What are you doing to help the next generation fulfill their potential? Slalom Consulting's Opokua Oduro knows. By day, she's a senior consultant focused on business
systems analytics, project management and organizational effectiveness. By night, weekends, and any other spare minute, she's an uber-volunteer, spending time with kids—ranging from orphans in Ghana to at-risk youth in Seattle.
Consulting: What drives your desire for volunteer work?
Oduro: I have a natural interest in being involved with community and mentoring work. I know that there were investments made in me—seen and unseen. And I believe anyone can be successful with the right level of support.
Consulting: What kinds of 'investments' assisted you?
Oduro: It all starts with my parents. I'm first generation American; my Dad moved to New York City from Ghana when he was in his 20s. When I was 4 or 5 years old, he went to pharmacy school six hours away from our home, and I saw how he put education first. My mother grew up as the oldest of eight. Her father died when she was 15 and she stepped up to help raise her family. I saw how she sacrificed to help the family survive. Based on different circumstances or life choices by my parents, I could have been born into a totally different situation.
Consulting: Which service programs are you most involved?
Oduro: I'm currently spending a lot of time with a program called Community For Youth. It's been around for 26 years and its volunteers offer mentoring for at-risk high school students. The program tries to reach children that don't have a support system in their lives. Among the services offered is a one-on-one mentor for each child. I also work with a program called Net Hope, which focuses on the intersection between humanitarian services and technology. After seeing a pattern among kids with IT interests not getting IT jobs, they began providing internships and career education.
Consulting: How do you have time for all of this volunteering and the demands of your consulting career?
Oduro: Slalom has been very generous by giving me great flexibility with my time. First, we have a sabbatical program that allows employees to take four weeks off at a percentage of your pay. And as long as my client needs are met, Slalom has told me that I can work as flexible a schedule as I'd like.
Consulting: What have your learned from your volunteer work that you've carried over to your day job?
Oduro: The organizations I've worked for are businesses. They have staff to manage, safety programs to design and administer, and investments to manage. It's not that unlike client situations—the only real difference is that I take on even more responsibilities when volunteering because there are fewer resources. I've really seen my leadership and management skills develop rapidly the more volunteering I do.
—J.S.
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