Nicole McKinney Lindsay ’96 is no stranger to education. After graduating from UConn as an Honors Scholar 15 years ago, she has earned two further degrees, and has worked in both higher education and the corporate world. Now she heads a non-profit organization that helps low-income, first-generation college students to be successful.

Armed with a BS in business administration from UConn, she went on to complete a joint JD/MBA program at the University of Virginia. But her career has taken her far from her original plans, to a place in her life where talent meets passion.

Last month, she spoke about her education and her career to a group of honors students.

Lindsay’s first position after college was as a corporate finance associate at Wachovia Bank. It was more than an opportunity to apply the knowledge she had learned in school. “It was about building my credibility,” she said. “I wanted to make sure that I … had credentials that set me up for whatever it was that I wanted to do.”

When Wachovia merged with First Union, she transitioned to the community development department and began to explore her interests beyond finance. In 2003, a move home to Connecticut allowed her to reevaluate her career further. She left the corporate world and became associate director of admissions and student affairs for the Yale School of Management, to help the school improve its enrollment of minority and female candidates.

“Not only could I do the job itself, but I felt like I could leverage what I had learned in working professionally, as well as in school,” she said. She was also interested in becoming involved with diversity initiatives.

From Yale, she accepted a recruiting position at Goldman Sachs to assist in diversity hiring. In 2006, she joined Management Leadership for Tomorrow, a group that focuses on career development, becoming director and eventually vice president. She had been involved with the organization since her time at Yale, beginning as a part-time coach.

In her current position as executive director of New York Needs You, she oversees a start-up non-profit in New York City that mentors and supports high-achieving first-generation college students as they prepare for college, complete college, and seek success after college. A majority of the fellows in the inaugural class are low income, and nearly half are below the poverty line, which means their household consists of a family of four living on $22,000 or less per year.

Despite the difficult financial environment many of the students face, Lindsay said, “If they walk into a room, you would never know it … They have a lot of hope … part of it is that’s who they are … and part of it is New York Needs You. [The organization creates] an environment where they are expected to be successful. And they know that we will do – within our network – everything we possibly can do to help them be successful,” she said.

In addition to providing its fellows with a structure of support, including one-on-one mentorship, industry specialists, resume building, and internships, New York Needs You and its partners tend to the little details, providing suits and even new shoes. For some students, these shoes are the first new pair they have ever owned.

Lindsay credits some of her own achievement to elements beyond talent and skill, including timing and professional risk taking. “You can prepare, you can plan, you can lay it out, but sometimes things are just going to come up at the right time,” she said. “But you can’t take advantage of the luck that will come if you’re not prepared.”

Every move in her career has given Lindsay a broadened perspective. But she is keenly aware of the ways in which her experiences at UConn helped to direct her path. Taking classes outside of her major gave her insights that “shaped who I am and how I think about the world.” And time spent in Spain on a study abroad program taught her to appreciate the simple things. “They talk about Americans living to work,” she said. “There, they work to live.”

Last month, Lindsay addressed UConn students at an event sponsored by the Honors Program and co-sponsored by the Pre-Law Center, the School of Business, Career Services, Community Outreach, and the African American Cultural Center. The following day, she received the 2011 Honors Distinguished Alumni Award from the Honors Program in recognition of her outstanding accomplishments since graduating from the University.