I see it, I like it, I want it, I got it.

How I got opportunities for myself by just going for it, even if I wasn’t qualified, and how putting myself out there gave me so much self-confidence.

I feel like I can speak for everyone when I say when the pandemic hit, no one really knew what to do. Especially as a college student, I was in the middle of my second semester of freshman year. I was just starting to get myself together in terms of what to do with myself and then all of a sudden my plans were just non-existent.

I was incredibly lazy for a month and then I had had enough of myself. I think I applied for like 5 different positions within a span of 2 weeks. I was done with doing nothing and decided to put myself out there. That feeling of being fit for a role never came easily to me; it always felt like there was an obstacle standing in between me and what I wanted. Usually that obstacle was feeling underqualified for any role I wanted, but in April 2020 I decided to change that for myself.

From those 5 applications, I became a peer mentor for Peer Connections and I became Fundraising Director for MA. I did not realize at the time how much confidence getting these roles gave me. It gave me a power of feeling limitless, like I could get anything I put my mind to if I just worked hard and wanted it enough.

Eventually, I also became a brand ambassador for Guayaki and Marketing and PR director for Her Campus at SJSU. As soon as I got past the mindset that I wasn’t good enough to achieve anything, I found my self-worth and grabbed any and all opportunities I wanted.

Waiting till the end of my first year to commit to things helped give me a moment to find who I was and what I wanted. I got to see things from farther away before I indulged in them which helped me find an angle of how I fit in. Acquiring roles and positions, in my experience, has been a balance of grabbing opportunity when it presents itself, but also taking a moment before stepping in to see if it’s the right thing for you.

What I have learned from the last year, is life is unpredictable and always changing, so if you see something in life that you want, grab that opportunity before it disappears and you miss your shot.