HOPE with Sheril Varghese: The Unexpected Amount of Business in Service Work
This is our fifth installment of Small Talk with WIB! I had the chance to interview Sheril Varghese, who is an outreach coordinator for HOPE, which stands for Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere. Sheril tells me that HOPE embodies the idea that housing advocacy and direct service go hand in hand, as HOPE works to address housing insecurity in Providence specifically and Rhode Island as a whole. They connect people in need to immediate resources as well as advocating for legislation that addresses homelessness and poverty.
Sheril first joined HOPE in the exact same way most freshmen find student groups: the activities fair. Initially drawn to the service aspect, Sheril began her work as a volunteer before rising up to become one of two outreach coordinators. As an outreach coordinator, Sheril is in charge of overseeing volunteer teams, coordinating recruitment, establishing a schedule, leading monthly debriefs, and organizing trainings. These trainings are a large aspect of Sheril’s job, as she hosts sessions to prepare volunteers and team leaders, as well as more generalized workshops, such as Narcan trainings (in partnership with Lifespan in Providence) and compassion fatigue trainings. When I bring up business, Sheril laughs. “Honestly, if you didn’t reach out to me, I would never have considered this as working on the business end of things,” she tells me. But, Sheril tells me that once she started thinking about it, she realized how much of her work is truly business-oriented. Her role as an outreach coordinator with its emphasis on scheduling and organization “mirrors a nonprofit … and has much more of a business end than I anticipated,” Sheril tells me. As she notes, a direct service organization needs someone in that managerial role to oversee a schedule, organize volunteers, coordinate supplies, manage donations, and more.
As a senior, life after Brown is very much on Sheril’s mind. “I definitely see service being super important to me,” Sheril tells me, although she imagines participating in future service work more as a volunteer rather than serving in a managerial capacity. But, she notes that she sees the “aspect of the role that I’ve taken as an outreach coordinator applying to a lot of other things.” Through HOPE, Sheril has learned life skills, such as organization and communication that she knows will help her in future jobs. “I don’t think I would have had the same level of comfort and proficiency [in these skills] had it not been for HOPE,” she says.
When we turn to women empowerment, Sheril can definitely relate. “I personally struggle with being like ‘I can do this’ and putting myself out there,” she tells me. But, something that helped Sheril gain that confidence was by watching her peers who were quieter diligently apply themselves to their work. “Their constant dedication speaks for themselves,” she notes. For young girls who are interested in taking on a leadership position (whether that be in business or not), Sheril advises them “don’t be afraid to put yourself out there.” The worst thing that can happen is they turn you down, and at least you applied yourself and gave it a shot. However, Sheril knows that internal doubt doesn’t just stop once you do get a leadership position. She encourages girls who have just stepped into these leadership roles to “remember that you have a voice.” “You are qualified and you have the experiences to speak for it,” she says, so know that “you’re in this position for a reason.”