Community Service Project

I was unable to attend Wolves on the Prowl with the rest of the business program.  However, my teacher, George Howard, allowed me to volunteer through an organization of my choice.  As it turns out, I found a volunteer project in central city that I was able to volunteer for the following week. 

On Saturday November 15th, I met up with some 300 other volunteers at the W.J. Guste School building to build a playground and paint a mural at their school.  In order to make this possible, three different non-profit organizations, KIPP, KaBOOM!, and New Orleans Non Profit, came together to help.  Each of the organizations played different roles in the process.  KIPP specifically works with W.J. Guste School along with 65 other schools, providing them with outstanding educators and building partnerships among parents, students, and teachers in order to better student's chances of going to a good college.   When it comes to the actual production of the playground is when KaBOOM! steps in.  KaBOOM is working to provide playgrounds within walking distance from every child nationwide. Lastly, New Orleans Non Profit posted a blog to get the word out there and recruit volunteers. 

Before the volunteers began working, we were served a small but filling breakfast to energize us for the day of work that lay ahead.  I figured that since I have a little bit more artistic ability than muscle strength, I would help paint the mural.  We painted the mural in the courtyard portraying a group of angels overlooking three children in the city. 

I had a great time painting the mural because I got along very well with the other volunteers.  If I had to guess I'd say their ages ranged somewhere from 7 to 50.  Although we were such a diverse group of individuals, the common interest of helping others allowed us to all form a strong bond while we worked.  There was music playing so we were even able to dance and sing while we worked, making things even more fun.  

Pictures can be seen above of the mural, playground, and a handful of the volunteers that participated that day.

When I realized I wouldn't be able to participate in Wolves on the Prowl, I had to search for another organization to volunteer for.  The search was hard because I wanted to help at every place I found.  However, there was an organization that stood out to me in particular. 

I'm a big environmental freak.  I go out of my way to recycle things and pick up trash, am a member of the Earth Club, made my family start a compost pile, and hate people who leave water running when they don't need to.  The organization I found is called Green Light New Orleans.  They are trying to reduce New Orleans' energy use, subsequently preventing global warming "one lightbulb at a time".  Their program works by sending volunteers to different low- and middle-income households by changing their old fashioned incandescent bulbs to modern, compact fluorescent lighting. According to Green Light:

If every household in the United States replaces one light bulb with a compact fluorescent light (CFL), it would prevent enough pollution to equal removing 800,000 cars from the road.  In addition to the environmental benefits, a CFL uses 75% less energy than an incandescent bulb and lasts 10 times longer, thereby saving money on a home's energy bills.  Each CFL will save the user more than $45 over the life of the bulb.

Executive Speaker on Personal Finances

        I learned far more than I expected to when the guest speaker came to talk to our Intro to Business class about credit.  I thought having a credit card wasn't such a big deal until I learned how dangerous it can be for certain individuals.  Insurance companies, who already rip people off as it is, check people's credit to determine their premium.  This can make a big difference for people when it comes to circumstances such as house and car payments.  Not only do insurance companies check your credit scores, employers and banks check it as well.  When I purchased my phone earlier this year I switched services and the cell phone company even checked my mom's credit.  

        Most people checking credit use a system called FICO.  The FICO system rates people's credit going up to 850, with 850 being the best.  Ways to make your credit score drop include:

        *spending big at the wrong time

        *having payments that are too thin

        *being a payment slacker

        *being too tidy

                    and

        *being nonchalant

       If you have to file for bankruptcy it will remain on your credit profile for four years and if you miss a house payment, that will stay for two. 

       Another credible site for college student to use when researching information about credit scores is this one.  It shares the rates of each score bracket along with other information as well.

      When the business class divided up to meet with our mentors, one of my mentors, Joe, told us a story about credit and how it can lead to trouble owning your own house when you are an adult.  That on top of everything the speaker shared with us was a wake up call for me and how I will manage my money.

Careerbeam Assignment 1: Self Assessment (Value and Visions)

Ten years down the road I plan to have accomplished or be on my way to accomplishing many different goals.  The goals include: being married and working for myself designing for my fashion label, owning stores, having an interior design firm, and working with real estate on the side.  I will travel on a regular basis and have houses in New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Tokyo, the beach, mountains, lake, and farm.  

I am going to begin working with real estate the first minute available.  Although the market isn't doing well now, I have no doubt in my mind that it will pick up.  I'll start off buying and renting houses, then eventually I'll get my commercial license and rent out apartment buildings and large commercial space.

I will have people working directly underneath me, with someone in charge of each project I have (like the real estate and each store I own).  I'd like to have a store for each different thing I really like so the boutiques would include clothing, furniture, ice cream and coffee, yarn, pets, and an outdoor store with camping and hiking equipment.  I will do the interior design for each of my shops.

That is my vision.

Its good to write a vision statement to organize your thoughts.  It enables you to do things now that will benefit you later in life without getting sidetracked as much.  I'm glad that I wrote my mission statement because I have a lot on my plate and plan to do it all.  On the contrary, having so much planned for myself is also my downfall and it's what I found the most difficult about my vision statement.  There are so many more things I would be interested in doing but I had to choose the things that I'm the most passionate about.

I completed the values assessment through Careerbeam, however, I don't know if they hit the nail on the head exactly.  They put me in "The Driver Set".  This is supposed to mean that I am motivated by an environment that encourages advancement and upward mobility. It also said that I influence others with my vision in order to provide myself with status symbols such as a large office or company car.  It says I measure success in dollars and salary is very important, however, my ultimate goal is obtaining a position of authority within an organization.  What they said was true for the most part but I don't see myself in the same light.  Although it would be nice to have a position of authority, it isn't my main goal.  I'd like to work for myself and be happy.  Happiness is what I measure success in, not salary.  Salary definitely helps the happiness aspect of things but doesn't always lead directly to it. 

The Whole Foods Market has values very similar to mine.  Their first value is "selling the highest quality natural and organic products available".  That value doesn't relate directly to me but every one of their others does.  They include:

*Satisfying and delighting our customers

*Supporting team member happiness and excellence

*Creating Wealth Through Profits and Growth

*Caring about out Communities and Our Environment

*Creating ongoing win-win partnerships with our suppliers

It took me a while to think of a picture that exemplifies my values and visions.  Finally I decided on posting a picture of Justin Timberlake.  I don't want to do the exact things he is famous for but I want to establish myself in many different areas like he did.  Timberlake is a well-known musician and actor as well as fashion designer for William Rast and restraunt owner.

Some of my creations...I'll add captions when I figure out how to work this thing

My life so far.....

For those who know me, I still have some little kid obsessions I'm trying to get over: Sleeping Beauty, Hello Kitty, and an obsession with David Beckham.  I'm a very family-oriented person and consider my family to be the most important thing in my life.  I drink tea at least once a day, my favorite is chai tea. I'm double jointed in my hands and arms, its pretty disgusting but some people think its cool, usually the little kids I babysit for.  I love going out and having fun with my friends.  I love just about every type of music. When I watch movies I like to think about what's going on behind-the-scenes, like noticing when a scene or line was being improved.

The most important thing to know about me is that I'm a very visual person. I love when things are aesthetically appealing. I'm also a very big organizer. I can edit visual things well.  If the proportions of something are wrong, it bothers me and I like to fix it.  This helped me when I worked as the primary merchandiser at a beautifulll and very trendy yarn store in Atlanta for two years, called Knitch.  A picture is shown above of our "yarn wall" there. 

Being a visual person, I've been able to use that in addition to my love of fashion.  Ever since I was a little girl, I've had a passion for clothing.  When I was 3 years old I would change my clothes on an average of 6 times a day.  I would tell my mom outfits that I wanted to wear and when my mom would tell me she didn't know where we could find what I was trying to explain, I didn't understand why stores didn't make it.

My junior year of high school I became a part of my school's fashion program.  Grady High School is one of only two highschools in the nation with our sort of program and I was very lucky to be a part of it.  My junior year I learned how to sew and did a lot of my own smaller projects.  My senior year, the real fun began.  I was classified as a senior designer, meaning that I would have my own collection in the "UrbanCouture" fashion show at the end of the school year.  Collections consisted of a cohesive line of clothing. I chose to make funky party dresses along with two men's outfits as well.  You can see another post of the pictures on my blog.

 

First Mentor Meeting

So I was lucky enough to get two mentors, a very cute couple Joseph and Meaghan Bonavita.  Joe is a senior VP of Capital One Southcoast.  He went to Farfield University and Boston University and seems like a really nice guy.  His wife, Meg, went to school in New York and then returned to her hometown of New Orleans to get a business degree at Loyola.  As a female, I find her career more intriguing because she works in the fashion industry :)  She's currently working as a sales associate with the Carlisle Collection here in New Orleans.  I checked out the website and these are some of my favorite looks: 1 * 2 * 3 *.  I love this skirt. 

We were told to research our mentors on the Internet and the first thing that came up on Google was coverage of their wedding posted by a website called "the knot".  The pictures of their wedding are beautiful!

At our first meeting we really just got to know each other.  Meg and Joe introduced themselves and told us about their school and career experiences and we told them where we're from, what we're interested in, and a little bit of what we want to do with our lives....at least what we think we want to do at this point.  Then we went over the schedule a little bit so that we knew what we would be doing through the program.

I'm so excited to start this program especially now that I know one of my mentors is in the fashion industry.  I've been interested in fashion my entire life and definitely want to pursue it professionally....but you can read more about that in my bio.  

I'm glad Meaghan will be able to offer me advice that is specific to what I want to do.  Hopefully she'll be able to help me find a good internship or even just give me advice about the internship I choose.  Joe seems like he is a real go-getter.  He knew exactly what he wanted to do from an early age and stuck with it.  He will be able to teach me good time and money management skills.  I plan on learning a  lot from both Meg and Joe because they are successful business people able to do what they love.