The best things sometimes just happen. You never know what you are meant to do until one day, you feel everything falling into place. Krystine (Krys) Sipple, a nonprofit consultant, thought that her life would look very different than it does today. She lived her life one day at a time and one thing always ended up leading her to another. When she started her career, she envisioned herself as a teacher. But after just following her passions and listening to her heart one day at a time, she ended up becoming a nonprofit consultant.
Currently, as a nonprofit consultant, Krys helps put in a better structure for small to mid-sized nonprofits. She helps them with various aspects of their organization, from finding a building to acquiring funds for their organization. However, this was not what she envisioned her life to look like when she first started creating a career for herself.
Krys went to school to get a teaching degree but ended up having to move after she got married because her husband was in the Navy. She was not able to finish this teaching degree because the college in the location where she moved to did not have a proper teaching degree, so she got a psychology degree instead. She graduated just as her husband left the Navy, and they moved to another location during the middle of the school year. She did not want to finish the school year working as a substitute teacher so she worked at a nonprofit quaker home, started a program for people with Alzheimer’s, and fell in love with it. This led her to realize that she loves starting things (like nonprofits) but she gets bored with maintaining them. She also found out that she loved to fundraise.
Shortly after Krys discovered what she loved, her husband had a major accident which resulted in her having to quit her job to help him. Once he recovered, she took a trip to the UK for another career plan she had. While she was there, she kept getting calls from nonprofit clients and ended up working with them more than working on her career plan and goals. Soon, she realized that she loves to do this and would love to continue doing this so she gave up all her plans and pursued nonprofit consulting.
Amidst this journey, Krys went through something which completely changed her life for many years. She always had atypical migraines and once when she was a part of running a free clinic for people who did not have health insurance, she had a migraine that mimicked a stroke. She suddenly lost control of her left leg and was taken to the hospital. The doctor prescribed her an antiseizure medicine to take daily but this medicine had side effects that prevented her from properly thinking and speaking. It gave her a lot of aphasia where she didn’t know how to formulate her thoughts in words and she dealt with this for a few years. She went to a neurologist to possibly get off the medication. She told the neurologist she couldn’t do her job and think straight. The neurologist just told her to get a new job and that she will never be able to get off the medication. She dealt with this for about 3-4 years before she ended up getting a second opinion from another doctor who told her that she can get off the medication and it will be okay. She got off the medication and she was perfectly okay in a week.
After this incident, Krys became a lot less attached to outcomes and learned to go with the flow. Up until this point, Krys was a very driven and focused person. She would do anything it takes to get a specific outcome and goal. However, she learned that not everything is about the outcome and the result. Everything will fall into place, what is important is patience. After going through this, she learned that she should just be more patient and let things work themselves out.
There is so much to learn from Krys’s journey. Not only is her journey inspiring, but what she has gone through and learned is much more impactful. When speaking to her, I felt a feeling of inspiration and calmness go through me at the same time. At the age that I am at right now, so much uncertainty fills my thoughts. College applications, school, GPA, and so much more. But speaking to Krys reassured me that whatever I do and wherever I go, I will be okay.
Just do your best. Everything else will fall into place.
Akshara Akella 