A year after graduating, UNE alum finds her way back, and forward, through sustainability fellowship

Kate Lindmark B.S. ’23 (Sustainability and Business) graduated from the University of New England without a plan. A year later, she found one: the UNE Summer Sustainability Fellowship. The fellowship and the UNE mentors who work in the program reignited Lindmark’s passion for a career working in sustainability — and helped her find her way to a sustainability-focused, full-time job after she left UNE.

When Lindmark graduated three years ago from UNE, she faced a tough job market following the COVID-19 pandemic and didn't have her next step figured out. So, she worked in food service while looking for a more long-term job in southern Maine, where she wanted to stay.

Then a year after graduation, a professor at UNE she didn’t even know reached out and encouraged her to apply for the first cohort of UNE’s Summer Sustainability Fellowship program, which was created by Cameron Wake, Ph.D., director of UNE North, the University’s Center for North Atlantic Studies. 

The tip paid off. 

In the summer of 2024, Lindmark went to work as a sustainable events fellow at The Nonantum Resort in Kennebunkport.

"The fellowship really helped ignite that spark back in me again," Lindmark said. "Previously I was like, 'Well, I guess I'm just going to be working in food service and just looking for a job that pays.'"

It was UNE Assistant Teaching Professor Jeremy Pare, LPD, M.S., director of the Sustainability in Business Program in the College of Business and a mentor in the fellowship program, who learned from another UNE graduate that Lindmark had previously worked at the Nonantum as an intern and that she was looking for full-time work in sustainable operations. Pare also happened to know that the Nonantum was interested in renewing its Leader status with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.

“I obviously had the perfect person, and we quickly made the match,” Pare said.

That summer, Lindmark helped the resort staff find new ways to make the resort eco-friendlier. She surveyed guests about their awareness of the resort's environmental practices, worked with the marketing team to make those efforts more visible, and helped push composting from the kitchen out to the resort's outdoor wedding events. 

The sustainability consulting really helped me to gain more knowledge in that industry and it also really helped me align my values because after school while I struggled to find a position in something that I really enjoyed I was kind of losing my passion and my momentum in the sustainability industry in general." — Kate Lindmark '23 (Sustainability and Business) 

When a manager mentioned old staff uniforms were headed for the trash, Lindmark found an organization that repurposes or recycles used clothing and set up a way to divert them instead.

At the end of the summer, Lindmark planned UNE’s first Sustainability Fellowship’s Showcase event at the resort.

"The most proud moment I had was when staff would come up to me and talk to me about things they were noticing and ask about new (sustainable) initiatives that maybe we could do at the resort," she said.

After the fellowship ended, Lindmark continued working as a part-time sustainability consultant at the resort, connecting sustainability staff from other Maine inns to trade ideas on greener hospitality practices.

“The sustainability consulting really helped me to gain more knowledge in that industry and it also really helped me align my values because after school while I struggled to find a position in something that I really enjoyed, I was kind of losing my passion and my momentum in the sustainability industry in general,” Lindmark said. “But the fellowship really helped regain and ignite that fire back in me again.”

Still Lindmark’s career journey didn’t follow a straight line. While she consulted part time, she had to pair that work with a stint managing a cafe in Old Orchard Beach and a temporary receptionist job at an oil company to pay her rent.

Back at UNE, Pare kept checking in with her long after the summer ended. And Lindmark appreciated the continued support — and capitalized on it.

A year later, Lindmark landed the job at Sappi North America in Portland as an inside sales representative managing customer accounts for a paper company that prioritizes sustainable practices and utilizes sustainable resources.

“Kate is a great example of how important it is to stay resilient in the face of a tough job market, but also how the continued support from UNE helps,” Pare said. “As a mentor, I am so proud of Kate’s work and the tremendous effort she has put in to find her path.”

For Lindmark — who moved to Maine from Massachusetts and stayed for the hiking, beaches, and the community she found through UNE — that year of uncertainty and job searching was difficult, but, in the end, it led her right where she needed to be.

"A lot of Maine, I feel, is just who you know," Lindmark said. "Building those relationships was so crucial, and I just really couldn't have asked for a better path. I couldn't have asked for a better opportunity than what I was given.”