Gellin Hughes 16PH is passionate about building inclusive spaces where teams of diverse practitioners can come together, speak with candor, and thrive in their careers. Currently a management consultant focused on technology strategy with Slalom, Gellin uses skills learned at Rollins and real-world experience to coach cross-functional teams to excellence. Read on to learn more about Gellin's career path and current work.
Alumni Spotlight: Gellin Hughes, MPH
Name: Gellin Hughes
Department & Class Year: Global Epidemiology, 2016
Job Title: Technology Strategy Principal
Employer: Slalom Consulting
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
Current town: Atlanta, GA
Tell us about the path that brought you to your current work/position.
When I started at Rollins, I planned on building a career in HIV prevention research because HIV prevention is less about uncovering new findings in virology (we already know more or less how the virus works) and more about applying cost-effective solutions to big, infrastructural problems that affect lots of people. I became interested in consulting when I realized I was more invested in learning how health organizations work than I was in executing the work itself. That’s more or less what consultants do: We work in teams to quickly understand how organizations function and find cost-effective solutions to infrastructural problems.
What is a typical workday like for you?
I work from home three to four days a week and from Slalom’s office in Atlanta or at my clients’ offices the rest of the time. I’m typically online from 8:30 a.m. until about 5:30 p.m., depending on the day. Early in my career, I would attend one or two meetings a day and spend the rest of the time working independently to prepare various deliverables that ranged from simple analysis presented in slides to custom-coded tools. Now, I spend about six hours a day in meetings with my team or clients and the rest of the time either preparing deliverables or reviewing them for my team.
What types of skills do you think are important to being successful in your work? How did Rollins help to prepare you?
The most important skills in consulting are soft skills: The ability to learn a new organization’s culture very quickly, the ability to incorporate feedback, and the flexibility to adjust to new schedules, requirements, and ways of working every few months. Rollins provided me with hard skills that have helped me tremendously in my career, particularly qualitative analysis, exploratory data analysis, and the ability to code in R, which served as a foundation for learning other coding languages.
On days you feel the most accomplished at work - what did you do that day?
My best days are days when my team feels good about their work. I love many aspects of my job, but my favorite by far is being a coach and mentor to the more junior people on my team.
What advice do you have for those who are interested in working in a similar position as you?
First, think about whether you really want to work in a field that requires you to change up what you do every few months. If you need the predictability of a consistent schedule, team, set of tasks, etc., then consulting probably isn’t for you. If you like having fresh challenges all the time and you don’t mind constantly navigating new teams and schedules, then go for it!
The most important thing you can do to break into consulting is network. Reach out to a few people who currently work in consulting and ask them questions about what they do. Then ask them to connect you to a few more people. The more people you know, the more likely you are to find out about jobs and internships before they show up on LinkedIn.
How has the Covid-19 pandemic and/or invasion of Ukraine impacted your work?
The invasion of Ukraine has not directly impacted my work, but the COVID-19 pandemic radically changed how and where I work. I’m a transgender man, and working from home in the early pandemic gave me the time and space I needed to begin my social and medical transition without worrying about how to dress for the office or which bathroom to use. It also gave me more time to reflect on my needs and values, and ultimately led me to leave one job and begin working for Slalom. On a personal level, the pandemic has been devastating – like most people, I’ve experienced a lot of instability and loss – but in my work life, it’s had silver linings.
Tell us about your passion project(s). Are there ways in which you volunteer your time or apply your public health skills as service to the community?
I have several passion projects centered on queer advocacy and visibility – not directly health related, but I know from my socio-contextual determinants coursework that community and positive visibility absolutely have a positive impact on health!
My most important hobby right now is my membership in the Atlanta Gay Men’s Chorus. I’m a singing member and an elected officer in chorus leadership. The chorus was founded in 1981 to combat negative stereotypes about gay men at the height of the AIDS epidemic and it continues to serve as a source of support and positive visibility for queer and marginalized people.
Want to connect with Gellin? Find them on LinkedIn.