Amber Estelle

Clinical Director, YWCA of Western Massachusetts: Age 32

Amber Estelle

Every year, BusinessWest lets readers know who is that year’s highest-scoring 40 Under Forty honoree, in the eyes of the five judges. And no one earns that honor by doing easy work.

That’s especially true for Amber Estelle.

As part of the leadership team at the YWCA of Western Massachusetts, her roles range from handling staff trainings on sexual-assault cases to supporting staff dealing with children who witnessed violence to supervising the sexual-assault and domestic-violence hotline. “The calls can be intense and triggering,” she said of the latter.

Again, not easy work. And not everyone comes out on the other side into a better situation, and no one at the YWCA has a hero complex, thinking they can save everyone.

“But the people who successfully leave the program, they’re always a reminder why I love doing what I do, even if it’s just that one person,” Estelle said. “We’re seed planters. We’re not always meant to make someone grow or blossom. But if they just leave here as a survivor … that one story goes a long way.”

At age 27, Estelle was appointed to oversee two four-year grants from the U.S. Department of Justice, one for adults and another for youths, to support survivors of human trafficking. She’s also a public speaker at conferences, colleges, jails, and nonprofits about domestic violence, human trafficking, and sexual assault. A member of her church’s Sing Praise Team, she is also a frequent facilitator at church conferences, speaking about mental health. In her spare time, she also plays volleyball competitively..

She’s also an adjunct professor in Connecticut’s community-college system, teaching human-services courses for men in medium- and maximum-security prisons.

“A lot of people make wrong decisions. But being in prison does not make you a bad person. You just did something wrong. It doesn’t make any of us who are not in prison any more perfect,” Estelle said. “For them, the whole point is to rehabilitate, to be able to take something and learn something while they’re there so they can incorporate it into the rest of their lives when they leave.”

Many inmates are discouraged about their job prospects, she added, but social work is a career where many find that second chance.

“This field is very welcoming of people with lived experiences. You can use what you’ve been through as a tool to help people and encourage others to make different decisions so they don’t follow that path.”

—Joseph Bednar