Aria O'Connell
Aria O’Connell is a Business Development Manager at Financial Aid Services, Inc. & Genesis-SMSS, where she plays a key role in driving growth, strengthening client relationships, and expanding the company’s presence across the higher education landscape. With a focus on supporting institutions through Title IV financial aid processes, she partners closely with career schools nationwide, helping them navigate complex regulations while improving operational efficiency. Known for her relationship-first approach, Aria is deeply committed to creating meaningful impact for both the schools she serves and the students they support.
In her evolving role, Aria has taken on leadership of marketing initiatives, overseeing campaigns, promotional strategy, and performance analytics to support data-driven growth. She represents her organization at major industry conferences and regularly engages with stakeholders to build new partnerships and generate opportunities. Her ability to combine business development with strategic marketing and industry advocacy has positioned her as a rising leader in the education services space, particularly as she works to amplify the voice of career schools at both industry events and on Capitol Hill.
Aria’s career journey reflects a strong foundation in leadership, sales, and purpose-driven work. A graduate of the University of Colorado Boulder with a degree in Business Administration, she previously excelled as a Sales Representative at Breakthru Beverage Group, where she consistently exceeded targets while managing a portfolio of accounts. During her time in college, she served as President of the CU Boulder Women in Business Club, growing membership and creating professional development opportunities for aspiring women leaders. Today, Aria brings that same passion for connection and impact into her work, striving to build partnerships that truly make a difference in higher education.
• Certified Personal Trainer
• Leadership Certificate from CU Boulder
• Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from CU Boulder
• Leadership Certificate from CU Boulder
• American Association of Career Schools (AACS)
• Career Education Colleges and Universities (CQ)
• Women in Business
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I received is don't make your career decisions based off of the income. Make it based off of something that you are truly passionate about, and something you feel purposeful in, because no matter what happens, or no matter how much money you make, it really just comes down to if you really care about what you're doing. Otherwise, you're not going to put in the effort you need to put into it, so I'd say just make sure you're making career decisions based off of what you enjoy, what you're passionate about, what you care about, and deal with the financial side after.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Don't put too much pressure on yourself, and if you are confident in yourself, and you believe in yourself, that will show to other people, and if you're confident, you'll get the respect that you deserve. Just find it in you to believe in yourself, and that'll make everything so much easier, because I just feel like, especially with technology and everything going on, the younger generations are just getting more and more kind of introverted and not willing to put themselves out there, so I think it's important to just be confident and have faith in yourself before you do anything else.
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The challenges right now are the potential impact of new Department of Education regulations. The new proposed law by the Department of Education basically has an earnings premium which requires graduates of any non-degree certificate programs to have an income that's comparative to an income of an MIT aerospace engineer graduate. I went to Washington, D.C. to meet with congressional offices to advocate for career schools and educate these offices on what the actual implications of some of the provisions are in this new ruling. We think they didn't consider the impact it might have on beauty schools. One of the numbers that came out was 92.5% of beauty schools would close by 2027 if the ruling goes through as it stands right now. The way they're calculating the earnings don't make sense for people that go to a hair program versus MIT, because they're doing part-time hours, they're not making as much money, their tips aren't accounted for. If they don't pass that test, they would get their Title IV funding stripped, which is financial aid, so if they can't offer financial aid, it would be hard for them to get students to enroll. The opportunity that stands in front of me right now is expanding our business into a new sector of private lending and banks, because now that if federal funding is taken away from a lot of these career schools, which is our main clientele, we now want to still be able to help them access some type of funding or funds for students to get the education they need. The big opportunity right now for me is to figure out a business plan on how we're going to expand, how we're going to partner with private lenders, how we're going to still be a resource to our schools, even if they're not able to access federal funds.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Values that are important to me are health and wellness. Making sure I am in a good mental state, and people around me are in a good mental state, and are okay, and have the support they need. Trust is huge. I think you need to be able to trust the people you surround yourselves with. And then, I always like to say this, and it's kind of funny, but fun. I think it's important to just have fun and enjoy life, even in a work setting, because life is very fragile, and why not make the most of everything?