Tim Callahan '07

back to profiles page

Callahan-Timothy.jpg

Name: Tim Callahan
Job: Chief Operations Officer at re:char
Current City: Nairobi, Kenya
School: Princeton - Class of 2007
Major: Sociology
Social Media:


After Princeton

I graduated from Princeton in 2007 and studied sociology. My first job after Princeton was a teaching and coaching post at a boarding high school in western Connecticut. I taught algebra and coached soccer and squash. It was an exhausting but very fun and rewarding job.

The following year, I took a post with the International Rescue Committee through Princeton in Africa in western Tanzania. The operation there was providing services for several Burundian refugee camps. After finishing my fellowship with IRC, I briefly interned for a microfinance institution in the Dominican Republic before temporarily returning to the boarding school where I started my career.

While there, I was looking for ways to get back to East Africa or Latin America to work in a business situation. I kept in touch with a classmate of mine from Princeton, Jason Aramburu, who founded the company re:char. I spent a summer working alongside him, looking at future opportunities for the company. We decided that opening an operation in Kenya and having me oversee it was a great opportunity. At re:char, we produce hardy kilns that convert biological waste into charcoal. That charcoal can then either be burned as fuel or added to agricultural soils to improve yields and sequester carbon.

Advice

I have been lucky to find opportunities that meet my interests. The best advice I can offer soon-to-be-graduates and anyone else is to reflect on what you enjoy and then brainstorm jobs that fit those interests. Once you find a number of jobs that you think could fit you, reach out to alumni or other connections to learn more. The most helpful tools for me in finding jobs and interesting opportunities have been the Princeton in Africa fellowship and keeping in touch with classmates.


Contact:


Previous profile: Tim Callahan '07

Next profile: Tobias Rodriguez '11

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License