
Yeah!
Isa
I think I need to prepare for the patience and dedication it’s going to take.
Elaine
I’m sure it’ll be great, whatever you end up doing.
Isa
Crossing my fingers. All right. Last question of the evening. Just- if you were speaking to the Amherst student body, specifically students looking to enter the research and social impact fields, what advice do you have?
Elaine
I feel like this advice is broader than the field, the social impact field. But I would say utilize the alumni network. I mean, ultimately, why I came back to campus to give a talk or to kind of talk to you today was because I had alumni that poured into me while I was here just by sharing their experiences. And like I mentioned earlier, the more information you know about the different careers that are out there, the more you can think about what works for you professionally. And alumni, while I was a student, just were so willing to talk to me about whatever, and even as an alum now, talking to other alums, they’re still excited to talk to me about my career. And so I would say utilize alumni to get a sense of the breadth of options that are available to you. That’s huge. And that includes the social impact space, the research and evaluation space, too. Somebody might know, this is still tied to networking, somebody might know a job, or- I didn’t know about the San Francisco Fellows program or Urban Fellows. If it weren’t for an alum that told me about it, who now lives 20 minutes from me in New York, and I went to his house for some holiday celebration. There’s a lot of stuff out there. And the more people you talk to, the more they can tell you about those things. So I would tell the Amherst community that, network, there’s a really nice alumni directory. You can just cold email people. I’m trying to think of what else. Enjoy your time here? I don’t know, I- enjoy your time. I mean, I’m sure everybody’s enjoying their time. I hope so. It’s important to work hard. It’s such a cliche, but work hard and have fun. Yeah, there’s a lot of doom and gloom out there, but still find time for joy. And if anybody has any questions, they could email me. Connected to what I said earlier.
Isa
Yes, wonderful alumni network, wonderful alumni here sharing experiences with the students. And I think find time for joy is a great sentiment to end off the podcast on.
Elaine
Cool.
Isa
So thank you so much for talking to me today. I think that the students are going to have a lot to take from your words and advice. I know I do personally.
Elaine
Thank you, thank you.
Isa
Thank you so much for listening. I hope you enjoyed this interview with Elaine Vilorio. Stay tuned for the next episode of On Air, and see you next time.
