All her life, Mallory Sandoval was told she should go into teaching or nursing. 

“I have really good people skills,” Sandoval said. “For the longest time, I thought, ‘I want to be in the hospital. That’s where I want to work.’” 

She started her journey to a healthcare career her junior year of high school with a job in food services at UnityPoint Methodist Hospital. She obtained her certified nursing assistant certificate through Talent Collective DSM, a career readiness nonprofit program operating in Des Moines Public Schools. 

The program ended up revealing to Sandoval that a career in healthcare might not be the future that was actually meant for her. It instead took her down an unexpected path: welding.

“I had been telling my career coach since I joined the program, ‘I want to go into nursing, but welding is something that I’m really interested in,’” she said. “When I decided nursing was no longer something I wanted to do, I was like, ‘OK, let’s see where welding goes.’” 

Sandoval became a living example of Talent Collective DSM’s tagline: “Talent isn’t rare. Opportunity is.” 

Her experience in the program allowed her to uncover avenues she had no idea existed and allowed her to pursue opportunities that may have once seemed out of reach for a young woman. 

“This program played a really big part in me finding welding, because a lot of what was holding me back from going into welding in the first place was the confidence,” Sandoval said. 

Finding a path

The Talent Collective DSM program is open to juniors and seniors at Roosevelt, Lincoln, Hoover, North and East high schools. Each year, 25 students who are Pell grant eligible join the program to explore one of five career paths — skilled trades, automotive, IT, healthcare and business.

Getting involved in the program begins with an interview. 

“It includes talking to them about, ‘What’s your story? Where are you from? Why do you want to do this?’” said Noelle Nelson, Talent Collective DSM president. “We’ve gotten pretty good at finding those kids who are really gritty and motivated and open to receiving the support that we’re offering.” 

That support comes in the form of career exploration, soft-skill building and a career coach. Sandoval said her career coach persuaded her to give welding a try. 

“She said, ‘What’s the worst that’s going to happen? They tell you no? Fine, they tell you no,’” Sandoval said. “Without Talent Collective being there, I probably would not still be here.” 

Sandoval was able to pivot to welding classes. The opportunity to get hands-on experience meant she could discover a talent she may never have discovered without the program. She was the only girl in her class, but one of her teachers was a woman. 

“You don’t see a lot of women welders and you don’t really know that they’re out here doing it,” Sandoval said. “It was kind of like, OK, well I don’t want to be the person that comes and shakes everything up.”

Sandoval quickly gained the confidence she needed to feel like she belonged, and even joked she “ran the classroom.” Her teachers persuaded her to take part in the women’s division of a welding competition at the Local 33 Union. Talent Collective DSM’s connections with local unions and businesses helped her connect with other female welders, allowing her to see a future for herself she would not have been able to imagine before. 

“It was so cool,” she said. “I was like, ‘If this gets to be my peers and I get to turn out anything like these women, I’m going to be so cool.’” 

Sandoval credits Talent Collective DSM for allowing her to determine what she didn’t want for her future. She was able to take CNA classes at Central Academy for free. Had she not had that opportunity, she would have spent her money and time pursuing that path that wouldn’t feel as fulfilling as welding. 

She graduated from Lincoln High School in May and will continue working with Talent Collective DSM for three years as she enters the workforce. Next fall, she’ll begin working at Vermeer, a connection she made through the program. Talent Collective DSM provides students like Sandoval with a budget to purchase any materials they need to get started. They’ll even help her raise money to buy a new car so she’s able to get herself to work. 

She hopes to eventually work with one of the trade unions. The prospect of good benefits while doing something she loves has her excited for her future. 

“When I started my welding class, I absolutely loved it. I had so much fun,” Sandoval said. “I thought, ‘I think all I want to do is just sit in a booth and weld.’ I don’t think any of the women in my family are in the trades. But I went from serving people in nursing to serving people in a different way.”

Knocking down barriers

Nelson calls the help Talent Collective DSM offers “intrusive support.”

“We kind of get in their business, and the point of that is to identify barriers that might prevent them from achieving their goals,” Nelson said. 

Nelson said those barriers are almost always financial. Students receive financial support to navigate costs needed to become successful employees. 

“It might be: Scrubs for my first position cost $100, or the certification exam I have to take to become a CMA is $150, or I have a flat tire and can’t get to campus,” Nelson said. “Having resources so that we can actually fix that problem in a really quick timeline is a game changer for a lot of our kids.” 

Talent Collective DSM’s investment helps students like Sandoval find career paths they may not have found in the first place. Nelson said in-depth career exploration leads to connecting students with opportunities they likely didn’t know existed. 

“It’s our job to put people in front of them that both look like them and are representatives of different populations,” Nelson said. “Here’s somebody that kind of demystifies the idea that kids often think that some populations have an easy route to whatever goal they want to achieve. Every single person, no matter where you come from, has likely encountered barriers. So we just talk openly about that.”

The students are not the only beneficiaries of the Talent Collective DSM program. The program partners with local employers to get kids exposure to different career options. Students learn with these businesses and ideally go on to work for them.

“Once the kids complete our program, that’s when we help them secure a full-time job, hopefully through one of our partners, and then they’re getting a really great entry-level employee and we’re helping kids earn a livable wage with benefits,” Nelson said. “It’s like everybody wins.” 

The opportunities provided by the program are building futures for students like Sandoval.

“Without having these resume-building skills, these interview skills, anything like that, I don’t really think I would have had any sense of direction,” Sandoval said. “Once I got into Talent Collective, it just kind of whipped me into shape. The things they teach us, they’re so much more beyond our careers. It’s helped me so much in life.”