A Shoutout to My Mentors

I have had so many mentors over the years that have truly shaped me into who I am today. It would take me several blog posts to explain all of them to you so I will just highlight a few that have made a significant impact on my life.

When it comes to the next chapter of my life at Saint Mary's School., my four most important mentors include Emily Smith, Jossette Holland, Morgan Phillips and John Gillespie. I think Emily Smith played an integral part In my decision to go to SMS becuase of her bubbly energy when she interviewed me and always being in my corner giving me the best advice. Jossette Holland was the Dean of Students at SMS and when her and I would meet one on one she made me feel so confident and sure of myself. She truly made me understand the power of our female voice in the world. I told her that my dream was to become a Marshal at Saint Mary's School and she encouraged me to run for the position and my dream ended up coming true when I was elected to this role Junior year. Ms. Philips was my advisor and college counselor at Saint Mary’s and played a very important role in my development into who I am. Whenever I would come to her with anxious thoughts she would ask, “is this really the end of the world?” This really helped me to have a good perspective on life and to not overthinking things that were not worth overthinking. Lastly, John Gillespie really helped me to get a handle on my ADD through creating a note card with me that went through three simple steps to not make me overthink my answers on tests.

Although UNC is a much larger school than Saint Mary's, I have made it a point to develop strong mentors that have helped me navigate through my four years of college and shape me into who I am today. Not only have they shaped me, but they made a big school feel small and somewhere I feel at home, The mentors that stick out to me the most at UNC are Gary Kayye, Bernard Bell, Livis Freeman and Jed Simmons. I remember going into UNC not knowing exactly what I wanted to major or minor in, but knew I wanted it to be something that allowed me to explore my creativity and passion for public speaking and connecting with people as well as generating thought provoking ideas.

I remember taking one of the beginner pre-requisite classes to see if I wanted to take the major, MEJO 137 with Gary Kayye and his engaging energy and the interesting things we learned about advertising made me want to major in Advertising and Public Relations in the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media. Ever since taking this class with Gary, he has become a very crucial mentor in my life who I constantly seek advice from. From this moment on I knew I wanted to take as many classes that he offered and I heard so many people rave about this MEJO 477 and MEJO 577 classes. In MEJO 477 class called New Media Technology and Its Impact on the Future of Advertising, Marketing & PR we worked together on a class project encompassing a virtual event that we had to create, brand, market and execute live over the course of the semester. I was a part of the video team, which was a hype up video for our campaign called Reconnect Carolina, which is intended to reconnect all the current students and alumnae to each other and UNC through a scavenger hunt, where people can send in photos completing the tasks to win prizes. I was on the video team for this class project, which consisted of writing the script, filming the video, choosing the music, and participating in the video itself to hype up the campaign launch. I loved this class so much and it really helped me to hone in on my collaboration skills and leverage my creativity. Then in MEJO 577 Branding of Me we learn all about personal branding and how to sell ourselves and our brand, which has included doing these blogs. At first the blogging was very daunting and overwhelming, but once I got the swing of it it became very natural and therapeutic. I think that one day I will look back on these blogs and be really thankful that I took the time to write them. Not to mention, Gary's goal is to demonstrate the best version of our authentic selves to the world and I definitely think that he has pushed me to do that and grow as a person.

Another one of my mentors is Bernard Bell, who has sincerely impacted my life more than he can ever know. Although I did not expect to become an e-minor, this unexpected venture ended up being exactly what I needed in my Carolina experience. I am so thankful I stumbled into his office Sophomore year when he inspired me to go to Shanghai, China on the Shuford Away Program that following summer, During this program, I was able to confide in Bernard and my peers, truly challenge myself and emerge as a changed individual forever because of my experience in Shanghai, which was culture shocking, career provoking and self-development and reflection focused. Bernard truly does push me to strive for success not just in the academic or career world, but in my personal life. I value his opinion, advice and critiques so highly and whatever time I spend with Bernard I know helps mold me into a stronger, more confident person that has a growth mindset.

Jed Simmons is a professor at UNC and Duke that I was fortunate enough to have this year. I took his ECON 327 Entertainment and Media class, which was an amazing class. I got to meet the most amazing people from companies such as Peloton, Apple Music, Netflix and so many more! I also completed case studies on Gimlet Media and TikTok, which were both really exciting companies to research and learn about. Also, we were broken up into teams where we had to do stimulation exercise for a company which was a really cool experience to get to work with students from Duke and present my ideas. I also got to meet with Jed individually on Zoom and over the phone where I sought career advice during my job search. I can honestly say that this was one of my all time favorite classes I took at UNC and I am so thankful I have gained an incredible mentor like Professor Simmons that I know I will keep in touch with.

Lastly, but certainly not least is Livis Freeman. I met Livis during the thick of quarantine when I decided to take MEJO 379 with him this summer. Since then, I took his MEJO 490 Career Prep class and his MEJO 634 PR Campaigns class., which have all been highlights of my time at UNC. Not only is Livis a great teacher, he is also a wonderful person. He makes you feel so respected and valued and I feel I can open up to him about my ideas and thoughts on life itself. He gives the best advice and he really does care about his students. He wants them to succeed both in the classroom and outside the classroom. He has taken the time to learn who I am as a person and we have created this great mentor relationship that I know will never end. You can't get rid of me now Livis, you are stuck with me for the long haul. I can't imagine what my life would have been like if I had never had Livis Freeman as a teacher and as a mentor.