Sheri Lupoli

I attribute my success to perseverance and hard work, keeping my nose to the grindstone and not giving up. My generation was told that if we worked hard, everything would be just fine, and while that didn't end up being the case, I do believe in not giving up and not being afraid to take on work that maybe is not necessarily something you could make a career out of, but the experiences are wonderful. I think being open to a variety of experiences helps you really streamline what you are most talented at. So I think that's it, just really working hard and not giving up, because it's a very difficult field.

Honestly, the best career advice was cover your ass. What that means is, I'm putting a lot of things in writing, and I'm signing my name to them. You just make sure that whatever you're writing, people are aware of what you're submitting, people are aware of the process, and people are aware that they will be involved in a project if that money is awarded. I find that a lot of times people are not aware of the difference between a grant writer and a grant administrator, and a lot of times I've walked into situations where they've gotten many grants that have been sitting there for years because nobody knew what to do with them. As a grant writer, you're not making decisions on your own, it involves an entire team. You just have to make sure you remember that everybody knows what you're doing, it's a team effort.

I think that it would be important to find those communities and talk to other grant writers. Learn a little bit about the differences between writing persuasively for a government project versus a nonprofit project versus a private industry project, because there are different types of grants. And the other thing is, if you really want to get ahead, learn about federal grant compliance, because everyone is struggling with that right now, and there's a big need for people who understand how it works.

The biggest challenges are when the funding landscape changes and opportunities are no longer available that you were counting on, and you have to try to figure out where that money's going to come from. The biggest plus is just being able to learn so much about so many different fields, and how things work in nonprofits, in the government, in private companies. I've met so many wonderful people, and I've learned so much about how different things have to function. So my network has grown, and I've just met really lovely people who have really, really noble purposes.

This is a very difficult world, and right now, my one goal is to just make sure I'm putting out more kindness into the world than negativity that's being put out. There's just so much negativity going on, and people don't need to be reminded of everything that's going wrong, but a little kindness goes a long way, so I'm just trying to put out some kindness and positivity when I can.