The Policy Project | Chief of Staff | Salt Lake and Utah County | 30
Brooke Gledhill Wood got her dream job at The Policy Project through an Instagram DM! During her final year of law school at BYU, she messaged the founder — and ended up joining as a founding board member, then one of the first paid staff members, and she’s loving her time spent making a difference. Brooke’s roles range from policy development to community engagement to advocacy. Her official title may be chief of staff, but her team calls her the “chaos coordinator.” The team at The Policy Project has made massive Utah impact in a few short years. They passed a law that requires free period products to be available in bathrooms for students in K-12 Utah schools, raised $18 million for teen resources centers across the State, and are continuously on a mission to make great social impact. With Brooke, consider the chaos coordinated.
MAIN MOTIVATION My main career decisions have all stemmed from being mission-driven. I’ve always said that I don’t actually care what my day-to-day responsibilities are, as long as I’m making a meaningful contribution to an organization making impactful change. That’s why The Policy Project is my dream job — our entire purpose is to identify ways to create the most good for the most amount of people through policy. SHARPER SKILLS Even as a kid, I had strong opinions and point of view … but I remember my voice shaking in school when I would raise my hand to voice a different perspective. Now, I think that openly and candidly sharing my perspective is one of the most important contributions I bring to a team. COMBATING DOUBT Having mentors I can trust that act as sounding boards and provide clear perspective has made all the difference! PRINCIPLES OF SUCCESS There is no shortage of hopes and dreams in the non-profit and social impact space, but one of the major principles that has contributed to my success is being able to turn thoughts into action. Being able to operationalize an idea is what separates actual impact from just having a great mission. GOOD BIZ ADVICE Working in social impact, I love this quote from former Utah Governor Mike Leavitt: “There is a time in the life of every problem when it is big enough to see, yet small enough to solve.” And now is that time.