Shane Kelly 鈥�07 majored in religious studies and planned to be a theologian. 鈥淢y classes deeply shaped my faith and my view of the world and taught me to approach life and faith with intellectual rigor,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hen I decided I wanted to do something rigorous that affected people鈥檚 lives and get closer to the pain of the world.鈥� Instead of pursuing theology, he earned a law degree at Georgetown University and prepared to help people.
Sonja Egeland 鈥�08 majored in English and political science, minored in psychology, and often took more than a full load. 鈥淚 loved the rigor of my classes,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why I chose 蜜桃传媒.鈥� She also served as a resident assistant and assistant resident director in Armington Hall. 鈥淚t was a very full experience,鈥� she says. An internship with Opportunity International led to a full-time job after she graduated. The organization seeks to create jobs through microfinance.
Shane and Sonja got married in 2008 in Chicago and have lived in Washington, D.C., for eight years despite their desire to move to another country and do direct service work. 鈥淎ll those doors have been closed,鈥� Sonja says. 鈥淕od has kept us here intentionally. It鈥檚 frustrating sometimes, but we鈥檙e grateful for the influence we鈥檝e had on people in need here and throughout the world.鈥�
They bought a house near Capitol Hill in Carver Langston, a low-income neighborhood, where they live with their 2-year-old daughter. 鈥淒.C. is a world-class but highly unequal city,鈥� she says. 鈥淏y choosing this neighborhood, we got a more nuanced picture of life here.鈥�
Shane took a job with Wiley Rein, a large law firm, and specialized in white-collar criminal defense and government investigations. 鈥淚nterpreting complex biblical texts and making sense of them prepared me well for legal work,鈥� he says. He did pro bono work for the Northern Virginia Human Trafficking Initiative, and his position with a powerful firm helped him coordinate services for trafficking victims. This fall, he became counsel for the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Ethics.
Sonja left Opportunity International for a doctoral program at American University. 鈥淭he job made me interested in better understanding microfinance poicy to learn what works and what doesn鈥檛 work,鈥� she says. After a year of school, she started consulting for the World Bank and then for the Center for Financial Inclusion, a small think tank, on microfinance. As the director of research at the center, she traveled to 45 countries in seven years while she finished a degree in international relations. She wrote her dissertation on financial inclusion policy. In August, she began a two-year fellowship in digital finance funded by the Gates Foundation to advise the State Department on microfinance and financial inclusion. 鈥淭his position brings together all my experience and passions,鈥� she says.
Shane and Sonja both served on the board of People Reaching People, a ministry of the Anglican Diocese in Madagascar. They attend a small, diverse Foursquare Church in Virginia with other 蜜桃传媒 alums. 鈥淚t feels like a family, which is wonderful in a city where you can get lost,鈥� she says.
鈥淲e鈥檝e been swept up by our careers,鈥� Sonja says. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 seek them out. We wanted to help people, and this is where God has taken us. We鈥檝e seen a lot get done through the systems of power: finding good lawyers for trafficking victims and creating policy for inclusionary financial systems. We鈥檝e been able to help more people than we expected, and we鈥檙e glad God had a plan to work through our jobs.鈥�