Building a mosaic of opportunities

Political science alumna Ai Vy Le (’25) hit the job market running last May, equipped with the “flexible and adaptable” skill set she built as a student in the College of Arts and Letters.

Le spent her last semester in Washington, D.C., interning at the International Justice Mission as part of the Washington Semester program. While supporting executive tasks and organizing files for C-suite executives, she began applying nonpartisan and bipartisan approaches, something she’d learned at JMU, to her budding career at the global nonprofit.

“The College of Arts and Letters really helped me hone in on seeing the big picture — meeting people in the middle to see what this common goal is that we can come together and have tangible results in,” Le said.

Le stayed local to D.C. after graduating and worked as a legal account executive at Beacon Hill Solutions Group, a workforce and business solutions company, where she specialized in legal staffing and consulting.

In January, Le transitioned to her current role as the Director of Human Resources at Anata, a software development company advancing transparency in government technology.

“I do a little bit of everything at Anata,” says Le. She manages employee payroll, benefits, and onboarding; facilitates conflict resolution; and game-plans for the company’s growth. She points to the policy, legal and general writing skills she learned in political science courses as a foundation for her current work in policy development.

“I think CAL provides you more of a generalist skillset,” Le said. “You can specialize in what you want through classes, thesis and everything, but at the core, most of the CAL majors give you a taste of a little bit of everything, and I think that made me really adaptable and confident in my ability to move forward in roles outside of my comfort zone.”

Looking back, Le encourages students not to wait for the perfect moment. “It starts right now. Even if you’re a junior, a senior, it’s never too late to take advantage of as many opportunities as you can.”

“All those things give you a piece of a much bigger mosaic, and you never know how you will use it,” Le said. “I was initially pre-law, thinking I was going to go to law school, and then with all my experiences, it made sense to go another way. And I don’t know where I’m going to be in 10 years — but I know I will use the adaptability, flexibility and understanding of what’s going on around me to succeed.”