Charity Fort ’12
Lawyer
Mayer Brown LLP
Wheaton Major in Business/Economics
Currently lives in Chicago, IL
"My liberal arts education at Wheaton helped to lay the groundwork for understanding my clients, the work they do, and the way that work influences the world around us."
A Dean’s List student while at Wheaton College, Charity Fort ’12 carried her liberal arts education to Harvard Law School and now to her current role as an attorney at the global law firm, Mayer Brown LLP.
Fort, a Financial Services Regulatory & Enforcement associate at the downtown Chicago firm, works on financing the purchases of franchises, facilitates the purchase and sale of various assets, and explores the world of financial technology.
“Understanding both the business world and the sociological effects of various regulations and industry practices requires an integrated perspective,” Fort says. “My liberal arts education at Wheaton helped to lay the groundwork for understanding my clients, the work they do, and the way that work influences the world around us.”
Her Wheaton liberal arts education plays out in her personal life as well.
“A good liberal arts education leaves graduates curious about the world around us and dedicated to discovering how we can continue growing long after we receive our degree,” Fort says. “For me, that looks like reading books and articles about everything from marketing to psychology to the theology of work; it means actively engaging with people who disagree with me; and it means caring about those I pass on the street.”
Fort says that working through the challenges of being a student of color on campus helped her to learn how to love those students who have very different experiences and views from her own.
“While at Wheaton, my calling was to learn what it looked like to love others on campus, as it is now my calling to love my coworkers every day—often 12-to-15 hours a day,” she says.