Key Events

The four following events have had a huge impact on my experience at Virginia Tech and have helped me become the growing, innovative, and authentic leader that I am today. They are more than events but life experiences where I have learned valuable lessons that will always stay with me. As I continue to develop and grow within companies and future obstacles, these events will be the ones I look back on and pull from to help me through what I may be going through at that time.

Orientation Leader

I became an Orientation Leader after my first year of college and I absolutely loved it. This job taught me a lot about myself and the community that was present around me at Virginia Tech. The job was a high intensity position with late nights and early mornings and much needed coffee. I worked within a team of 30 individuals and met at least 15 incoming students a day that were anxious to start college. Although it seemed repetitive, everyday brought something new to the table and gave me the opportunity to grow as an individual. One of the key concepts that I have learned is to remember respect and empathy when working with others. People always make an experience that I have had and, when working with others daily, it is important to remember that you never know what others are going through. For example, one of the orientation leaders decided to reject her religion and take off her scarf during the course of the summer which led to her family to reject her. Another interaction is one of my students who was bullied for being Muslim during his childhood and how he essentially turned lemons into lemonade so to speak. I have heard countless stories of what others have been through and how this has shaped them into the person they are currently, and it baffles me. There are leaders that come in every shape and size and we walk about and do not realize it. Our background is essential to we are as individuals and because of this I have gravitated towards asking people questions and seeking answers that I am curious. This has impacted me in a huge way and has broadened my worldly view. I plan on being a transformational leader that believes in my team and employees. I will serve by helping and allowing others to become great leaders and their accomplish goals. I will communicate consistently to those around me so that we are all on the same page. I would like to create an atmosphere that allows others to be motivated to create new ideas and to learn from a mistake and move on. I would like to work with others that have a healthy competitive spirit to get the task or job done. I know that everything may not go as planned and there will be hiccups along the way, but I think that it is important to stay determined and focused so that I can be successful on whatever path I land on.

Residential Advisor

Being approved to become a Residential Advisor was extremely exciting for me because I accomplished a goal that I set for myself my first year. I had an amazing RA my first year at Virginia Tech and I am still in touch with her today, three years later. When I first applied to become an RA, I did not get the job. This humbled me and I became more disciplined and focused on what I had to do so that I would be successful the next time I applied for the position. The Residential Advisor position has helped me grow in numerous ways. The job is really a 24/7 job where I am at the beck and call of my residents. I make bulletin boards for the hall, plan hall hangouts to ensure community, handle roommate conflicts, discuss academic and extracurricular concerns, provide positive resources on campus, and make sure that my residents are staying healthy mentally. The job of a Residential Advisor may seem like a lot, but I love every minute of it. The rewards are so much greater than the tedious activities that I that I have to do. I try to form a relationship with my residents and try to be a great resource for them even though they may see me as the police of the hall. One leadership trait or skill that I will take away from this job is flexibility and adaptability. Being able to act in a professional manner with haste and correct actions. There have been times where I have been woken up in the middle of the night to handle a conflict and although I was discombobulated because it was 4 a.m. in the morning, I had to responded efficiently. I will have to use this in the workplace because one thing that I have learned at Virginia Tech or in life is that things will not always go as planned. An obstacle almost always comes up and it will be up to me as the leader to allow others to have trust in me to be competent and handle the situation the best way possible.  

ISE Ambassador

Being an ISE Ambassador was one of those roles that found me. I wanted to switch my major after my second year and my advisor encouraged me to stay in engineering. She noticed all of the student affairs work that I did my first two years at Tech, so she recommended the role of an ISE ambassador and the responsibilities of the position and I ended up doing it. As an ambassador I have met others and have been given the chance to share my passion with other undergraduate students who want to switch into the major and to incoming students who are taking that next step after high school. I am a part of the Event Planning committee and we hold events so that more incoming and first year students know about Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE) because a lot of people, including myself, do not know anything about the major. One key element that I plan on using from this leadership event is to exuberate passion with whatever I am doing. When I show that I care for what I am doing, I am exemplifying to others this same attitude and hopefully this will encourage them to progress as well. I think it is extremely important to love what I am doing especially once I get a full-time job after graduation. I aspire to wake up everyday excited to go to work and to be innovative and collaborate with others to serve a purpose. In my experience, I have excelled in the classes where my professor has made the biggest difference. They educate based on pure love for the class and teaching the material to those that are excited about it as well. This attitude encourages me to do my absolute best in the class because I am excited to continue learning. There are multiple classes that I did not have interest in but ended up loving because of the professor even though it was 8 a.m. in the morning. I want my team or employees to have the same mindset within a positive atmosphere. As one person starts to show passion this can eventually cause a chain reaction to anyone nearby. This will even get others to want to work for the same company because they have heard great things about the culture through word of mouth. I believe that we change the world one step at a time, and I want to be the one that either takes that first step or be apart of the chain reaction.

Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.

My last event is a lifetime accomplishment that I have dreamt of since I was a child. Joining a sorority on campus that my relatives are a part of and to be a part of the sisterhood and take up a leadership role. After 21 years, I joined my prestigious sorority and was elected a leadership role immediately. We are a service sorority on campus and was founded based on succeeding in the classroom, motivating others, and being of service to everyone around us. We hold events that talk about campus resources, how to be smart financially, and company visits. We also have social events like paint nights to get our creative juices flowing and working out to get active physically. Through this event, I have learned that conflict resolution is an important leadership concept. We are a small chapter on campus, but we have big ideas and events that we would like to do for the community. There may be a time or two where we may have a disagreement between certain ideas that should be displayed, and which ones should not. I think that as a collective we resolve conflict well because we ask questions to better understand the why behind the what. In circumstances, where you may disagree with someone else, I think that it is important to stay cool and try to show empathy. Try to understand where the other person is coming from thinking about past experiences and childhood background. This could help clear some of the confusion that may surface when conflicting with someone else. Another key element that I have learned through my position is to continue thinking about the why. I saw a ted talk once explaining how you could try to sell anything with the what, but once you try to incorporate why that product may be valuable in someone else’s life is when customers might start buying into what you are trying to tell them. As a leader, I can constantly remind others of the mission and purpose behind what we are doing. Vision boards are a great way to remind others where we are now and where we want to be. I am goal oriented and as a futuristic thinker I will continue to encourage setting goals and working towards them to eventually succeed.