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Sara Dziuk still has the pencil drawings she used to do of the stapler and tape dispenser in her cubicle at a previous job. Dziuk, now the CEO of Junior Achievement North, says she keeps those drawings as a reminder of her “aha moment” of realizing she needed a job that would “fill her cup,” she says in the latest episode of the Off the Record podcast.

“The environment just wasn’t the right fit for me,” she says. “I learned a lot, very quickly, about what I need to thrive in an organization and what is important to me.”

Instead, Dziuk realized later how comfortable she truly felt in the nonprofit world. “Where I feel really, truly passionate about the work I’m doing, that’s where I need to be,” Dziuk says.

Listen to the episode to learn how that passion led her to work with Junior Achievement North. Dziuk chats with Kathy Robideau, market president and publisher of the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal, and Dave Faust, president and CEO of Platinum Bank, about her career journey. Learn more about:
•Dziuk’s one regret from her college experience. (9:08)
•Leadership takeaways from an early career role with the Greater Mankato Chamber of Commerce. (13:30)
•What Dziuk learned about being competitive in the first five or 10 years of her career. (17:10)
•Leading Junior Achievement’s capstone programs, including JA BizTown. (28:51)
•College Possible’s mission and impact in the Twin Cities. (33:22)
•What it was like to join Junior Achievement North as the CEO during the Covid-19 pandemic. (37:06)
•Reimagining the high school experience for students with the new 3DE model. (43:16)

Leaders like Dziuk understand the value of moving quickly and acting creatively, just like Platinum Bank. Learn more about business banking with a different kind of bank.