Alexa Mahoney, '21, was active as a student at NIU, participating in Color Guard and the Huskie
Marching Band. She is now a human resources professional in Iowa. (Photo from Alexa Mahoney)

Alexa Mahoney, ’21, was an active student at NIU, participating in the Color Guard and Huskie Marching Band while earning a bachelor's degree in English with plans to go to law school. However, an inspiring internship led her to her current occupation, and Mahoney is now the human resources and safety coordinator at Tri-City Electric Co. in Davenport, Iowa. 

“My role in human resources is to help both the employees and the company succeed,” she said. “On the employee side, I recruit candidates and help onboard new hires, enter and maintain employee records, help resolve employee issues and assist with anything an employee may need to help perform their job at the highest level. From a company standpoint, I help with compliance records, making sure we are following state and federal laws.”
 

Born in Crystal Lake, Illinois, Mahoney moved with her family at the age of two to the town of Colona, Illinois, near the Quad Cities, where she lives today. Her mom works in human resources, which inspired her to pursue her career, and her dad was in retail, selling men’s suits. She also helped run her family's Mexican restaurant until her grandfather retired and closed the business in 2014.

"Seeing how much my mom has enjoyed the field of human resources over her career and getting the opportunity to experience it myself made me choose to follow this path for right now, although I have not pushed the idea of going to law school out of the picture; it’s just not my current path," she said. "If I do not go back to law school, I would like to get my master's degree in human resources someday."
 

Mahoney attended Black Hawk College in Moline, Illinois, a community college, before transferring to NIU. She had two family friends who graduated from the NIU School of Law, introducing her to the university for the first time and inspiring her initial desire to study law. She decided to visit the campus and fell in love with NIU.
 

“I didn't have mapped out what my years of undergrad were going to look like, but I knew I was interested in law,” she said “I wanted to attend undergrad at a university I could potentially foresee myself staying at for graduate school. My first college visit was at NIU, and I immediately knew that was the campus I was going to call home.”
 

Mahoney had a pair of Department of English professors who she said impacted her experience at NIU: Joe Bonomo and Tim Ryan.

“They not only taught me a lot in their respective areas of studies, but they both encouraged and supported me while navigating my education, elevating my potential to achieve my goals at a higher level," she said. "They both made me feel confident in my work and helped me believe that I am capable of great things beyond my education.”
 

It was during her last year at NIU, which was all online due to COVID, when she completed an internship in human resources back home and solidified her post-graduation career plans.

"It was that internship that made me want to pursue a career in human resources right after graduating undergrad instead of pursuing law school," she said. "I am now certified in HR and credit my experience at NIU to helping me find my career path. Getting the hands on experience in an office setting and working besides a human resources professional provided me with a better idea of what my career path could look like in the future. It made me realize that human resources dives into employment law, which is one sector of law that I was interested in pursuing."

Mahoney participated in cheerleading and the dance team and was in the color guard for the school’s marching band while in high school, and once she got to NIU, she continued her passion for athletics and music, joining the Color Guard and the Huskie Marching Band.

“Being a part of these groups provided me with instant connections that allowed me to adapt and feel comfortable on campus rather quickly,” she said. “I thoroughly enjoyed being involved in active student life and I was able to find close connections to my fellow peers within my major. Some of my best friends to this day are people I met at NIU!”