Leah Mullins

What did you want to be as a child and how has that journey led you to where you are today?
When I was a kid, I wanted to be a marine biologist and work with dolphins. I lived in San Diego, so it wasn’t that crazy! My mom moved my brother and I here to Indiana when I was just entering middle school. That was a huge cultural change. I went to Center Grove High School and then I went to Purdue University and majored in Communication, which was a subject I enjoyed. I did not have the foresight to plan my career after college, though. I just chose to study something that was fun for me.

My first job was as an administrative assistant position at a huge consulting firm in downtown Chicago. As a 21-year-old, it was exciting. But, after over a decade in admin work, I felt stuck in a career I didn’t remember ever choosing. I didn't have the job experience to make a move into anything else and I desperately needed to earn more to support my growing family. After a lot (A LOT) of complaining and whining about it, I finally realized I was the only one with the power to change my situation.

I started out by getting my MBA, which I studied for on my lunch breaks when I worked at the Kelley School of Business. This helped me gain an overall knowledge of business concepts. But, even after earning my MBA in only 18 months, I still felt my career wasn’t moving the way I would like it to, so I went back to the drawing board to figure out what could help me get to the next step.

I knew I was good at administrative work, so the logical next step to springboard off my 10+ years of experience in the field would be to study project management. It is a similar type of work, just at a higher level. I studied and tested through the Project Management Institute last November and I became a Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM). I’m planning on testing for the Project Management Professional (PMP) next, which requires 36 months of project management experience. And then I think I’m done for a while. But we’ll see.

Do you have any advice on navigating a male-dominated workplace?
So, what's interesting is I had heard a statistic about the percentage of women in IT when I first started working at The Kuali Foundation, but it didn't sink in because I saw women in IT all around me at IU. A lot of the Kuali team leads and project managers were women. I think IU is doing a great job with representation, but I understand most IT teams are mostly men. I’ve only worked in tech at IU (not in a corporate environment), but everyone I have worked with here is super down-to-earth. The biggest lesson I learned as a newbie in IT was to not be afraid to ask somebody for help. When you’re first starting out, there are all sorts of acronyms thrown at you, so if you don’t know the terminology, it’s best to just ask! No one is going to think less of you for wanting to be better at your job!

Outside of work, what are your hobbies or involvements?
I have three teenagers. One is a sophomore at Butler University studying Psychology. I have a junior and freshman at Bloomington North. The junior is a very talented artist/animator, so I’m in the middle of planning four college tours for her, which is so exciting. We leave for California for five college tours next week! It will be some great mother-daughter bonding, I’m sure.

This year, I co-chaired the Chow Wagon for the Bloomington North Marching Band. So every Saturday in September and October, we fed about 120 people. It's so much fun to see how the kids interact and get to know them. The way I look at it, the kids in marching band are so dedicated and they work so hard day in and day out...the least we can do is give them a delicious meal every week!