AMBITION.

Strolling past my childhood we move onto my teenage years, which exposed me to two things; photography and traveling. This derived from my interest in architecture and my past desire of wanting to pursue architecture as a career path, which was pretty ambitious for a middle schooler to think about, right?

But regardless, my ambitions for those two mediums began but I had no way to pursue them. I was just a high school kid with no means to travel and zero knowledge of cameras. It wasn’t until I received my first hand-me-down DSLR and moved out of my hometown for college that I finally got the means to pursue it.

IRVINE.

We’ve arrived at the University of California, Irvine stop of the tour. People typically called UCI a boring school as compared to other UC’s. Lacking diversity, frat row, and notorious student life, I was not expecting to be involved in many programs.

It wasn’t until I dipped my toes into student organizations that I discovered the hidden pockets of student life that embraced me. With open arms, I joined the Student Alumni Association my first year and I loved the feeling of involvement so much that I decided to join three more the following year: TEDxUCIrvine, Associated Students of UCI, and Undergraduate/Undeclared Mentorship Program.

All four of these organizations shaped me to be the person I am today. TEDxUCIrvine equipped me with better time management skills, UUMP gave me mentorship skills and helped to build my relationships, ASUCI allowed me to explore different mediums and get me out of my comfort zone, and SAA helped me to hone in on my strength and find my true passions.

I am forever grateful for all of the involvements I have been in and the people I met along the way. I have built genuine lifelong relationships with these people and they supported me so much in times of need. With these people, I was able to discover my true love of photography and helped me to develop it.

A special shoutout goes to SAA, the organization that gave me the opportunity to serve as the VP of Marketing for the 2019-2020 academic year. My time in SAA is how I discovered the marketing and social media world and is what truly led to my alignment towards a marketing career path. Without SAA and without this VP of Marketing opportunity, I would not have the opportunities, the experience, and even the website I have today. This org was the start for the beginning of my new path.