Pledge Class: Alpha Epsilon (wow it's been a while!)
Year of Graduation: Spring 2015
Major: Business Administration (Entrepreneurship)
What do you hope to do when you graduate from Cal Poly?
If you had asked me this two years ago, I would have said a management consultant or marketing director, but now I am about to turn around and pursue a career in food writing and photography- I've always loved writing and the creative arts, and I really want to see what I can do with them while I'm still (relatively) young. I do have a few full time offers lined up, including one in London, but at this point this point my offer here in SLO, where I can develop my media portfolio on the side, is the option that makes me jump out of bed in the morning.
What did you end up doing last summer?
This past summer I had the great opportunity through our honorary faculty brother Dr. Beaman to intern at reed.co.uk, the UK's largest online job site. It was a rotational business analyst, so I got to dip my feet in the marketing, sales, and customer support departments, and I couldn't have asked for a better internship! I now know what they mean when they say London is one of the world's most expensive cities.
What is a long term goal that you hope to eventually accomplish one day?
If I were to wake up tomorrow with my dream job, I would be editor in chief of a food and travel related publication. I always wrote that idea off as something to daydream about, but there's no better time than now to work towards that goal I think.
How has Alpha Kappa Psi shaped your career?
I've learned a lot of things my past three years in the fraternity: I've done things I wouldn't dream I could have done in high school, I stepped outside my comfort zone, and I learned what it really means to fail... I can say with certainty that I have learned much more in this fraternity than I have learned in any classroom, but the biggest way my career was shaped by AKPsi is that I learned how to not only love what you do, but love the people you do it with. I think students our age are so obsessed with learning technical skills in the pursuit of their dream job that they forget what it really means to connect with the people you lead. It's almost amazing how much I've learned not only about others, but myself through this process.
What is your favorite memory of Alpha Kappa Psi?
For me its the ordinary moments that stand out to me the most when I look back at my time in the fraternity- There were tough days while I was president last year when I felt like absolutely nothing was going right, and when I needed it the most a brother would coincidentally happen to send me either a thank you note or encouraging letter. It's those kinds of moments that have shaped who I am today. I also love it when Cal Poly has a career fair and I can spot an alumni from the chapter at every other recruiting booth, or even better when I have no idea who they are because they graduated so long ago but can still recognize me because of my pin. It's an amazing little network we have.