{"id":1337,"date":"2026-05-07T14:19:32","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T19:19:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/after-macalester\/?page_id=1337"},"modified":"2026-05-08T14:01:34","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T19:01:34","slug":"tony-armstrong-13","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/after-macalester\/alumni-pathways\/tony-armstrong-13\/","title":{"rendered":"Tony Armstrong \u201913"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Students should not stress about how the content they are learning in the classroom applies to what they are going to do after Mac; it\u2019s more the skills they develop that matter.<\/blockquote>\n Tony Armstrong \u201913<\/cite>\n \"\"\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

English Major<\/strong>
\nHead of Content, Banking, NerdWallet<\/i>
\nWriting \u2022 Finance \u2022 Research \u2022 Internships<\/p><\/span>\n\n\n\n

When I graduated, I knew I wanted to write in some capacity. A fellow English major was interning at NerdWallet (a company that aims to provide folks with confidence to make financial decisions) and let me know that they were hiring writers. I didn\u2019t know anything about personal finance or about the kind of writing we do now\u2014general-audience articles explaining complex issues around banking, investing, and mortgages. But there is so much overlap between my English classes and this work. In Mac classes with only fifteen students, you have to form opinions and defend them with evidence and conviction, stand by them or be willing to adapt and change your mind. That\u2019s exactly what I do on a daily basis here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I did an internship at Milkweed Editions the summer before my senior year, which confirmed that I wanted to work with words professionally. It also helped me realize that publishing wasn\u2019t for me: I wanted to be more directly involved in the writing and editing process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently, I lead the consumer banking arm of NerdWallet. As the company has grown from 60 to 700 people, it\u2019s been a requirement to be constantly learning. When I started, I had to have the humility to recognize that there was a ton of stuff I didn\u2019t know and couldn\u2019t fake. I bought Personal Finance for Dummies<\/em>, started having informational interviews to bounce my newly acquired knowledge off people to make sure it was on track, and did the same kinds of research I\u2019d always done as a writer in English classrooms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had great, hard professors in college who helped me become comfortable existing in the space of not quite hitting the mark, with taking feedback and really learning from it. I still have that growth mindset, now that I\u2019m supervising a team of writers and editors, assessing banking products, and setting strategy. And I find myself looking for that in new employees, that curiosity that makes you willing to ask questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last updated: October 2025<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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