shaylyn garrett

Over the course of three years I conducted ethnographic field research on ecclesiastical leaders and parishioners in ten congregations comprising five denominations as part of a groundbreaking research project on the changing role of religion in American civil society. I then authored three chapters of the best-selling book, American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us (Simon & Schuster 2010), winner of the American Political Science Association’s Woodrow Wilson Award for “best book published in the U.S. during the previous calendar year on government, politics, or international affairs.”

As an Executive Assistant, I provided administrative and personal support to the Chairman, CEO, and Co-Founder of one of the largest investment and advisory firms in the world. I worked under Schwarzman’s personal direction, managing his private affairs including scheduling, travel, and philanthropic activities. I also coordinated development campaigns with the staff at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, of which Schwarzman was then Chairman.

As a TEFL volunteer, I taught English with a local counterpart at a village secondary school for girls in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. I designed and created a unique curriculum for teaching critical thinking to secondary students, trained 30 volunteers to implement it, and saw over 500 students participate. "Brain Camp"—twice recognized by Her Majesty, Queen Rania Al-Abdulla, for its contribution to quality education in Jordan—became the basis for Think Unlimited. As a volunteer I participated fully in village life, integrating into an all-Arab and largely Muslim community. I acquired fluency in Arabic and high cultural competency after 285 hours of training.

Haley House is a small, scrappy nonprofit organization that emerged out of the Catholic Worker movement in the 1960s, and is still working tirelessly to alleviate homelessness and provide food with purpose to individuals and communities in need. At Haley House I developed administrative systems for all volunteer activities. I also placed tenants and managed rental property for mixed-income residents and recipients of public subsidies. I managed stock, staff, marketing, and finances for the Haley House Corner Shop, a social enterprise selling baked goods made by formerly incarcerated job trainees. My duties spanned from helping to lead organization’s first strategic planning process to cooking meals in the soup kitchen, and everything in-between.

Activities and Societies: Phillips Brooks House Association, LDSSA