This week I have decided to dedicate my article to women who inspire me both professionally and personally. I find it incredibly important to find role models that I can learn from and look towards as models for my own growth in the workplace and in my personal life. I highly recommend check out these Girlbosses in further detail, as they are each breaking boundaries int heir respective fields and one can learn a lot from their paths, experiences and what they have to say!

First off, Alexandra Friedman and Jordana Kier are two girlbosses who have co-founded the company LOLA, which delivers all-natural tampons directly to your door. Both women up and quit their high paying corporate jobs in order to follow their passion: to help women have an easier, stress-free period, while allowing women to live healthier lives through their organic products. Alexandra and Jordana are single-handedly re-writing the all-encompassing narrative that is associated with periods, by allowing women the transparency and access to all-natural feminine hygiene products. Their innovation, passion for entrepreneurship, and work to improve women’s daily lives is incredibly inspiring to me. Personally, I have always been out-spoken about the corrupted feminine hygiene industry and I love seeing these women making huge changes to this problem. And professionally, I am also deeply influenced by their story, as I would love to pursue a career path that deals with the advancement of women and also involves an aspect of innovation.

Alexandra Friedman and Jordana Kier featured with their product, LOLA brand tampons.

Secondly, Malala Yousafzai is a bosslady that always has, and always will, inspire me to the core. A year younger than myself, Malala has risked her life in order to receive an education, and to speak out against the injustices that plague women worldwide. Daring to defy the Taliban and their oppressive acts against women, Malala was shot in the head for her campaigning girl’s education; this event allowed her to create a massive impact worldwide. Her role as an activist and leader towards allowing everyone the basic right to education has made her one of the most important leaders in our present world.

Barbara Kruger

In addition, Barbara Kruger is one of my personal favorite artists and boss ladies. Kruger’s provocative works address cultural constructions of power, identity and sexuality, and make her one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. For example, her poster created for the 1989 Women’s March on Washington, “Your Body is a Battleground”, in
support of legal abortion, has become an anthem for feminism and continues to be extremely relevant in
today’s current world. As an artist myself, I hope that one day I am able to create art that can inspire and connect groups of people worldwide.

Finally, Erin Schrode, a citizen activist and social entrepreneur, is a leading voice on sustainability and social impact for millennials and is a vocal advocate for environmental action, public health, and equal justice. She just ran an unprecedented campaign for US Congress in California at the age of 25. Since co-founding Turning Green in 2005, she has developed eco education and action platforms to inspire, educate, and mobilize millions of students and the global public with this non-profit and beyond. This social entrepreneur and community organizer champions civic leadership, conscious living, and environmental stewardship worldwide, launching a youth education project in Haiti, writing curriculum for an eco center for Palestinian, Israeli, and Jordanian students, developing recycling infrastructure in Ghana, and telling the stories of Syrian, Iraqi and Afghan refugees in the Mediterranean and Native Americans at Standing Rock while working in solidarity on the ground. Erin Schrode is from my hometown of Marin County, CA, and I had the opportunity to work on her campaign for Congress! Seeing her in action, and having achieved so much at the age of 25, is sometimes hard to believe, and she functions as a very important role model in my life currently.

This week’s blog will be all about interviewing since tomorrow, I will be completing the final round of interviews for a summer internship position! I will share how I conquer pre-interview jitters, how I prepare for the interview (the days leading up to the interview and the day of the interview) and some other tips and tricks that are essential to nailing any interview.

First off, I am basically going to be giving myself a pep-talk here, because I always get a little nervous before an interview, no matter how prepared I am. I have learned to use this stress and anticipation to my advantage, by being as prepared as possible and translating my nervous energy into a positive, upbeat attitude that tends to come across well in an interview.

My “thing” is rambling…

The week before an interview, I am glued to my computer preparing, extrapolating as much information about the company as possible from the Internet. A very useful site I have relied on in the past is Glassdoor, which provides an overview and facts about the company you search. Glassdoor also provides helpful tools such as past interview questions for different positions people have interviewed for, and often posts helpful articles and links that makes the “googling “process a bit easier for you. This site allows you to be a little more prepared as the day of the interview nears. I don’t fully rely on this site or the interview questions posted, but it never hurts to glance over what other people have experienced in an interview with the given company, just to cover all of your bases.

In addition, looking at any recent posts or news articles about the company through a google search (change the search setting to most recent) allows you to draw in current events in your conversation with the interviewer, and shows the interviewer that you have done your research and are passionate about the company. Needless to say-you should know the leadership of the company, who the CEO, President and Founders are, and why they decided to establish the company and their values.

For this specific interview I will be having, a huge portion focuses on company culture-so preforming an informational interview with a company employee beforehand, especially if there isn’t as much information online as you hoped, is incredibly helpful.

Also remember to stick with business casual attire….

Overall, being prepared and coming into the interview with a very good idea of the product, company values, and current news about the company is incredibly vital.

The day before the interview, I tend to go over all of this information as a refresher and also, practice a few interview questions that are usually asked in an interview. In addition, I will make sure to have prepared a list of questions I plan to ask in the interview. Remember that you can also take this interview as an opportunity to learn everything there is to know about the company at hand, and your interest and curiosity can be highlighted by asking thoughtful questions at this stage too. Finally, if the interview is over Skpye (which mine happens to be), make sure you know your account login and have given the company the correct username to contact. Have your roommate or friend practice call you to ensure your sound and video work properly. It is vital to remember that every part of your communication prior to being offered the job is part of the interview. That being said, make sure to respond to all emails or calls in a timely manner, and always say thank you in each e-mail. The way you interact on a day-to-day basis with the employees taking care of your application speaks to how you will function every day as a member of the community there.

When the day of the interview rolls around, take a few deep breaths, and remember that, if you have done your research and practiced your main points, you will do great. Be yourself and answer the questions genuinely, your personality will shine through and allow you to create a meaningful connection with your interviewer. Say thank you and even send a follow up thank you email or card to highlight yourself as the best candidate for the position! Interviewing can be scary, but these few tips and tricks can help you alleviate a bit of the jitters and nervousness surrounding the interview process.

When creating the curriculum for the workshops I host through Empower HerFuture, I decided it was incredibly important to focus on the art of public speaking, since so many people (including myself) seem to struggle with this for years. One of my motivations behind creating this organization was to change the fact that there is a lack of curriculum instituted within high schools and middle schools to practice public speaking, especially in a feminist context. It is valuable to recognize that women and men face different challenges with public speaking, and in order to progress, recognizing these challenges is

paramount to positive development. I would like to share a few of the tips that I have found very helpful over the years. These are some tips I share when facilitating workshops to different age groups in high schools and middle schools. Although they may seem simple, their impact can be great when practiced and put into play during public speaking: 

1. Videotape yourself giving a speech. Play it back to see how you can improve your body language, speed and content. Watching yourself on tape may be uncomfortable, but it helps make you more self-aware. If you really don’t feel comfortable doing this, ask someone you trust to watch you and provide honest feedback. The first time I videotaped myself saying a speech, I noticed that I had been playing with a button on my shirt the entire time, completely unconsciously. Noticing these small details is so important to developing as a stronger overall speaker-now, I never wear clothes with buttons or zippers that may tempt me to fiddle while speaking. 

2. Slow down. Practice your speech twice as slowly as you would normally speak since we have a tendency to speed up when under pressure. Remembering to enunciate your words is also crucial. I personally fall victim to this constantly. The more you practice speaking at a slower pace, the more natural this speed will become. Taking breaths between sentences can also help with pacing.

3. When speaking to a big group, eye contact can be nerve-wracking. Looking directly above peoples’ heads is an easy way to not get distracted, but still make it seem like you are making direct eye contact. One of the most important aspects to being a great public speaker is engaging with your audience through eye contact. So ensuring that you are looking up, rather than down at your feet or at a notecard, and engaging your audience with your speech, will drastically alter how the audience perceives you as a successful speaker.

4. Establish a pre-routine. If you know you get nervous before a presentation or public speaking, create a routine that you know will calm your nerves beforehand. Something as simple as a breath of fresh air right before can be tremendously helpful and centering. Especially when waiting your turn to perform a speech, the nerves and anxiety can build-up. I’ve been in this situation so many times that I started going outside before it was my turn to speak, to shake out the anxiety and find my center before going back in.

5. Don’t apologize. This point is specifically important for women to remember. We are constantly over-apologizing for our mistakes, even when it may not be our fault. If you mess up, chances are the audience won’t even notice. Apologizing only makes your nerves more obvious. It is totally ok to backtrack if you did make a mistake, but be cognizant that your audience most likely didn’t notice, which allows you to maneuver in what you may have left out at another point in your speech. The key is to stay confident and carry on.

Coming to college can often be shocking for many people because of the unparalleled freedom we are granted. Although incredibly busy, this freedom does allows us the opportunity to have a lot of free time. Often, I’ve tended to notice that we waste it in the most unproductive ways. Personally, my freshman and sophomore year consisted of me zoning out whenever I had the chance in front of a TV, in any attempts to shut my brain off. This year, I had a lot of free time abroad, and instead of falling into the same routine, decided to change this bad habit.

A few weeks ago (pre-election results), my college roommate and I had the pleasure of meeting up in Greece while we were both studying abroad. On one of our “let’s walk and talk until we get really lost” type of adventures, we dove into yet another countless conversation about the lack of education focused on female leadership, specifically in high school settings (yes this is actually what we talk about in our free time!). We recognized that this leads women to shy away from speaking up later in life specifically in the workforce, especially in male-dominated industries such as business or tech. On a personal level, we both identified with this issue and expressed the drastic change that took place when we began attending an all women’s college. Recognizing the power and influence our voices had, led us to flourish as female leaders in our community, and not be afraid to express our opinions in both classrooms and in our work experiences.

In very classic form, Madeline and I got a bit carried away and began developing a concept for an organization focused on fixing this problem; we both had the passion, and when putting our skillsets together, we already knew we could do just about anything we set our minds to. It wasn’t until two weeks later, when we had returned to our respective study abroad countries, that the election results sent shockwaves throughout the world, hitting us harder than we could’ve ever imagined. For the following sleepless hours, we cried, screamed and stood in denial of what had just happened. “Will I feel the impact of sexism more so when I enter the workforce under a Trump presidency?” we feared. Yet, immediately, Madeline and I began putting our heads together to make our two-week old concept, a reality. Now more than ever, we recognized, was the moment to make Empower HerFuture come to life.

“Don’t mourn, Organize”. And that’s exactly what we did. Although we were in different parts of Europe, in a matter of weeks, millions of imessages and whatsapp calls later, we had conducted extensive research, sent out surveys, developed thorough, original and engaging curriculum, planned out budgets, designed and launched a website, Facebook and Instagram pages, and reached out to several schools across the California region. By the end of 2016, we had several jobs lined up for the upcoming school term, and were determined to make this vision a reality. Facilitating our first workshop two weeks ago, and the astoundingly positive responses we received, has made us more excited than ever to continue on our way with this venture.

Our 1st Workshop!

Having invested so much of our free time into this entrepreneurial venture has already paid off. When speaking with a number of professionals through the connections we have made at schools throughout California, and in recent job interviews, demonstrating that I have spent much of my free time dedicating myself to a project that means a lot to me, and has an impact larger than myself in my free time, shows a lot about who I am. Taking the time to zone out is absolutely valid and I am a huge promoter of self-care, but if you’re anything like me and develop bad habits quickly, I would recommend finding a project or small venture that you can work on in your free time, that would make you more productive and help break those bad habits. Whether this is a small-scale idea, such as volunteering for a local organization, or larger scale such as creating your own venture, showing employers that you are a curious, passionate and hard-working individual, even in your free time, is incredibly valuable to standing out and for them to get to know you a little better.

For this week’s post, I will focus on the final vital aspect that I gathered as a result of my EPP experience: interviewing. In my first post, I mentioned speed interviewing as one of the workshops in this winter intensive put on by CP&R. Are you sweating just thinking about it?? I definitely was when I first read the program description. But throughout the week, we practiced certain skills that allowed me to go into the interviews feeling confident and prepared, leaving me with a great experience overall.

Before we start, I want to highlight the importance of first impressions. Statistics show that when meeting new people, 55% of what we remember is the way someone dresses and acts and walks through the door, 38% is the quality of his/her voice, grammar and overall confidence, and 7% what he/she actually says. These startling statics reflect the importance of body language, confidence and other small, yet key factors that go into making a great first impression. Looking put together and professional when arrival is key to a great first impression, as is a great handshake and strong self-introduction. In one of the CP&R professionals panels, we asked their opinions on the importance of first impressions. Every person re-iterated that making a quality first-impression goes a long way. But, they also added that if you do mess up (because at some point everyone might) there are ways to redeem yourself, and that effort can mean the world.

One aspect I struggled with prior to my EPP training was how to tackle tough interview questions or feeling unprepared when going into an interview. CP&R provided the cohort with a story bank, which is basically a chart that allows you to fill out specific experiences that are associated with certain skills. In an interview, hiring managers look for specific examples that demonstrate your unique skills. It’s one thing to mention your great communication skills, for example, but it’s a whole other thing to actually show them. Thus, having a prepared story bank to draw from when asked a behavioral question in an interview, which allows you to illustrate your skills in a personal and clear-cut way, is so valuable to being prepared and confident. Anther approach to the story bank would be the STAR method, which stands for “situation, task, action, result”. Using these steps when outlining a story in an interview is very helpful to not getting lost or jumbled. Some examples of behavioral interview questions are:

-Give me an example of a time when you set a goal and you were able to meet or achieve it.

-What is your typical way of dealing with conflict?

-Tell me about a time when you delegated a project effectively.

Nerves often get the best of me, especially in an interview setting where the pressure to perform is high. I have often come out of an interview feeling like my nervous energy got the best of me, and the first impression that I gave them was not the best. Several things that we practiced were tips to relax and stay poised during an interview. For example, if a question catches you off guard, rather than launching directly into the question and getting flustered, or providing an answer that simply goes around the question, a good idea would be to respond, “That’s a great question, let me think about that for a minute”. Rather than giving a sub-par answer due to rushing, you have a few seconds to think clearly, take a deep breath and craft a better response. Speaking of breathing, don’t forget to do it! Taking a few deep breaths before and during the interview helps to release the pressure that seems to build up in our lungs and chest. Speaking slowly also allows for your brain to catch up with your stress-induced thoughts.

Next tip: ask questions. Something which was repeatedly mentioned is the importance of asking meaningful questions after the interview is over. Doing this exposes your eagerness to gain deeper insight on that specific company. Asking a well-crafted question that either refers to something your interviewer mentioned in the interview beforehand, or that shows you’ve done your research on the company is always great.

Finally, say thank you. The best thing you can do, needless to say, is to show your gratitude for the time the interviewer has taken to speak with you. A handwritten note that you can bring with you and fill out after the interview is over is a nice touch. Leaving the note with the receptionist or sending an email afterwards thanking them for their time and consideration is a bonus. In the email or note, mention something you found personally interesting or intriguing as this can help you stand out among the sea of other candidates.

These are a few tricks that we practiced before heading into the speed interviewing rounds, and they definitely paid off!