I believe career readiness is the primary purpose of my college experience. This extends outside of my academics to include my work and extra-curricular activities. I believe that leadership is a universal need that exists in every career field, profession, nation, and culture. This need will exist as long as there are people who work together, and leadership cannot be automated for or replaced by technology. This is because I believe that leadership is what brings people together to achieve more than what is possible if everyone acted as individuals. Because of this closely held belief, my career vision is to be a professional leadership consultant, eventually owning and operating my own multi-disciplinary leadership consulting firm. With this vision in mind, I am majoring in Management with a minor in Leadership. Previously at Northern Virginia Community College, I completed two associates degrees, one in Social Science and the other in Business Administration, believing that by understanding the workings of both people and business, I can help build better leaders.
It is my overarching career and life vision that has motivated my academic work at mason as well as my work at the LEAD Office. In my studies, I have learned a lot about leadership theory and managerial principals. I have studied leadership and teamwork dynamics in virtual teams, which I believe the be one of the greatest leadership challenges facing leaders today. By working with LEAD, I have learned how to develop and run leadership conferences, how to tailor workshops to meet the needs of clients, and how to communicate the need for leadership development to different audiences through my efforts to represent and market the programs of the LEAD Office. All these lessons are skills that I will use in the future as I pursue my career as a professional leadership consultant.