ΣΔΤ Blog

Empowered Volunteer: April Wright

By SDT Headquarters,

April Wright, Alpha Upsilon-Bradley University

Strategic Planning Team

In this month’s Empowered Volunteer Series, we interviewed April Wright, a member of the Strategic Planning Committee. April embraces the opportunity to empower SDT sisters to grow personally and professionally by volunteering. Check out what April has to say about her volunteer experience with SDT!

Q: Why do you volunteer for SDT?
A: I can’t imagine my life without SDT. Since I was 19 years old it’s been a part of my identity. I never saw myself as a typical “sorority girl” and luckily that describes most Sig Delts. My best friends are SDTs, and the bonds with my college sisters have only grown stronger since I graduated. So for me, it’s important to give back and continue to support an organization that’s able to have such a huge positive impact on my life.

Q: What keeps you busy outside of volunteering?
A: I’m enjoying my second career right now in the film industry. After getting my MBA in marketing and organizational behavior from the Kellogg School at Northwestern, I was a business consultant at Accenture for years and worked for AT&T and Mattel Toys. After a very successful run, I decided I didn’t want to be a partner at a consulting firm and have that life, so I left to pursue a film career as movies had always interested me. It was a risk to make this change, and less financial security, but I enjoy it much more! I’ve selected films for the Sundance Film Festival for 14 years, and started my own production company in 2004. I always tell people it’s the same as when I worked in business, because every film is a project, and producing a film is project management. So I have all those skills, but this is more creative and at the end of the day, you have something tangible that you can share with people that’s out there in the world forever. It’s much more satisfying then implementing a computer system or other corporate work I used to do. Although I do still dabble in consulting work – I was with RealD (they do 3-D for movies) for 5 years, and was the Foundation Manager at Women in Film for several years.

April uses her experience as a sorority women to excel her career in the film industry.

Q: What skills have you developed from your membership with Sigma Delta Tau that you are able to apply now, in your professional career?
A: Even before volunteering for SDT I was the Vice President and the VP of Recruitment for my chapter. Organizing a week of themed recruitment events, teaching introverted women how to have conversations with anyone (a major life skill, by the way), selecting outfit recommendations, organizing song and skit rehearsals, and writing those skits and songs are just some of the skills that I learned in SDT that I can apply to my job as a movie director every single day! I also learned how to motivate my peers and provide a vision that gets other women focused and excited on achieving a common goal by working together – nothing is more rewarding than that. If you can accomplish these things in undergrad, you can do it with any group, anywhere, and I’ve been doing that the majority of my life in every job I’ve ever had. Helping to set and communicate a vision and leading people to work together to achieve their goals are two additional skills that I attribute to SDT.

Q: What advice would you offer someone interested in volunteering?
A: I would imagine that a lot of our alumnae don’t even realize that they can volunteer and get involved with the National Organization even if there’s not a chapter in their local area. I live in California and wanted to be involved with SDT my whole life and it was only when we had a chapter recolonize at USC that I was able to get involved and learned about all the other amazing opportunities. For example, we just launched a new national mentoring program and are always looking for speakers for our online webinar series. If you have time available, a love of SDT, and desire to give back, you should consider volunteering!

 

Whatever your interests may be, there is an opportunity for you! If you are interested in finding your passion within SDT, fill out our volunteer interest form.


Author Bio: Taylor Goldberg is a recent graduate from Florida State University and is currently attending chiropractic school at the University of Western States. Taylor was a member of this year’s Collegiate Leadership Team and is currently serving on the Alumnae Programming and Engagement committee which works to create engaging and relevant programming for SDT alumnae of all ages.


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