Can Someone Like Me Work in Public Service? Your Top Stories of 2025 Answer That Question
- Catherine Huckaby
- Jan 17
- 5 min read
"Can I work in public service or volunteer without the right degree or background?"
You told us what mattered most this year.
Not through surveys or focus groups, but through the stories you clicked, shared, and came back to read. The profiles that hit hardest weren't about credentials or perfect career trajectories. They were about something else.
They were about people who found non-traditional paths into public service careers through side doors, back entrances, and windows they had to climb through because nobody told them the front door was open.
The Pattern Nobody Planned: Public Service Career Change is More Common Than You Think
When we looked at your most-read stories from 2025, we expected maybe a few themes to pop up. What we found instead was a blueprint for what we're actually hungry for in civic leadership.
Seven of your top stories featured people who stumbled into public service careers from completely unrelated fields. An insurance agent who became a three-term mayor because his wife challenged him to stop complaining and start serving. A classroom teacher who took a leap of faith into nonprofit community engagement. A receptionist who worked her way up to director of an entire municipal department.
These weren't flukes. You picked these stories because they answered the question keeping so many people on the sidelines: "Could someone like me actually do this work?"
The answer, according to the leaders you chose this year, is yes.
How do people get into local government jobs? The stories you clicked most show there's no single path—and that's exactly the point.
What Actually Moves People to Act
Victor Turner's story about his unexpected path into housing and community development got thousands of reads. So did Nicolette Ricciuti's journey from answering phones to running regulatory compliance for an entire city. Rose Martinez turned her personal struggles navigating systems into a career helping other families do the same.
Starting a public service career looked different for each of them, but they shared something crucial: they stopped waiting for permission and started showing up.
None of them had master plans. None of them followed traditional routes. All of them are solving real problems for real people now.
That matters because the usual story about public service careers goes like this: get the right degree, land the right internship, climb the ladder systematically.
But your clicks on these stories say you're looking for a different map—one that looks more like the messy, non-linear paths most of us actually walk.
The Public Service Work That Doesn't Make Headlines
You also gravitated toward stories about the invisible infrastructure keeping communities running. Narada Lee protecting 1.3 million Dallas residents daily through code enforcement work most people never think about. Corina Sadler managing volunteer programs that mobilize thousands of residents. Pete Iengo creating space for voices that usually get drowned out in public meetings.
This work doesn't generate viral moments or dramatic press conferences. It's the steady, strategic effort that builds trust one conversation at a time and solves problems one relationship at a time.
Jennifer Fadden, the COO you kept sharing, put it plainly: she focuses on one relationship at a time because that's how lasting change actually happens. Not glamorous. Effective.
The Next Generation Already Stepping Up
The Mansfield Youth Council story made your list, and that tells us something. You're not just interested in who's leading now—you're paying attention to who's being mentored for tomorrow.
Kristen Petree's full-circle story hit home for exactly this reason. She started as a youth council member and now leads the next generation of civic leaders. That's not just a nice story arc. It's proof that early exposure to public service creates future leaders who understand both the potential and the challenges of this work.
Erin Donahue's work empowering Ontario's future public service leaders and Eric Lopez's vision for advancing Hispanic leadership show that intentional mentorship isn't optional anymore. It's how we prevent the expertise gap from becoming a crisis when the current generation of leaders retires.
What Small-Scale Leadership Accomplishes
Three of your top stories came from leaders in smaller communities or organizations working at neighborhood scale. Gabe Reaume's impact as Saginaw's city manager. Brady Porterfield-Finn's people-first approach bringing lessons from West Africa to Colorado. Tyg Taylor's work at Wholly Kicks proving that "we think you're worth it" is more than a motto.
These stories matter because they answer the question career changers ask most: do I need specific credentials to make an impact in local government? The leaders you chose proved the answer is no.
You read these stories because they showed you don't need a massive city budget or a huge organization to make real change. You need clarity about what matters, relationships built on trust, and willingness to stay focused on the people you're serving instead of the structures you're navigating.
The Common Thread Among Voices
Looking across the stories you chose this year, one theme runs through every single profile: these leaders see people first and processes second.
Brandon Figliolino revolutionized transit engagement by focusing on people instead of buses. Ellen Young builds healthier communities by listening before prescribing solutions. Keith Vinson defines his success through collaboration rather than individual achievement. Courtney Harrness transforms stigma into strength by centering dignity in mental health and addiction recovery work.
Susan Alanis, Caitlan Biggs, Hudson Janz, Tasha Van Vlack, Paul Paschall, Courtney Craven—every person you chose to learn from this year showed the same core principle: public service works when it treats community members as partners with problem-solving capacity, not problems to be managed.
What This Means for 2026
The stories you read most in 2025 weren't about perfection. They were about possibility.
Possibility that your background doesn't disqualify you from a public service career—whether you're coming from insurance, teaching, reception work, or anywhere else.
Possibility that small-scale work can create system-level change.
Possibility that the next generation is already stepping up if we create space for them.
Possibility that caring matters more than credentials when it comes to serving communities well.
That's the roadmap you've been building together through your clicks and shares. Not because someone told you this is what public service should look like, but because you recognized yourself—or the leader you want to become—in these real examples of people doing the work.
What backgrounds do public servants actually come from? Your reading habits this year showed us you're hungry for those real answers.
Here's what we're taking into 2026: more stories about unexpected pathways, more profiles of the infrastructure builders who don't make headlines, more attention to the mentors creating the next generation of leaders, and more focus on the small-scale work that proves you don't need permission or perfect credentials to start making a difference.
Because that's what you told us matters most. And we're listening.
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