Beth Colombo is a St. Louis native and grew up in the city. She attended Rockhurst University for undergrad majoring in nonprofit leadership.
In 2012, she moved to Boston and joined a program called the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. This program was a one-year volunteer commitment, working at a domestic violence shelter. During this year, she lived with five other young adults who were also part of the volunteer program.
After the volunteer year had ended, Colombo knew her time in Boston was not complete and continued to live in Boston for the next six years. During this time, she completed her masters degree in social work, worked in in-home therapy and directed a 1,000 person volunteer program managing volunteers within 30 of the family homeless shelters in Boston.
One of her favorite parts of living in Boston was the wonderful group of friends she made. They loved going on weekend trips to Cape Cod, New York City and Maine together. Colombo remains close to her Boston friends, and although now they all live in different parts of the country, they still make time to see each other at least once per year.
At the end of 2019, she moved back to St. Louis to be closer to her family. Colombo has a niece and nephew who she adores and loves spending time with. She is also a big Taylor Swift fan and a huge highlight of her summer last year was going to the Eras Tour in California. She has a dog named Dakota, who is an unofficial employee of WUSTL as she attends all of Colombo’s virtual meetings. In her free time, she loves to go on walks with Dakota, embroider, bake and spend time with her family.
Colombo started working at WashU in the spring of 2021 as a grant assistant. She has really enjoyed getting to learn all about grant submissions and grant management. Her favorite part about working at WashU is the collaboration and everyone’s willingness to help one another out.