Cecilia Valenza, Development Lead with Aquatic Life Institute

The adviser said start with corporate. Two years later, she’s in fundraising. He was right.

Cecilia spent years learning how to change minds. First as a journalist and in PR, then from 2017 as part of Mercy for Animals’ corporate relations team in Brazil, spending five years negotiating with companies on cage-free commitments. She was good at it. But after half a decade, she was ready for something new: a more international focus, and a shift towards fundraising, where she thought her skills in communication and relationship-building could go even further.

The search was harder than she expected. Global corporate engagement roles don’t exactly flood the usual job boards, and fundraising positions in animal advocacy organisations often wanted sector-specific experience she hadn’t built yet. She used everything available to her trying to find a way in: the AAC job board, career advising, two mentors, fundraising profiles, a career strengths questionnaire.

One of AAC’s career advisers offered her a reframe: given her expertise in corporate engagement, he suggested she start there rather than jumping straight into fundraising. Build the international experience first, then make the move. It wasn’t what she’d planned, but it was the same advice she kept hearing from mentors and peers. She decided to take it seriously.

The AAC job board was where she first came across the Aquatic Life Institute. She reached out initially about a volunteering role in fundraising. What came back was a full-time position in their corporate engagement department, exactly where her career adviser had suggested she start.

She took it. She spent 2 years as Corporate Engagement, working with food companies on fish welfare policies across international markets. Then in April 2025, she moved into Development & Fundraising at ALI, the role she’d been working towards all along.
Her adviser saw the path before she did. She just had to trust it.

“The resources provided by AAC were invaluable in shaping my applications and interviews. They helped me highlight my transferable skills and craft a compelling narrative, ultimately making me a strong candidate.”