Who You Are Matters

I was born and raised in Westlake Village, California. My mom was born in Haiti and moved to Los Angeles when she was only four years old while my dad was born in Florence, Italy. My parents met in Italy when they were in their early twenties and decided to move back to Los Angeles after having my older brother due to the abundance of opportunities in America. However, most of my mother's side of the family is from the greater Los Angeles area so I am constantly surrounded by family.   

After graduating, I will work in Glendale, California for an insurance brokerage called Gallagher. I will pursue a sales producer role and build my network and career in Los Angeles because this is where I feel most at home. Los Angeles is so special to me because I love being on the west coast and staying near my family is something that is very important to me. I plan to get here by utilizing the connections I have made at USC and further establish my identity as a young professional in Los Angeles. I see myself settling down in California, however, I would love to spend a couple of years in New York City to experience a new environment and meet new people. I am especially excited to work at Gallagher because the company has a variety of offices, including Manhattan. 

I am similar to my mom because I share the same love for people and for being unauthentically myself. She has taught me from a young age to always pursue what makes me happy while always giving back to others. She is my biggest role model because not only has she been my best friend since birth, she has been my biggest supporter through anything.

I am similar to my dad because we share the exact same humor. He has taught me to not take life too seriously and that comedic relief is a way to make a bad situation into an entertaining and lighthearted one. 

 

I am unlike my mom because she is very patient and I am not patient in the slightest bit. This is one of the things I need to work on because if I had more patience, I'd be less anxious and my mom is one of the least anxious people I know.

I am unlike my dad because he is always on time. I am similar to my mom in this aspect because we always are late to quite literally everything. I think this stems from my spontaneity, procrastination, and my inability to accurately estimate how long things will take me.

Since a young age, I have always developed expectations for myself. I have always been passionate about being financially independent in my future because unfortunately I have expensive taste and I want to be able to live a comfortable life. With that, I really value work-life balance because I feel like since we only have one life to live, its my duty to do the things that will bring value to my life. One of the things I see myself doing in the future is traveling all over Europe to spend more time with my family in Italy and to explore new cultures that will add richness to my perspective of the world. 

Someone who serves as my role model is one of my professors, Kristen Jaconi. She is my role model because she is not only a woman with many talents, she is an angel. When I took my first class with her a couple of semesters ago, she made me and all of my classmates felt cared for and was my personal cheerleader while I was looking for a post-graduation job. She was able to guide me through the job search process while constantly reminding me of my worth and how I could be an asset to any place I wanted to go. She is also very involved in giving opportunities to students from diverse backgrounds because she believes there's a lot of untapped potential in students all across the country. She was the first person who made me believe that I was truly a part of a Trojan family that would support me through my aspirations. 

An animal that I feel a spiritual connection with is the Emperor Penguin. Since birth, I have always loved penguins, and one of my favorite movies to this day is Happy Feet. I think I feel such a special connection with penguins because, in many parts of the world, penguins symbolize hope and resilience. They also symbolize dreams, adaptability, closeness, and family. These are all very important to me because I believe adaptability is the key to success. If you are able to adapt to any situation you are in, you could be successful.

When I was young, my favorite plant was honeysuckle because it symbolized innocence. I remember every day before school I would have a honeysuckle bush outside of my house and I would always pick a flower and suck out the honey for my ever-evolving sweet tooth. I would always tell my friends when they came over for a playdate that it was the sugar tree that would always be there even when parents said you could have no more sugar. To this day, the bush is still in my front yard and every time I pass by it, it makes me happy. 

My sun sign is Scorpio and my moon and rising sign are both Aries. I think this chart symbolizes me very well because Lunar Aries are known to be emotionally responsive and impulsive at times, as they lead with fiery passions over logic or reason. Aries ascendants are known as the go-getters of the zodiac. They don't let anything stand in the way of achieving their personal goals. Scorpio sun is about passion, excitement, and living life to the fullest, but with a mission. As I mentioned above, my self-expectations are to be independent by chasing my own success. At the same time, I fail to think logically at times because of my passionate emotions.