You can step forward and help shape the world around you – whether it's managing a youth soccer team or stepping up to lead on behalf of your industry – to make things better. I’ve always been the kind of person who puts my hand up.

I became interested in housing issues in an urban economics class at Wellesley with Chip Case. I went on to get my masters in city planning at MIT, focusing on housing. The liberal arts background that I gained at Wellesley has given me multidisciplinary perspective. At Wellesley, you graduate knowing how to write well and communicate clearly, but also how to address the quantitative side of things. My background has allowed me to step in where needed, and I’ve always fallen back on the fundamentals of my Wellesley education.

Recently, I was interviewed for a Twin Cities documentary and recognized with an award for “exemplary leadership” on behalf of the Minnesota Multi Housing Association for presentations I have given locally on the housing market.

My advice to others is to continue to push forward: be curious, speak up, step up, and put yourself out there. The first path you chose might not be the one you end up on, but that’s the great thing about life. You get to decide everyday how you will make your impact.

Bernadette Lynch Hornig is a partner at Hornig Companies, a family-owned and operated property ownership and management company located in Minneapolis, Minnesota.