Professional: Bob Mills

Current Occupation: President and Executive Director of Transformed Minds

I interviewed Bob Mills, the President and Executive Director of Transformed Minds,
an agency in Winston-Salem that works on building awareness and helping those with
mental illnesses. The first thing I learned about Mr. Mills in my interview was his job, field,
education, and the nature of his work. Mr. Mills went to Wake Forest University and
majored in History, and then he later came back to Wake Forest after three year to receive
his MBA. For 40 years, he spent his career in fundraising and constituency relations in
many small firms, and the nature of his work involved event planning, writing, and
interpersonal and group communications. Mr. Mills considers himself working in the public
relations field, and his career path involved working at very small non-profit organizations
in Winston-Salem, specifically the Institute for the Blind and Habitat for Humanity, where
he used his writing and group communication skills to spread word about the causes of
these organizations and raised donations. Eventually, he moved up the latter in this field,
and founded his own agency, Transformed Minds, where he is the President of an
organization that supports cures and treatments for those with mental illnesses.
Now that Mr. Mills is the President of his agency, a typical day of week for him is
waking up and being in his office by 8:00 AM, going through numerous meetings with
different clients and companies that are interested in donations, and meeting with his
marketing directors to come up with the best strategies for publicizing new and innovative
ways for mental illness treatments. Mr. Mills told me has no specific job in his current
position as president, but his previous experience in writing, publicizing, and strategy work
allows him to supervise numerous departments in his agency every day, which is why his
day is filled with meetings, and he also likes to step in and help each individual executive
director manage their specific positions. His day usually ends at 5:00PM, where he comes
home and works on a presentation that he must give to clients for about an hour, and then
enjoys the rest of the day with is family.
When I asked Mr. Mills about what made this career meaningful for him, he said it
was knowing that he could use the skills he developed in school and throughout life-
specifically being a good communicator, writer, and team worker- to help spread and aid
the cause of mental illness, which something close to his heart because his sister and aunt
have had life threatening mental illnesses. The fact that he could utilize his skills and
interests to help a cause that is very close to his personal life is what allowed him to
progress throughout his career, keep on working hard, and be in charge of an agency that
promotes his passions. As stated before, Mr. Mills is the President of his agency,
Transformed Minds. However, before this, Mr. Mills used his skills gained from being a
History major at Wake to work in the PR departments of Habitat for Humanity and The
Institute of the Blind. After working at these agencies for a few years, he went back and got
an MBA so he could gain the credentials and skills to start his own agency and manage a PR
firm related to mental illnesses. This was always his goal, but needed the additional
graduate education and experience at these smaller non-profits to help him meet his final
goal.
After this information interview with Mr. Mills, I think the thing I took away from
this experience is that you should always have a good sign on your real passions and
motivations in life, and be willing to work hard and go through the necessary steps to
achieve. He told me that often people have a certain, top level career goal that they box
themselves in to achieve, and because of that they deny the hard work that allows you to
climb up the career ladder. Mr. Mills talked to me about how his small PR jobs at the non-
profits were routine and mundane, but allowed him to sharpen his skills and make the
proper connections in the field, as well as give him the discipline to go back to get an MBA
and manage his own agency. This definitely inspired me to be opened minded, identify my
true passions that make me happy, and develop my skills so I can do that as my career.
Overall, I do not think this specific job intrigues me simply because I have never
been interested or involved in PR related activities or jobs. However, what does intrigue me
is the management level position of Mr. Mills, and his talk about his business and
management experiences has intrigued me to potentially pursue my MBA after some work
experience. I have always been interested in managing a non-profit, or at least a for-profit
philanthropic agency, so I was able to get managing tips from this interview as well as a
perspective of getting an MBA after school. Although managing a constituency focusing on
raising awareness for mental illness has never been a goal of mine, just the pathway to
management and the development of leadership and communication skills that I learned
from this interview has made me interested in the management area of careers.
After interviewing Mr. Mills, I believe that position aligns with what I know about
myself. It aligns with my personality and interests because it involves being outgoing and
working with teams, which I constantly do in my organizations and activities, and being a
leader and managing groups is something I have always believed in. In terms of values and
beliefs, I always strive to help good causes and society, and I am a firm believer in following
your passions and not doing anything just for the money or to sellout. Mr. Mills career
that involved constantly pursuing his passions for PR, helping the mentally ill, and utilizing
his skills of being outgoing, a leader, and a communication all align with what I know about
myself.
Overall, I believe that Mr. Mills was a solid source of information for me because it
provided me a good insight on how to pursue a career path of managing a business,
especially in the non-profit sector. From his personality and the way he passionately talked
about helping people and running his agency, I could sense we he similar interests and
values. Although the specific focus of his agency didnt alight with my interests, the overall
career path and the area of management and helping others were definitely similarities
between Mr. Mills and myself.
After this informational interview experience with Mr. Mills, I want to explore
additional information in pursuing a career in management and the steps to starting my
own agency or business. I have always wanted to pursue a career in non-profit
management and law, but this interview opened up my eyes that starting my own agency
would allow me to better pursue my interests, not have external factors steer me away
from my original purpose, and just have more flexibility in how I pursue my goals. I would
like to learn more information about graduate Business School to get my MBA and how to
further develop my management skills through potential internships.