A college degree is the baseline, but social capital is the connective tissue that leads to a first job. Sheila recently founded Basta - an organization aimed at bridging the gap between employers and 1st-generation college graduates. Prior to Basta, Sheila served as the Director of National Leadership Recruitment Team for the KIPP network. Sheila began her work in education inn HR at DC Public schools where she started in Principal Human Capital and was then tapped to build a Recruitment & Selection team from the ground up. Her team managed all recruitment and selection across the district and rolled out a cutting edge teacher selection model that was recognized nationwide. Prior to education, she worked on political campaigns including the 2008 presidential and 2009 [WHERE]gubernatorial races. She started her career working in the tech industry across Paris, Amsterdam, and London. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx