Mallory Riley, a member of Rung’s Fall 2023 Cohort who enrolled in the Geospatial career pathway, has been enjoying her time at Rung and exploring all the opportunities available. As someone with great things to say about her Rung journey, Mallory has navigated through the program and is now in the career attainment phase. She is sharing all the things about exploring Rung and its offerings, including her success with the financial education portion of the program.
On her experience with Rung
My experience with Rung has been awesome. It’s been such a positive, uplifting experience for me. Every time I enter the building, it sets the tone for the rest of my day, and I could be in the worst mood. If I come in and see the people here, it just changes my whole mood, and it helps because you can have the worst day if you come here and know you’re doing something for yourself. You’re bettering yourself personally and education-wise and building relationships with these awesome women.
On what she was doing careerwise before Rung
I was working in the aerospace industry, and it wasn’t that I didn’t like the job; I just felt like there was not much room to grow there.
On switching careers with Rung’s program and support
Being a Rung member has opened many doors for me, and it will be opening many doors because of the continued networking events. When I was in aerospace, I felt plateaued and wanted an opportunity to learn something new.
The different things we’ve been learning in geospatial have been really beneficial, and I’m glad I chose that path.
On the financial education she’s received
I was so excited about the financial education part of the program because she (the financial educator) was so passionate about women and money that she made it exciting. I feel like she’s inspired me to do better financially. I was already trying to do better economically and had gotten a consolidation loan before we met and got approved for it. And, you know, we talked through everything. And she also helped me make sure that my student loans were in order. They were, but I wasn’t sure because I wasn’t getting the notices, but now I am. She has been so helpful and is a fountain of knowledge. She’s just incredible.
On being more confident as a Rung member
I feel a lot more confident than I did when I first started. I knew I was going in the right direction, but I felt like I didn’t have a steady path of how I was. Whereas I feel confident about where I’m at, I feel satisfied with, you know, my budgeting and my spending, and I’ve gotten a lot better with that because I used to.
On where she’ll be in the next five years
Professionally and financially, I see myself going beyond my thriving wage goal. We talked about that at the very beginning; we set one. I’m seeing where I was on track, and I was on track to meet that, given that I land the job I’ve been looking for. I see myself doing a lot better financially and career-wise because I want to go up from here, and I think this has given me a good base and foundation.
Congratulations to Mallory for all of her successes! We can’t wait to see what you do next.