As Northeastern students, Rebecca Velez Frey, BHS’98, and Melanie Smith, BHS’75, each followed a traditional educational path, but their careers reflect a flexibility and openness to innovative new ways of impacting their communities and profession. Rebecca’s discussed her breadth of experience in Big Pharma and small startups, and what she’s learned along the way about social innovation and the power of mentoring the next generation. Melanie shared her insights from a long career in consumer product innovation and how that empowered her pivot to a new post-retirement role in community organizing and activism.