YPN5Q is a weekly Q&A series spotlighting the state’s top young business and civic leaders and creative minds — professionals propelling change through entrepreneurship, the arts, public service, social media, and community involvement.
This week we hear from Rinal Ray, board chair of Young Nonprofit Professionals Network – Twin Cities (YNPN-TC).
A staff attorney with the Minnesota Justice Foundation at William Mitchell College of Law, Ray also works in pro bono development at the Minnesota State Bar Association.
Previously, Ray worked as a Project Coordinator at the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, focusing her efforts on the Nonprofit Legal Handbook and the Charitable Tax Exemption Campaign.
Ray has served on the board of the Network of Indian Professionals – Twin Cities (NetIP-TC), volunteered with the Street Law program and Hennepin County’s Office of Multicultural Services, and completed an AmeriCorps term of service with Admission Possible.
Name: Rinal Ray
Age: 30 (ahh!)
Residence: Minneapolis
Current job title: Staff Attorney
Current employer: Minnesota Justice Foundation
1. What skills do you believe are important to succeed as a young professional today?
Having a sense of self, an awareness of your strengths and limitations.
Patience and initiative, willingness to take a few extra steps to get to where you want to go if necessary.
Openness to different ideas and ways of doing things.
Building strong personal and professional networks.
2. Outside of your job, how do you grow professionally?
I take advantage of all of the free learning, training and do-ing opportunities I can, from CLE (Continuing Legal Education) programs and pro bono cases to facilitation trainings and community facilitation, to learning from people who have been in my shoes.
The largest piece of my professional growth has been serving on the board of YNPN-Twin Cities. Being a part of YNPN has given me a platform to explore leadership, challenge myself, grow and be a part of community that is going where I want to go!
3. What is your greatest extravagance?
My two pairs of Uggs.
4. What is always on your to-do list that never gets done?
Catching up on emails. Never happens.
5. What’s your favorite thing to do around the Twin Cities?
I love urban winter walks, running the lakes, biking the trails, Moksha hot yoga, the feeling of community at the Uptown YWCA, eating delicious food, accessing art and music … There’s really so much I love to do around the cities, I could never pick one thing.
To nominate a young professional for “YPN5Q,” email ypn@minnpost.com with the nominee’s full name, employer or contact info, and one or two brief sentences supporting your nomination.
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