Harriot College Alumni Profile: Sarah Quinn Brickels
ECU “40 Under Forty” Leadership Recipient
Sarah Quinn Brickels, Criminal Justice (BS, ‘15) and Family and Community Services (BS, ‘15) alumna, with a concentration in Family Studies, lives in Wilmington, NC, and is one of ECU’s 2022 “40 Under Forty” Leadership Awardees.
“I am honored as well as excited to be selected as part of the Class of 2022 and look forward to meeting the rest of the class in April,” she said.
Brickels’s #HarriotCollegeMajor is helping her #MakeAMajorDifference as a development director for the Girls Leadership Academy of Wilmington (GLOW), an all-girls public charter school opened in 2016 that educates the ‘whole girl,’ empowering them to claim the highest levels of personal and academic achievement to become future leaders and life-long learners. At GLOW, Brickels works with the CEO to lead GLOW NC and GLOW Academy Board of Directors in creating and implementing annual fundraising plans, donor cultivation, and grant management.
“Developing relationships with the sisterhood at GLOW has been life-changing, especially as we get closer to our first graduating class in 2023,” Brickels said.
As a student, Brickels said Harriot College opened the door to her first job at The Carousel Center—a center that supports healing, promotes justice, and fosters resilience in children victimized by physical or sexual abuse—which she learned about through the child maltreatment course offered by Julie Gill. At that time, Gill also directed TEDI BEAR, the largest children’s advocacy center in North Carolina.
“This opportunity allowed me to marry my coursework in criminal justice, and family and community services, resulting in a career in facilitating child abuse teams in southeastern North Carolina,” Brickels said.
On a lighter side, Brickels shared that one of her personal goals for 2022 is to read one book per week. Although she admits she is currently behind schedule, she still has plenty of time to achieve her goal.