Life Beyond TFS ALUMNI LIFE
AJANI MCINTOSH ‘19
Ajani McIntosh from Sylva, North Carolina spent four years at Tallulah Falls School. McIntosh is currently attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, majoring in Sports Administration. After a welcoming tour when he was in middle school, McIntosh made the decision to attend TFS for his high school career. “Being from a small town there were not many options for high school,” he said. The college preparation and dual enrollment classes, along with the international population at the school were affirming experiences, he said. Now that he’s in college, McIntosh is learning the value of networking and investing in internships; he recently interned with a commercial real estate firm in Charlotte, NC.
BLAIR LEWIS MICHAL ‘12 NATALIE CARNEAL ‘05
“As the Partner Advocate, I use my passion for fighting plastic pollution and background in composting to educate and advocate on closing the loop with compostable packaging,” she said. “Green jobs are growing! The International Labor Organization estimates that 24 million jobs worldwide could be created by the green economy by 2030 alone. More schools are putting an emphasis on environmental courses for majors, minors, and electives.”
Carneal is living out a strong intention to be a life-long learner. Carneal’s educational resumé illustrates this in a vivid way. From 2005-08, she studied political science, peace studies, and conflict resolution at the University of Colorado Boulder. From 2008-10, she studied at the Metropolitan State University of Denver to finish a degree in political science, international relations, with a minor in peace and justice studies. While there, she participated in Model United Nations. From 2016-19, she studied for her master’s in information technology management at Colorado State University Globa. During this time, she was employed by Visa as a corporate IT manager. In 2020, she received certification from the Latino Leadership Institute from the University of Denver. She is now employed as an advisory manager in U.S. cyber and financial risk at Deloitte, a high-profile accounting and consulting firm.
It’s not a requirement to go to school for sustainability to have a green job, she said.
As a day student, Blair Lewis Michal was drawn to the Appalachian history of Tallulah Falls School. Adding to a strong TFS family legacy including several cousins and an older brother, she loved making friends from all over the world just up the road from her hometown of Clarkesville. Graduating from Georgia Southern in 2016, she earned a bachelor’s of science in recreation, with an emphasis in outdoor recreation before launching a career focused on environmental stewardship. She’s currently working for Atlantabased Better Earth, a sustainable packaging company whose mission is to make sustainability accessible especially here in the Southeast.
“Sustainability businesses are just like other businesses in that they have finance, HR, IT, departments, and more,” she said. “You can use your education and skill sets but choose a company that aligns with your values. Everyone can play a part in protecting our planet!” She’s especially proud of the growth of female leadership in the sustainability jobs sector. “There is a strong presence of feminine leadership, from students to pioneers, resulting in diverse, equitable, regenerative, and holistic thinking and solutions,” Michal said. “I hope to help grow composting infrastructure in the Southeast, especially in rural communities.”
3
