Her Story
About Carlene
Carlene Bermann is a Director in the nonprofit museum sector with 18 years of experience in nonprofits and 3 years in leadership. She holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from her undergraduate studies in art, craft, and material studies, where she focused on ceramics and fine metalworking. After completing two years with AmeriCorps, which introduced her to environmental education, she transitioned into museum education and visitor services. Over the years, she has held various roles in museums, primarily related to education, visitor services, and collections management, before moving into her current leadership position. Carlene attributes her success to a combination of luck, initiative, taking chances, hard work toward goals, and the people she has met along the way.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Carlene
01What do you attribute your success to?
I think success is some amount luck, and some amount initiative. Those things work together, the chances that you take, the things you try, but a lot of it is just based on the chance that happens, and the people you happen to meet, or how things magically work out. But certainly I've tried, worked hard towards certain goals as well.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
It's a challenging field, there's a lot of competition. Develop skills that are going to help you get ahead. Be confident, be decisive, but also very flexible and adaptive, wear a lot of hats, not get distracted easily, learn techniques for focusing and time management, not being intimidated by other people including older men. Advocate for yourself. Work on public speaking skills. Set boundaries, don't let people take advantage of you.
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