A former Morgan Stanley investment banker and former Bear Stearns HR executive walk into a Fordham GSS classroom looking for a change. They find a lasting friendship and an opportunity for a second career, creating change — while transforming the lives of others and themselves along the way.
That’s the story of Martha (Molly) Zola and Susan Bradbury, two GSS Master of Social Work (MSW) students slated to graduate in May 2024. And for these two, changing careers wasn’t just a job switch, but a self-exploration.
“I read the paper differently now, and I think differently about politics. I am just so much more of a critical thinker than I was before [I started the program],” Bradbury, who previously worked in HR as an on-campus recruiter for Bear Stearns, said. “You need to be a social worker to really understand where people are coming from. Systemic issues that I didn’t have a good understanding of before, I do now. It’s eye-opening.”
A Chance Meeting, A Chance at Making Change
Bradbury and Zola met as non-matriculated students at Fordham GSS. They had both been out of the corporate workforce for a time as they took on the full-time roles of mothers of multiple children.
As non-matriculated students, both Bradbury and Zola had the opportunity to take two graduate-level courses to test the waters. Zola, a Harvard Business School Graduate who spent time at McKinsey & Company and then Morgan Stanley for over a decade, said one class in particular pushed her to apply to the program full-time.
“There was a class called Integrating Social Justice and Human Rights, and I thought that sounded fascinating,” she said. “I took that class, and I was hooked.”
While at Morgan Stanley, Zola participated in the company’s Big Sisters program in Harlem. The bank’s employees would go into elementary school classrooms and teach lessons about how to create a business plan — from finance to marketing to operations. The program sparked her interest in working with children for a living.
“From then on out, I have done most of my volunteer work with kids,” she said. “That’s why I decided to [pursue]social work. It’s always been in the back of my mind, and it just seemed like the right time.”
Bradbury’s motivations were a bit different. At nine years old, her grandfather was diagnosed with dementia and placed in a nursing home in Boston, MA. After spending time with him, Bradbury’s mother decided to pursue a career in social work. Now, years later, Bradbury—pursuing social work for herself—said the impact of that event is still with her today in the classroom.
“It was a formative thing for me and our family,” she said. “My mom began to volunteer at nursing homes, and I did too, in high school and college — up until I had kids. It was instilled in me for as long as I can remember.”
Bradbury and Zola are putting their passions into practice through their MSW fieldwork. Both of them currently intern at Albilis in Westchester. This non-profit organization provides services and support for over 800 individuals with special needs and their families from birth through the lifespan. Bradbury works with the older adults in the program.
“I like it a lot,” she said. “I love my supervisor. She’s been there for 20 years, and she knows everything. She knows everybody. So it’s been fun.”
Zola said she just accepted an offer for an internship at the Families and Children’s Agency in Norwalk. Both of them are fully realizing their motivations.
“I feel like I’ve learned a lot,” Bradbury said. “This is [Molly’s] third time [in a higher education program], but it’s my second time, and I’m taking it so much more seriously — and it’s just been a much more enjoyable, immersive experience.”
Transferable Skills
Taking on a new job is stressful. You have to learn new systems, new people, new rules.
This stress can be heightened when shifting professions entirely. Luckily, attributes from other sectors transfer nicely into the social work profession — and vice versa. Bradbury and Zola noticed that their skillset of interpersonal communication homed over years in the business world played to their advantage as they began their social work journeys.
“I would say the one big thing is people skills — not just interviewing, and, you know, nice to meet you, but learning how to work with people and give them constructive feedback,” Zola said. “And we both learned serious problem-solving skills applicable to social work.”
Additionally, having experience as parents, Bradbury said, helps her find that difficult balance between nurturing and empowering that can present itself when working with clients.
“I’m trying to be helpful, but not too helpful,” she said. “When you’ve been a nurturer for as long as we have, you can continue to help people and fulfill that part of you [through social work].”
And if you’re a parent considering heading back for your MSW degree, Bradbury and Zola stressed the importance of taking things at your own pace. As aforementioned, parenting is a full-time job in and of itself, so adding coursework and a field placement on top of that can fill up a schedule quickly.
“That’s the nice thing about Fordham’s program — it is flexible,” Bradbury said. “If things are getting too hectic, you can slow it down a little bit. They will work with you.”
For Those Seeking Change
An MSW degree is versatile and can guide you into various positions in one-on-one practice, hospitals, schools, or policy work. And according to Zola, a social work learning environment differs from other sectors in a positive way.
“When I was in business school, it was so cutthroat,” she said. “You didn’t share your stuff with anybody. Here, people are sharing and saying let me help you. It’s so collaborative.”
Bradbury and Zola live in Connecticut and were immediately attracted to GSS’s Westchester campus in West Harrison. The option to be a full-time or part-time student and take on-campus classes as few as one day per week allows for even the busiest people to pursue the degree.
“I really wanted to try this. I wanted to dip my foot in it,” Zola said. “The matriculation was so important, that you could take 2 classes before committing to the program — because at our age we didn’t even know if we could write a paper. But once I got into the program…I knew I made the right choice.”
“[Social Work] is a great second career because knowing about the world is very helpful,” Bradbury added. “You understand what motivates people and have some life experience. It’s been a really positive experience.”
