Enthusiast: My Journey from Volunteer to Executive

I call myself an Enthusiast! Life has always been fair to me. That being said, I’ve always been content for what I have and what I don’t. Growing up in a conservative society which lacks innovation, we are familiar with just three professions: engineering, medical and teaching. Engineering, however, was said to be suitable for guys only. For girls, only teaching and medical was left, and I despised both. It wasn’t until our high school days that arts and business studies were discouraged and discriminated against,  so I grew up learning and studying things I never wanted to, like studying science for 12 years of my life. I was expected, by my teachers and relatives, to become a doctor, however, my parents have always been very supportive of my interests.

Dreaming to become a notable and successful professional woman has always been the core of my personality. Since my early childhood, I had dreamed of working in a corporate environment; a business environment. That was the time when I didn’t even know what business is. But yea, I’ve always been an Enthusiast!

I had not realized why I was so attracted to business and entrepreneurship until the last year of my high school when I firmly decided to give up on sciences and go for business school. I was good enough to get into Forman Christian College University’s business school on a 70% scholarship. But before I could start the school, I eagerly began looking for professional development and study abroad (so that I can study and work at the same time) opportunities.

During my search, I hit up a nonprofit founder, Joshua Aguirre, to see if they could help me out. Seeing my enthusiasm, he offered me a volunteer opportunity, Volunteer Coordinator, at his organization, and my volunteer journey began. I’m a passionate learner and a go-getter, so I couldn’t help staying in just one role and gladly took on the role of a Content Writer and Executive Assistant. I helped the organization grow from 6 people (5 board members and 1 volunteer) to a team of over 18 people within 7 months.

No doubt, volunteering defines the way forward to your life and helps you find what matters the most to you. During my entire 5 months of volunteering, I discovered my passions to help others, discover what causes matter to me, provide quality service to the organization, expand my impact, serve the community, gain professional experience and learn practically. I would have not unveiled my skills, passions and capabilities this soon if I had not been involved in volunteering.

There are millions of people out in the world who need help, and we, who are equipped with all the necessities of life, are supposed to extend a helping hand to them. All of our skills and expertise can be used to expand our impact in the community and world we live in. One can utilize their writing skills, accounting knowledge, web development skills, sales expertise and so on to help the organizations reach out to those in dire need of help.

This is just one aspect of volunteering. Another aspect is the professional connections and experience we obtain from it. While helping individuals, one gets a chance to meet people from diverse backgrounds, develop professional connections with others that may benefit him later in life and get a life-time experience of professional world.

For teens and students particularly, who don’t have any prior professional experience, volunteering is the best way to gain insight on how organizations work and what the business world looks like. It’s my single volunteer experience, mixed with dedication, only that transitioned 19 year old me from a mere inexperienced student to an Executive Assistant, the first-ever paid member of The Joshua Wave.

As for me, I don’t enjoy sticking to a single role but rather I love working in different roles and taking on various tasks / projects around the organization. Alongside being an Executive Assistant, I have recently become the Social Media Team Lead and Project Manager. I have also been selected to become a Board Member!

Additionally, I have recently stepped into the for-profit industry as a Digital Catalyst at Invenst Labs LLC. I chose this title, Digital Catalyst as I’ll be playing a crucial role in company’s growth. I’m responsible for assisting and overseeing operations, project and social media management and client prospecting. Despite being a full-time student, I’m overly excited to accept these new opportunities to learn new things and skills, improve myself and grow with other team members. I’m now looking forward to helping both organizations toward even greater success.

No doubt, volunteering provides satisfaction and happiness that no other activity can provide. And a dedicated team member is always appreciated and valued by the organization leading to even bigger opportunities and responsibilities. Get involved with our nonprofit if you’d like to be a part of the change! We’re always looking for eager individuals who want to grow with us while delivering value to the people and you never know where that might lead you.

Life has always been fair to me. Being said that, I am always content for what I have and what I don’t. Growing up in a conservative and non-innovative society, we knew about just three professions; engineering, medical and teaching. Engineering, however, was said to be suitable for guys only. For girls, only teaching and medical was left, and I despised both. Up till our high schools, arts and business studies are discouraged and discriminated against sciences, so I grew up learning and studying things I never wanted to, that is, studying science for 12 years of my life.  I was expected, by my teachers and relatives, to become a doctor, however, my parents have always been very supportive to my interests.

Dreaming to become a notable and successful professional woman has always been the core of my personality. Since my early childhood, I had dreamed of working in a corporate environment; a business environment. That was the time when I didn’t even know what business is.

I had not realized why I was so attracted to business and entrepreneurship until the last year of my high school when I firmly decided to give up on sciences and go for a business school. I was good enough to get into Forman Christian College University’s business school on a 70% scholarship. But before I could start the school, as I have always been eager to be a professional woman, I eagerly began looking for professional development and study abroad (so that I can study and work at the same time) opportunities.

During my search, I hit on a nonprofit founder, Joshua Aguirre, to see if they could help me out. Seeing my enthusiasm, he offered me a volunteer opportunity, Volunteer Coordinator, at his organization, and my volunteer journey began which lasted for no more than 5 months. I’m a passionate learner and a go-getter individual, I couldn’t help staying in just one role, so I took on the role of a Content Writer as well as assisted the organization in administrative tasks. I helped the organization grow from 5 people (4 board members and 1 volunteer) to a team of 18 people over the period of 7 months only.

No doubt, volunteering defines the way forward to your life and helps you find what matters the most to you. During my entire 5 months of volunteering, I discovered my passions to help others, discover what causes matter to me, provide quality service to the organization, expand my impact, serve the community, gain professional experience and learn practically. I would have not unveiled my skills, passions and capabilities if I had not involved in volunteering.

There are millions of people out in the world who need help, and we, who are equipped with all the necessities of life, are supposed to extend a helping hand to them. All of our skills and expertise can be used to expand our impact in the community and world we live in. One can utilize his writing skills, accounting knowledge, web development skills, sales expertise and so on to help the organizations reach out to those in dire need of help.

This is just one aspect of volunteering. Another aspect is the professional connections and experience we obtain from it. While helping individuals, one gets a chance to meet people from diverse backgrounds, develop professional connections with others that may benefit him later in life and get a life-time experience of professional world.

For teens and students particularly, who don’t have any prior professional experience, volunteering is the best way to gain insight on how organizations work and what the business world looks like. It’s my single volunteer experience, mixed with dedication, only that transitioned me from a mere inexperienced student of 19 to an Executive Assistant, first-ever paid member of The Joshua Wave, in the same organization.

As for me, I don’t enjoy sticking to a single role for my entire life rather I love working in different roles and taking on various tasks / projects around the organization. Alongside being an Executive Assistant, I have recently become the Social Media Team Lead and Project Manager as well. I have also been selected to become a Board Member at The Joshua Wave.

I have recently stepped into the for-profit industry as well as a Digital Catalyst at Invenst Labs LLC, also founded by Joshua Aguirre. I chose this title, Digital Catalyst, myself as I’ll be playing a crucial role in company’s growth. Here, I’m responsible for assisting and overseeing operations, project management, social media management and prospecting clients. Despite being a full-time student, I’m overly excited to accept new opportunities to learn new things and skills, improve myself and grow with other team members. I’m now excitedly looking forward to help both the organizations toward even greater success.

No doubt, volunteering provides satisfaction and happiness that no other activity can provide. And a dedicated team member is always appreciated and valued by the organization leading to even bigger opportunities and responsibilities. You can see my work experience here by scrolling down a bit.

Feel free to drop me a line to chat with me or to say a simple “Hi”. I would love to hear from you!