VACorps Alumni Interview: Sophia Caputo ('19)

VACorps | September 2025

Describe some of your greatest and most memorable professional achievements

• Raising our first $3,000 for Sharing Hope Africa – it was the middle of the pandemic, the water tank in the village was broken and people didn’t have access to clean water.

• For three years, I’ve helped organize and produce an event to give young professionals a chance to practice innovation, business development, and human-centered design. Last year, I led our planning team of 14 to successfully equip 300+ young professionals with practical skills to start practicing innovation and HCD. It was a helluva year leading the team last year, but I learned and grew so much.

Can you share an example of how your internship experience aided your career growth?

Sitting in the office with our coders in Century City, my boss (the COO) and I walked through our digital application to understand how our startup founders who would use it felt. It was the second job I had that pushed me to consider the customer and their experience first, last, and always. Through my internship in Cape Town, I realized I wanted to go into design and project management – AND, because we were working with such innovative and imaginative entrepreneurs from across the continent, it inspired me to start imagining – tangibly – how we can build better solutions. Because VAC placed me at StartupBootcamp AfriTech, I got meaningful experience coaching and working with early stage startups. That has opened so many doors and started so many conversations that led me to where I am today.

What’s the single most important piece of advice you’d like to give to future VACorps interns and/or those considering participation in the program?

Any predictions for what we can expect from you in 2030?

Great question… in ten years? I think it’d be nice to be a certified scuba instructor (thanks Sean and Jon for that bug!) and chef, and published author. I’d also like to spend more time and energy as a community builder and organizer. I think in ten years, I want to be more comfortable with talking to people, like I was before the pandemic – and able to make a pasta dish from scratch in 30 minutes.

But really, in ten years, I hope to have helped hundreds of people – from my friends and family, maybe some fellow VAC alum, and even people I haven’t met yet – discover their own creative and unique ways to show up for their community, uplifting others in the process.

And if you happen to be interested in the work Sharing Hope Africa is doing to break cycles of poverty and dependency so locally run organizations this side can truly thrive, send me a note ([email protected]) or give us a follow (@SharingHopeAfrica)!