One of my favorite things all through middle and high school was driving in the morning with the radio turned to my favorite station. I loved hearing the next big hits, but I also (guiltily) loved listening to the radio hosts interact with each other. For me they were glimpses into two people’s lives that I would never otherwise see. One of the other women I interviewed this summer, let’s call her Liz, is currently a radio host. However, she also works as a freelance writer in order to always make ends meet. As she said in her interview “radio is very volatile.” Even though she had one of the most popular shows in Portland (one that has received high recognition), a few years back they were taken off the air. However, because she had the initiative to always be trying something else, she survived. It didn’t hurt either that everything worked out in the end, as the show was brought back due to high demand.

What stood out to me the most about Liz was her drive to do everything she could to gain experience. While at Scripps, she got involved with a local PBS station that helped her work towards her former goal of working in documentary film. Her mentor would “set [her] loose. She would say what she wanted done, and [Liz] would end up doing all the research, all the interviewing, and all the prep.” While that may sound like a huge task to put on a new college intern, Liz said that it completely prepared her for her first job out of college. She moved to New York and worked for a great company for 8 years where she made documentary films.

Furthermore, Liz during her college years had an internship at a TV station. When she was on a tour of the station with their boss, he turned to all the interns saying “Everyone say what book you are reading right now.” While all her fellow interns started listing autobiographies of famous TV anchors, Liz was flustered. “I just happened to be reading Heart of Darkness so I said that because I couldn’t even make up a book about an anchor because that’s not my thing.” However, her honesty served her well. The boss immediately turned to the rest of the group and told them “That’s the right answer. Don’t be pigeonholed. Read as broadly as you can, take in as much culture as you can from the world at large and you’ll always be good at what you do.”

I have always been that girl that does a little bit of everything decently. My parents made me try ski racing, tennis, soccer, softball, swimming, sailing, ballet, gymnastics, singing, piano, guitar, violin, and so many other activists growing up. I never was fantastic at any of them, but I mostly was able to keep up (not ballet though…my mom actually made me quit because I was so bad). Through high school, I was able to consistently keep up with about five or six of them. While there were activities that I easily could have dropped—I wasn’t a huge fan of the crazy piano teacher that made me make her toast, coffee, you name it—they always told me the same thing Liz’s boss at the TV station told her: that it will come in handy in ways I couldn’t then understand. And honestly, the advice is so true.

^^My relationship with ballet

I have gathered such a weird range of skills from participating in so many different programs. For example, tennis taught me how to center myself and focus on nothing but the task in front of me. Singing taught me poise and confidence in front of large masses of people. Ski coaching taught me how to handle a screaming herd of 7 year olds. All of these skills have come into play for this internship (well…maybe not the screaming herd thing…but I also had to be super organized for that job in order to handle said children). I had to spend hours focusing on getting the job done, confidently speak to women that are living in the real world, and stay really organized to meet various deadlines and appointments.

Last year I kind of let myself relax a bit. I let myself transition into a new environment, and I’m really happy I did so. However, this year I came back ready to take on everything and anything. I think trying new things and experiencing everything is so incredibly important to succeed. Just because you want to be a scientist doesn’t mean you can’t do acappella. Just because you are an English major doesn’t mean you can’t take economics classes. Experience builds a resume and character. You never know what characteristics your future employer is going to see in you that makes you stand apart from everyone else.

            So, what do you think? What experience are you bravely going to try to gain next?