Tiffany Davis remembers dressing up as a development officer—a navy blazer and khaki pants—for Career Day in middle school. Davis’ father has had a long career in higher education development. Her her mother became a development director at an independent school when she went back to the workplace after raising her children.
“I always say that I came out of the womb giving to my university,” Davis said laughing. “I never made the big bucks, I am in social work! But I have drilled in me the practice of giving, of being a loyal and consistent donor. I give to the Steve Hicks School of Social Work monthly, because in essence it means that you give more over the years that way.”
Davis graduated in 1995 and had a fulfilling career in Nashville in community mental health. In 2007, she felt that she needed a change and jumped at the opportunity to open her own private practice. Twenty-fiver years after graduating, she finds much satisfaction in having stayed true to social work.
“Last year I exchanged Christmas cards with a classmate, and we both shared how happy we were to be in this field,” Davis said. “It’s a meaningful and valuable profession, and it was very heart-warming to share that with a classmate after all these years.”