Natasha Alford had dreams of making an impact on her community and maybe the world at large. But it would take years and several career changes before Alford found what she was searching for, and still another stretch of time to recognize her true purpose.

Alford is a Teach for America alumna, an award-winning journalist, author, former political analyst for CNN, and media executive at theGrio, who discovered that a career path isn’t always linear; there can be twists, turns and detours that could lead to unexpected places.

Raised in a low-income community in Syracuse, New York, Alford set her sights high, aiming for a top university that would allow her to fulfill a career rooted in social issues. She chose Harvard University, where she found a sense of belonging with a Black community while exploring her identity as a Latina woman and a pathway to various career opportunities.

The influential Ivy League culture, one that glamorizes financial and corporate success, lured Alford away temporarily from purposeful work into consulting. It created a conflict within her, though, one that pitted her desire to help others against a lucrative paycheck.

“I don’t want to minimize the importance of money,” she said. “You know, as much as I would love to say it doesn’t matter, it does. But what I will say is that having experienced having money but not passion for the work, you realize that it’s not sustainable.”

The paydays weren’t enough. She wrestled with an upbringing that defined success as self-reliance with the fear of what leaving consulting may bring. Torn and uncertain, yet driven by a deeper inner compass, she began to explore opportunities more closely aligned with her values.

Alford eventually broke free from what she called “golden handcuffs” and pursued a career in education, working as a Leadership Fellow in a charter school in the Washington Heights neighborhood in New York. The classroom gave her a sense of belonging, a place where she could make an impact on young people, to expand her reach. Alford then applied for Teach For America and was accepted to the 2010 D.C. region corps as a middle school teacher.

“Going into education was like flipping on a light switch in my head and heart. My students were my world,” she wrote in her memoir, American Negra, which chronicles her career and how gender, identity and class played a role.

Alford created a space where her students could feel safe and challenged—an environment that paired students with real-world experiences, taking them on field trips around the nation’s capital, hanging college pennants from HBCUs in the classroom and crowdfunded books about Black protagonists and authors.

In her book, she wrote that she became empowered both in and out of the classroom and noticed her students growing in character and wisdom, not just academics. “Nothing prepares you for the grind of getting up at 5 a.m. every day, Monday through Friday, and being the adult to nearly a hundred children,” Natasha wrote in her memoir.

With students depending on her and the responsibility of being an example, she rose to the occasion by leaning on her fellow educators and her mother, a veteran educator. Still, Alford wondered whether this was the entirety of her dream, the end of her career path.

Something still tugged at her heart.

As her Teach For America commitment came to an end, Alford once again found herself weighing internal values against external expectations—risk with reward. Aware that her next step could impact herself as well as others, she considered the implications of staying in the classroom, or a career in journalism that would allow her to advocate for change on a bigger platform. She was accepted at Northwestern University’s prestigious Medill School of Journalism and quickly sought mentors to help her improve her on-air presence.

“Too often we think we have to present ourselves perfectly,” Alford said, adding that it’s more important to be coachable and teachable.

Alford went to work as a news local TV reporter in Rochester, N.Y. but the disconnect of what she was trying to achieve and speaking up for Blacks in America never ebbed. She struggled with her role as an objective reporter and what she knew as a Black in America—and that tension continued to build over time, leading Alford to seek out a bigger platform.

She soon learned of a job opening at theGrio, a television network and website dedicated to Black interests and politics. It was the avenue that finally melded her passions. She was named emerging journalist of the year by the National Association of Black Journalists, tracing her success to her days in the Teach For America classroom.

She said her experience with Teach For America taught how to think on her feet, improvise, which is a skill required for TV reporters when situations can change spur of the moment. Being cool under pressure is required for both careers.

“There's so many similarities between teaching and journalism,” Alford said. “Just the act of crafting a lesson and thinking about what the objective of this lesson is very similar to crafting a story and (asking) what is the top line message that I want my audience to take away? How do I explain this in a way that is accessible and that leaves people knowing more?”

Natasha’s journey invites a larger question many of us face: are we climbing out of habit, expectations, or with intention—and is the ladder beneath us actually leading where we want to go?