Honing Your Skills

This article is part of our Legends Interview Program. An Alumni Association initiative to record the experiences of alumni and share with our community. This interview took place on April 4th, 2022. Schedule an interview or submit your own story to us by emailing us at info@foreveraneasttechtitan.com.

Hi Titan! Are you starting your career or want to constantly challenge yourself? Here are a couple of tips that I want to share as we are part of a community where we want to see every Titan succeed in whatever field you’re in. 

A little bit about me, I’m currently based in Arizona and have a degree in Business Communications from Arizona State University (ASU). I originally had a career goal of working for Disney but found my passion in helping start-up businesses grow. I chose business communications as my major due to the amount of PBL projects we did, and I wanted to improve my communication skills. 

Let’s get started! 

 

Start Somewhere

If you’re just starting in college, your years in college are the perfect time to do something but be sure to do something that will expand your learning. An example is my focus in business communications. I built a social media page as an events promoter and was able to grow my following to over 10K followers. From building my social media page, I decided to become a start-up consultant. As of today, I have worked with over 23 different start-ups with different specific needs ranging from Marketing to Operations. 

Network

Put yourself out there and talk to people in your industry, or do a ton of networking. Arizona State University has an incubator for start-up companies (they have dedicated Innovation and Start-Up offices), so it was the perfect environment for me to talk to various mentors and founders.

Put 100% Effort

I remember Mr.Silva, my marketing program teacher, taught me to always put my full knowledge and effort into everything I did. I know some of us have “wing-it” mindsets for a couple of projects, but in the real world, 100% effort will pay off in dividends to your personal and professional growth.

At East Tech, I learned a lot of fundamental business concepts and that was great for my career. This helped me in college to easily understand more concepts in my major, but you will always need to constantly learn about the latest industry trends and techniques.

Enjoy What You Do

You need to be happy with what you want to do. My hospitality program teacher, Mr. Burton, showed me that you can always incorporate a “fun” mindset into the things you do. I remember in my hospitality classes, we learned how to incorporate “fun” from answering phone calls to folding napkins! You have to be excited for the next day versus dreading the next day.

My Final Advice – Evaluate your Risks

As you are honing your skills, this will provide a variety of career opportunities. Before you jump ship to another career, make sure you evaluate your risks before you move forward. Some risks are:

• Do you have a safety net if the next opportunity doesn’t work out?
• What’s your financial situation?
• Is there a backup plan?

That’s it! I hope this helps and always stay on top of the mountain!