Pathways to Purpose: Raphael Rosenblatt

Early Years: A College Town with Big Influence

Where did you grow up? What was your family’s approach to education?

His educational journey began at a private Jewish day school before transitioning to public school in sixth grade. In high school, Raphael joined a competitive International Baccalaureate (IB) magnet program. It was academically rigorous but fully set apart from the rest of the school. “The IB kids were all tracked together. The rest of the student body barely interacted with us,” he recalls. “The resources clearly went toward the students that were seen as ‘lifting’ the school’s test scores.”

While the inequity of this approach only became clear in hindsight, the caliber of the education left a deep impact. “I benefited tremendously from the rigor and quality of the IB program,” he says. And at home, the expectation around education was equally strong. “My parents were both the first in their families to go to college, and for them, that was a mark of progress. It was never a question of whether I was going to college—only where.”

College Years: The Power of Access

What influenced your decision in choosing a college and major?

Raphael had planned to study engineering—but when Brandeis University offered him a full-ride scholarship, he took the opportunity. “It was a lot of money to say no to,” he says. Though Brandeis didn’t offer engineering, it opened doors in other ways. “Because college was covered, I had the freedom to take a much wider range of classes.”

He ended up double majoring in economics and politics, with a minor in French. “Economics combined my love for math with political and international elements. I found it really exciting.” During college, Raphael interned for the U.S. State Department at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in Vienna, Austria—an experience that fueled his interest in global policy.

It wasn’t until senior year, however, that he began seriously considering education. He was recruited by Teach For America, a pivot he hadn’t expected. At the same time, he took a class taught by former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich called Wealth and Poverty. “It unpacked how systems like health care, childcare, housing, and education contribute to income inequality in America. It completely reshaped how I thought about the world.”

By the time he was accepted into Teach For America, he was all in. “The idea that education is a critical lever for addressing inequality—that really stuck.”

In the Classroom: Lessons in Systems

What was your experience teaching like?

Raphael spent three years teaching high school math at a large public school in the Bronx. “The school had over 4,000 students—it was as big as my college,” he says. While the size came with challenges, it also created unexpected advantages. “Because the school wasn’t broken up into smaller ones, it could aggregate enough top-performing students to offer AP Calculus BC. Those students might not have had access to rigorous coursework elsewhere.”

The experience highlighted for Raphael how much systems and structures shape opportunity. “It was a reminder of the randomness of access—just being in a big enough school gave those students a trajectory they might not have had otherwise.”

Though he loved working with students, Raphael quickly realized teaching wasn’t where he wanted to spend his whole career. “I didn’t love a lot of the administrative aspects of the job,” he says. The timing felt right to make a change.

Grad School and a Pivot to Policy

What drove your decision to pursue graduate studies?

Raphael enrolled at the Harvard Kennedy School, earning a Master’s in Public Policy with a focus on education. “It was exactly where I wanted to go,” he says. “It was a privilege to learn alongside some of the most thoughtful and insightful peers I’ve ever worked with.”

There, he leaned into research and methods, taking advanced courses in econometrics and statistics. His goal was to use data and evidence to drive education policy.

During graduate school, he joined the Education Pioneers fellowship, which placed him at Year Up—a nonprofit that trains low-income young adults for careers in the corporate sector. “It was completely different from how I thought we should be addressing inequality. I was a ‘college is the only way’ kind of person,” he says.

But the experience changed his mind. “Year Up worked. The impact on students was real. I fell in love with the organization.” He spent the summer analyzing their admissions data, which became the basis of his graduate thesis. After graduation, he was offered a full-time role—and stayed for over a decade.

Innovation and Influence: From Year Up to ESG

How did your experience at Year Up shape your current work?

At Year Up, Raphael held a series of leadership roles, each one newly created. “Every job I had didn’t exist before I stepped into it,” he says. He helped lead research and evaluation efforts, scaled operations nationally, and designed custom talent solutions for Fortune 500 employers.

He also helped scale Grads of Life, a skills-first consulting firm that connects employers to alternative talent pipelines. “I spent years building solutions for the tech, skilled trades, transportation, and logistics sectors. It was all about building systems that actually work for employers and create opportunity for talent.”

Why ESG? Why Now?

What drew you to ESG and what do you hope to achieve?

With deep experience in employer partnerships and workforce design, Raphael was a natural fit for ESG’s talent strategy team. “When I got to ESG, I had already learned a lot about what works—and what doesn’t—when building talent strategies,” he says. “Now I can bring that experience here and not have to recreate the wheel.”

What excites him most is the shift happening across the ecosystem. “There’s much more openness to collaboration than ever before. For a long time, colleges trained and employers hired—and neither wanted to get too involved in each other’s work. But now there’s a clearer recognition that the system isn’t working. There’s value in bringing those pieces closer together.”

He sees ESG’s role as a translator and connector—helping stakeholders co-design talent pathways that make sense for learners and employers alike. “We don’t just put ideas out there. We partner to help execute them.”

Raphael’s Advice for Students and Professionals

“Just because a path seems predetermined doesn’t mean it’s the only way. Explore.”

“Pay attention to the systems around you—they often shape opportunity more than individual effort.”

“Don’t underestimate the value of learning by doing. That’s where the real insight lives.”