Fake It Until You Make It

One thing I have learned so far in my professional life, is that sometimes you have to fake it until you make it, and there's no shame in that because a lot of successful people do that. How do I know? Look up any interview with a successful businessperson or someone successful in another field. Nine times out of ten, they will tell you they worked hard (which they did) but they ultimately had to fake it until they made it.

I am truly learning that lesson everyday. As long as you have the heart and the work ethic to do something, you can. I believe being a hard worker is one of the most, if not the most important things you can do to succeed. I learned a valuable lesson from my boyfriend. That lesson is that it is okay not to be good at something, or have experience doing that thing, and it is okay to be up front about it and be willing to learn. I have always struggled with accepting not knowing how to do something, and always take it upon myself to learn on my own. I have learned though, that is okay to admit to having a hard time with something or not having experience, as long as you are willing to learn and grow.

My whole life I wanted to be a veterinarian, and everything I did was in pursuit of that goal. I have had a plan since I was in middle school of how to achieve that goal. I was an active member of the animal science and veterinary studies department of my high school. I gained incredible, once in a lifetime experiences that I will always be grateful for. I was the first person in my county to receive a Certified Veterinary Assistant license, and was the youngest person hired from an internship at a local veterinary office where I ended up working for over 3 years. I had no idea what I was doing then and was intimidated to mess up around people with much more experience and knowledge than myself. But through hard work and dedication, I learned a lot that helped me to be accepted to my #1 college for Marine Biology on the Pre-Veterinary track.

To my surprise, in college the classes that came easily to me in high school did not come as easily at the college level. I blame this partly on COVID-19 because I was forced to take classes fully remotely, and basically teach myself the material. It was an extremely difficult decision, but I ended up changing my major and giving up my goal of being a veterinarian. It was extremely heart-breaking because I truly loved the profession and had all the experience, most of which was obtained through long hours and missing a lot of important moments in my high school career. It was something I needed to do because I did not know what the future held for classes and if they would continue to be online throughout my 4 years.

Luckily for me this was not the case, and we went fully in person in the spring of 2022. I ended up changing my major to psychology because I knew there was a lot of potential for jobs with that degree. My original plan was to complete the Paws4People assistance dog program on campus and spin my degree into something related to animals. This also unfortunately did not work out either, as the commitment was too much for me with other obligations. Realizing that, I ended up leaving an organization that was holding me back.

This recent spring, I concluded my leadership minor at UNCW, with a wealth of knowledge I could have never expected. I conducted a social action project that contributed to real change in myself and on campus. I connected with the UNCW career center, where I ended up doing some personal research in addition to research for my project. Here, I learned that I wanted to begin trying to make a career in the business world. This is where I fell in love with marketing. I learned how much I enjoyed it and equally excelled in it.

I put in lots of effort to spin my degree and my experience in order to present an appropriate resume. I put myself out there and knew that if I could market myself, I could market anyone. I landed an internship with my amazing boss at Hues of Violet. She was the first one to truly believe in me and allow me to conduct an internship where I could really fine-tune my skills and make it what I wanted it to be. She was the first person to ever give me a marketing job title, which is something I will always cherish. This was just a steppingstone for me to accept 2 more marketing jobs and counting. Hopefully will lead to a full-time position when I graduate this upcoming spring.

One of the biggest takeaways I have from these experiences is that problems are simple, but they are not easy. It takes effort and heart to make change, even small changes for yourself. I carry this philosophy with me to every interview, every job, and every day.