Growing up in a family of bookworms in Iowa, Jennifer Majorana was destined either to teach college or to work for a think tank. She ended up doing both.

“I didn’t really encounter much free-market philosophy until I was getting my Ph.D. and looking for some responses to what I was confronting at the university level,” Jennifer says. That search sent her on a path toward working at the Mackinac Center, which combines her academic interests and worldview.

Jennifer grew up in a suburb of Des Moines and got degrees in linguistics and music from the University of Iowa.

“I wanted to be an English major, but I really loved books and didn’t want to read them on someone else’s timeline,” she says.

Jennifer left Iowa for Michigan to get a master’s degree at Michigan State University and a doctorate at Central Michigan University. MSU gave her the chance to get experience as a paid teaching assistant.

“I had a really great college experience and taught English as a second language for two years at Michigan State and for three years at Saginaw Valley State University,” she says. Along the way, she met her husband, who got a job as an attorney in the office of the Saginaw County prosecutor, and they moved to Midland. While earning her doctorate, Jennifer worked for a nonprofit, teaching adult literacy and English as a second language. She figured she’d look for an academic job after finishing her degree.

That’s when she ran into the Mackinac Center. Almost literally.

“I was walking in downtown Midland and saw this beautiful limestone building and thought, ‘What is that?’” she says. “My husband had heard a little about it and been to a few events. I looked up the Mackinac Center’s website and read a bunch of the publications.”

“I thought: These are people like me! I’m not alone!” she says with a laugh.

Jennifer reached out, asking about potential positions. She ended up getting an opportunity to write about an issue she knew about in education policy. This led to a job in the fundraising department, writing grants while also getting the chance to write on different policy issues she cares about.

“My main job is communicating the Mackinac Center’s impact to our supporters,” she says. “I get to do some policy writing as well, especially on higher education. I love it here.”

Jennifer lives in Midland with her husband Aaron, a Michigan native. They enjoy bike riding together.