How a Love of the Outdoors Led From Jane Goodall to National Parks to UVA Darden’s Part-Time MBA

As a child in a military family, University of Virginia Darden School of Business Part-Time MBA student Neuveaux Williams bounced around a lot as a kid. But no matter where the family moved, she could always find neighborhood kids who wanted to climb a tree or play outside.

Thus, a love of the outdoors as a place of joy was born. In high school, when she was troubled by trees being cleared for new developments in her rapidly growing community, her mother suggested she could make a difference by studying environmental issues in college.

The message clicked, and she majored in environmental studies at the University of Central Florida with a desire to work on complex issues like how to improve accessibility for people who didn’t have access to the kind of outdoor spaces she loved.

She followed that purpose into several environmental-focused internships and then to the Jane Goodall Institute, founded by the famed British primatologist Jane Goodall to promote wildlife conservation.

It was Earth Day when she watched a documentary about Goodall that mentioned her Roots & Shoots youth program. Williams said the program lit her curiosity, and she began researching the organization. Within a couple of weeks, they posted a job opportunity in Washington, D.C., and she was hired to work on youth engagement and community outreach.

After two years, thanks to support from a valued mentor at the Goodall Institute, Williams moved to the National Park Foundation, where she now works on corporate partnerships supporting the more than 400 sites in the U.S. National Park Service system.

It was a move Williams found at least a little ironic.

“With my international upbringing, I actually had not been to very many U.S. national parks,” she said. “So I was a little bit of an outsider at National Park Foundation, but I’ve found that it’s powerful to bring a different perspective to an organization. It allows me to translate well what we do here and why it’s important to people who don’t already love parks.”

A Desire to Open More Windows to the World

Williams knew she wanted to continue her education, but an MBA wasn’t the obvious choice; much less Darden’s Part-Time MBA program. However, as she honed in on what she really wanted from graduate education, pursuing an MBA rose to the top.

“I was missing a fundamental understanding of how the business world works and how to make my ideas functionally come into practice,” Williams said. “I also wanted to be exposed to new ideas, and open more windows into the world.”

Even though an MBA had the most appeal, Williams still had to fight feelings of imposter syndrome. She worried she didn’t fit the mold of a typical MBA student, and that the delta between her educational and work experience and what she assumed would be the business-heavy backgrounds of other students might be a challenge.

Darden helped her put those fears at ease.

“From my first interactions with the program, I was always reassured that Darden was an institution that values diversity of thought and experience. I have really felt that at Darden, and it has worked out well,” Williams said.

After a full year in Darden’s most flexible MBA format, in which working professionals can take 28 to 48 months to earn their degree, Williams said two parts of the program stand out for how they’ve already delivered impact: her classmates and her ability to explore her purpose and goals.

One classmate even went so far as to build a “coffee chat” app that randomly matches Part-Time MBA students with a classmate each week to have a virtual or in-person chat over coffee.

“That is so Darden, to be using your extra time to creatively solve a problem,” Williams said. “It’s been a really nice way to explore different sides of my classmates that I don’t get to hear about in the classroom. I came to grad school because I wanted to be immersed in new perspectives, and so much of that has come from my peers.”

On the self-exploration side of things, Williams thought she had it all figured out, but Darden has challenged her to explore her values more deeply. “As part of the intentional education we receive here at Darden, there has been a lot of focus on understanding and articulating the the leaders we want to become. That exploration has been equally challenging and rewarding.”

The coursework, of course, is making an impact, too. Her work on corporate partnerships at the National Park Foundation didn’t historically include much accounting or data analytics. However, her “Accounting” and “Storytelling With Data” courses have proven the importance of having an enterprise-wide perspective with knowledge that stretches beyond your core function.

“As I set the strategy for new partnerships coming into my portfolio, I can go into their financial statements and understand the story the company is telling, and how they are performing,” she said about applying her new accounting skills. “This allows me to come back to my team with deeper context and better insights.”

Similarly, “Storytelling With Data” is giving Williams tools to better articulate the impact of her work to internal leaders and external stakeholders. It also helps her connect with and support colleagues, as she can now give more useful feedback on how they can deliver stronger presentations.

Looking Through New Windows

Williams came to Darden hoping to open new windows to her world, and she’s excited by how the process is playing out. As she explores potential career paths, the Darden Career Development Office is helping her target where to aim her curiosity next.

But in addition to career support from the School, she’s been struck by how open Darden alumni are to sharing their time and insights.

“It’s incredible that I can have an idea and then connect with someone who has relevant experience and valuable insight to share about it,” Williams said. “I am proud to be a part of a community that shares generously and makes room for curiosity.”