I’ll be transparent with you. I know I love being creative and learning. I enjoy dabbling in this and that. However, I lack clarity.
My major flaw is on the table, but I also consider it a feature. I can take on any task and kill it, because I’ve gotten the experience in so many varying fields and paths. I always put my 100% into what I do, and although I don’t know my path right now, I know I’ll succeed as I’ve done my entire life. It’s my habit to push myself through and creatively solve.
So how did I get here?
I was the typical overachiever. I grew up in Akron, Ohio, was raised very religious, went to all Catholic schools, and graduated from high school with a 4.2 GPA. I was achieving because I knew I could and I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I still don’t know. At that point, I had applied to the College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning to get a degree in Industrial Design, because I knew I wanted to do something I would enjoy and I just thought it sounded cool. I found out that the program was hard to get into and it bounced between number one and number two in the country. That sounded right up my alley. Little did I know how much my life would change. Leaving home was extremely difficult for me, but from it I discovered myself.
Anyway, my family had always been close and as the eldest, I was the first to leave for college. My dad died in an accident when I was 16. My dad encouraged me to ask questions and taught me I could do anything I believed I could. I was at peace with the fact that I was lucky to have what I had. I had to accept what I couldn’t change. Besides the guilt of feeling like I was abandoning them, school was 3.5 hours away and tough! These kids were extremely talented. I questioned whether this was my path, because I wasn’t as good as them. I didn’t quit though. I knew my hard work would pay off…eventually. I knew I needed to branch out, and I had taken one consumer behavior class for my business credit. I fell in love and got my marketing minor.
Now this took place over a 5 year period. Along the way, I had to do required co-ops to graduate. I moved all over and lived in cities I had never visited. I switched industries each time, because I still didn’t know my path. Over the course of this, I never got the co-ops I really wanted. I was always one of the last chosen. My confidence level was low except with marketing. I decided to immediately go into UC’s MBA program after graduating since it would buy me more time to figure out exactly what my path was. One year later, I had my MBA with a focus in Entrepreneurship and Marketing. Guess what? I still had no path. Surprising? I think not.
Once I graduated, I tried getting jobs but I refused to settle for something that wouldn’t lead me farther forward since I already had over 3 years of experience. It was tough. Almost a year later, I got hired, and I almost lasted a year there. The work environment was toxic, I felt taken advantage of, and it was overly disorganized and stressful. I stuck with it in the hopes of change, however, I was beginning to realize it was time to take control of my life. As I began down this path, the company I was working for got indefinitely temporarily shut down, and now here I am, yet again searching for my path.