EFTI Talk Chynna Clayton

good afternoon welcome to our mondays with efti talk the eric of ritaheim tourism institute department of tourism hospitality and event management and the dean mike reed's inclusion diversity equity and access council in the college of health and human performance at the university of florida is presenting to you efti and idea talk focus on the story of our own hhp th e m alumina chyna clanton about her story from gainesville to the white house so i would like to take a moment to introduce our today's speaker china clinton so china clinton is currently the office of barak and masha obama director of travel and event operations and the body woman to michelle obama she is essentially mr obama's right-hand woman helping mrs obama connect with communities around the world china ensures every detail of miss mrs obama's personal and public facing events are executed flawlessly directing teams who coordinate mrs obama's domestic and international engagements originally from miami florida china is a florida girl through and through she was raised in a single parent household on the outskirts of liberty city florida china attended the university of florida where she received a dual degree in event management and a political science and a minor in business as a senior at the university of florida she landed a white house internship during the fall of 2010 after a few years in government relations at the world disney company she made her way back to the obamas and has been with obama ever since china has been featured in old magazine adsense magazine and miami herald the university of florida health and human performance magazine the netflix documentary becoming and most recently the michelle obama's spotify broadcast she strives every day to be the inspiration for young girls who look like her thank you so much china for taking time to spend your wonderful hour our wonderful hour with us so now uh we have a list of questions actually submitted by our students and the interested audience already so the first one is tell us about yourself especially especially about your style what your brain is what makes you stand out what you in and how you empower yourself yes so as you mentioned dr fu i'm originally from miami florida i grew up in a single parent household and my mother and my grandmothers were pretty much the community that raised me i honestly wouldn't be who i am today without those two i think at my core my style i'd have to say i'm an old soul right i grew up around a bunch of older women i was the youngest in my family and you know they sit around kitchen tables and on the back porches and i just soak in all their truths and all their knowledge um so my style is a bit of an old soul um you know and just to tell you a little bit more about you know my internship process and how all that came about so of course to fulfill the internship requirement for the college i applied to several internships one in atlanta um involving events for the nba team the atlanta hawks and then i had also applied to the white house internship while president obama was in office at the suggestion of one of the hhp advisor sarah actually um and i'm going to be very honest the white house internship wasn't my first choice i just knew that i wanted to live in atlanta after i graduated you know buy a nice house with a lot of land um and atlanta was the city that was booming at the time um you know so that was where initially i thought i'd wanted to go i wanted to go ahead do that internship you know didn't think twice about the white house and had it not been for my mom my mom actually told me she's like you know this white house internship is the opportunity of a lifetime you know when will you ever be able to be a part of history you know it's the first african-american administration you know she threw in the fact that we also had a cousin um who lived in dc that i could stay with rent free so that would help us financially as well because it's an unpaid internship um so when i landed that internship in the fall of um 2010 you know again it wasn't something that immediately i was just like this is it i had to be convinced believe it or not um but i do credit uh the internship program and and obviously the requirement from hhp um you know for the success of my career because i would have never thought to do an internship in the white house ever so i'm very grateful to sarah who you know informed me about that that opportunity um and i was able to seize it um so throughout after the internship um i went on the road doing something called advance which i'll make sure i describe a little later because i think it's a really good field for folks to consider because it is heavily involved with events um but i did a few years at the walt disney company in their government relations office about two years there um and then i received a call while i was there um from the office of the first lady to become michelle obama's body person and trip director so it you know i was just amazed um because again i had been you know in the world in their circle um doing advanced and then out of nowhere i get this call which is truly an honor um but once again i was hesitant to move on because this was towards the latter years of the administration um so i was unsure if i wanted to do that because i knew the administration would come to an end and i would be back on the job hunt following that time um so i was i was a little nervous because i'm like i have a really good job here at disney you know i i thrive on stability and i crave stability and i wasn't sure if i should take that next leap um but again my mother encouraged me and she's just like again this is the opportunity of a lifetime and i don't want you to hold yourself back from actualizing those dreams um so that's you know just a little bit about me um when it comes to my brand oh that's a good question i think i would describe myself as just truly authentic um and i've now come into a place where i'm more comfortable speaking up and using my voice i've always been a very very quiet person i'm opinionated right i have opinions on everything but i keep them to myself um so i've always been a very quiet person and it wasn't until working with mrs obama that she encouraged me she's like you have a lot of things to say and a lot of good things and a lot of good feedback um you know and you should speak up more so she encouraged me to kind of you know become more comfortable with utilizing my voice and being okay um you know sharing my story and sharing more about myself so that's wonderful so again march today is march 1st and march is a women's history month so for you to be right now as our speaker and you mentioned two women in your life mrs mr obama and your mother and now you become the role model of many many young female students many girls who look like you who really would like to look for other opportunities in white house or in our tourism hospitality event management you have been doing so wonderfully thank you china so now tell us a little bit about your emotion when you got a phone call from michelle obama what was your reaction so well i received a phone call from her office um and essentially they were just like you know mrs obama um has noticed you on the road and she noticed the hard work that you've been putting in um and she wants to know if you would be interested in being her body person and i was just you know again in that moment it was just an honor um but i'll also tell you that i um after the internship i'd also applied to numerous positions in the office of the first lady and i was denied every time but there was something that you know told me like don't give up right just just keep going there's a reason that you know you're you're being denied in these positions there's something bigger coming there's something bigger even when i would sit there at my office at disney i always felt that the president and the first lady would eventually know me by my first name you know i felt something there and i always figured that i was in the works for something bigger you know i've been denied so much but something was going to pay off eventually so when i received that phone call i was like and here it is this is exactly what i've been waiting for you know none of the other positions were for me but this one right here was truly meant for me oh i love it always yeah i would say um you really have that in your heart so uh you don't give up no yeah no and you didn't give up and you looked up and the best the best opportunity came after you because you have been so faithful you are doing everything so i would say with great responsibility and then with a big champion always started with a small championship so congratulations i love your story okay now i know you're very humble but now i want to ask you what makes you stand out there were tons of influence and now you have been the selected one tell us about your experiences and what again makes you stand out and how you empower yourself so i think what makes me or what made me stand out back then um was just honestly my work ethic um you know again like i said i was very quiet and you know i was always focused on just the task at hand and completing that i wasn't there for facetime i wasn't there to become you know best friends with the president and the first lady i was just there to do my job and do it um you know to the fullest because i knew um what was on the line with them being the first african-american administration there was a lot of pressure there were a lot of eyes on us so we had to get it right um so you know i was just a hard worker i really really was um and i was dedicated to ensuring that every event that i was a part of was executed flawlessly every detail was thought through every person you know who walked through the doors um you know had a great experience from start to finish so from the moment they picked up a ticket to the moment they parked in the lot to the moment they were in line waiting to get in you know um and the moment they actually got a chance to hear the president the first lady the vice president or even the second lady at that time um you know i just needed to ensure that the experience was a full experience um and you know i think that's one thing that we have to always remember with events it's the experience doesn't necessarily start when you enter the event space or the room in which the event's happening it starts in the parking lot it starts the minute they purchase a ticket you know so you want to think through all those kind of details that's awesome i really love your brand your brand is your work ethics and your brand is the quality of excellence you deliver love it love it love it uh so now you have uh touched down a little bit about how was your career path but now i think this is a question from one of our students they would like to know what is the most exciting memorable experience you can share with us from working with the obama family yes hmm enough it's like let me really think about this i think one of the most memorable experiences um honestly within my career was when we hosted our final black history month event at the white house in 2016. um and we had a day-long workshop centered around dance and we brought in iconic leaders and dance such as debbie allen judith jameson um virginia johnson and essentially we filled the halls um with local dc students most of which were young young girls of color and it just meant so much to me to see these little black girls you know little ballerinas dancing beneath the portraits of like george washington and martha washington and dancing in rooms that we were never intended to step foot inside you know aside from us the laborers who built the building we were never intended to actually be there in that way um and i think it was just truly a full circle moment for me um you know the family has always been about reaching as many people as they can and and ensuring that as many people um received access to the white house right and and that these events were or were excessive were as accessible as possible um you know because a lot of people do not get that experience so it was one of those things where they wanted to make sure those doors were wide open and as many people as as could could come and enjoy you know a white house experience um so i i think it was in that moment that i really or what really resonated with me was you know we were truly a part of history in that moment you know it was such a unique experience to support the obamas you know i love it i love you especially when you are in charge you can really direct the opportunities absolutely the opportunities and you're in charge and at least how you are able you were able and you are still able and you will continue to be able to utilize all the opportunities to make history so that's oh yes that's the best it's not only ordinary experiences but we are talking about the life-changing experience absolutely absolutely and that experience was definitely life-changing for those for those students that day for sure yeah and doctor who i did want to talk a little bit about advance um because it was a huge part of my career path and i want to make sure the students know about this opportunity if you don't mind oh i don't know at all that's why you are here i want you to tell our students i want you to tell our 52 000 55 000 students everybody they all shall come to join us and choose a major okay now china so after the white house internship um i eventually went on to do something called advance for the obamas and the bidens and quite honestly it allowed me to utilize both of my degrees i'd never thought i'd have that opportunity so the event management side and obviously the political science side um and going into the internship i had no idea what that what advance was i just knew that in the description it mentioned events um and i came to learn that advance is essentially the event planning arm of the white house but on the road so outside of the physical white house itself right we do all the events um you know across the country internationally anything outside of the actual white house so essentially we were the peop the people behind the scenes who handle all of the all of the logistics for political and government events um all the principles movements sub coordinating their every step which always they'll go through which elevators they'll they'll take um and so i went on the road um for all principals and we call them principals so that's the president the first lady the vice president the second lady um and prior to this i'd actually never traveled any further than i'd say going west new orleans going north washington dc so you know this was advanced gave me the opportunity to also travel the world um you know i've now i can now say i've gone to um to india i can now say i i've gone to south africa and all these amazing places through this one opportunity um so when it comes to the event logistics that we cover right it's airport arrivals so coordinating with air force one secret service you know where the plane will chalk um where the press will be while the plane is arriving um you know motorcade logistics um you know the site logistics of what the stage will look like the backdrop uh crowd logistics making sure people you know have access to tickets um ensuring that the line flows in a way that makes sense thinking of you know your ada individuals so every little detail of the event is covered by the advanced team your press logistics what media will have access what that will look like for them so i just wanted to make sure i explained a little bit more about that because it's not only something that happens in the white house it happens across advances offered across all government agencies so when you think about events you don't necessarily have to think about the traditional um you know hospitality industry in hotels and things of that nature corporations but there's also event planning within the government structure as well awesome but that is very good point so audience students you heard the point event is everywhere absolutely always i always believe that education health health system and our hospitality tourism events will never go away those issues that is part of our human society yes so definitely the event and again the the four star and the five star difference is about the details so there is the brand there is the very well i would say well pre-prepared uh event planning that you have delivered thank you for sharing so you have touched on it'll be the next question i was about to ask you but i will still mention this and then see if you would like to add any uh addition to this question okay but um you are a great resources about working from a government perspective many would like to learn from you how events industry was different in the government i think you mentioned a little bit but do you have any additions that you like to add to this question that students at yeah the biggest addition is the budget it is not unlimited you have to stay within a very uh particular budget um so you'll find yourself you know i think doing advanced we are some of the most creative people because you have to figure out how to give people champagne on a beer budget um so we get very creative um you know and and i think too uh another thing to consider with events within government um you know sometimes you feel as if it gets a little boring because it's the same you know flags flags everywhere that's all you usually see with government events but if you allow yourself um to think outside of the box or to really um tap into your creativity you can create a backdrop that is beyond just flags and blue piping drape right so you can create a backdrop that was centered you know if you do something that's outdoors and there's a barn in the back and you you know you fly a flag from the barn or you are beyond you know just outside the capitol building or there's something at a school and you know so a lot of times people feel that you know you get a little bored with government events but there is a way to make them stand out but part of the reason why you do see a lot of the same is due to budget nine times out of ten so wonderful i love i think the takeaways from what you have just mentioned one and think outside the box two is how to use beer budget to provide and then then three is i think i might go ahead to apply for white house english i'm not retired if they take this kind of group okay next one little bit uh relax a little bit where did you get inspiration and knowledge from books movies speakers [Music] so i think most of my inspiration uh comes from my mother um and it and it's partly because i noticed her sacrifices for me um obviously being a single parent um you know she worked the graveyard shift so that she could be available to me during the day for school um you know she always wanted me to feel supported and she always wanted to be at every event she could possibly be at so that i knew that i mattered um and so my mom was my main inspiration and she's a daily inspiration quite honestly because you know when i think about all that she has poured into me um i strive to never let her down you know and and i strive to be a a a shining example of what her sacrifices lent themselves to um so she is definitely you know just an overall inspiration for me um and i think when it comes to you know work and knowledge um i have found myself and especially in the midst of 2020 given the pandemic given you know um all of the the racial issues and unrest that we've experienced um i find myself leaning heavily on documentaries um and partly because you know that is old true footage um and and i i found myself wanting to know things for myself and not just having people telling me you know from school or from this this is how it is this is what it was um so just really being um you know into documentaries and looking at all the old footage and and and just saying oh well wow you know who knew that things were like that back then or or who really knew um you know how government was as crazy as it was back then and i'm just thinking of one particular documentary called slow burn and it was about the nixon administration and it just blew my mind you know um and and i think about that now because i feel like years from now we will also have that kind of footage you know based on what we just experienced um and and i hope people don't look at us and say what were they thinking you know i hope we are finally on track to to um to have folks not think about that or the other way we all are tough enough for being in such difficult situations we survive and for event planner like you you are making generational impacts that's what we do as an educator here within the higher education system everything we say somehow if we talk to uh 100 students and perhaps 10 listen to the concepts and make the changes then we are making the difference so same thing every event you are in charge people will remember and that's their lifetime experience so yes yes that's wonderful so and again back to our very first uh question how do you empower yourself so watching the documentary miss michelle obama's um her attitude her encouragement and your mom especially so what else how do you empower yourself yeah i think you know another way um that i kind of empower myself um is by having conversations like this and especially with younger with the younger generation um and and explaining to them that these things are possible right the more you the more they're able to see themselves or someone who looks like them in these positions the more they know that it's achievable um so talking to them and mentoring and and and just really taking the time um to foster relationships with the younger generation um because for me if they do not have to be met with the same obstacles that i was then that's a win so if i if i can truly help them navigate certain situations so that they aren't defeated you know in certain aspects of life um then then yeah it's it's just something that feeds me and and gives me that power to keep going thank you um you are touching the world by touching the love and then touching the life or one at a time and sometimes one so spread the life spread love that that's such a good mission you are thank you bro and you are doing it love it and i have one thing i want to say to your mom chinese mama thank you so much so well hope you are watching us and i would like to make a phone call to you so i want to tell your mom what a wonderful mom she has raised you such a so smart so wise and so powerful woman love it keep a bit of powerful woman okay so being a gator so now happy little bit what is the best advice you received before leaving uf i know you mentioned sarah i'm sure she's gonna say and it had to be sarah told me she will join us so i'm sure she's with so uh academic advisors if you are listening to this never underestimate what you mentioned to our students now china tell us about the advice you receive and i think on that same note so you know obviously sarah with the suggestion to apply uh for the white house internship right some of the best advice that i received prior to leaving the university but when i entered the university of florida i was actually a business major and math and i did not agree and so i sat down with an advisor um and you know she mentioned like there's this there's this major in event management and i was just like what and she's like yeah she's like so you know we we discussed some of my interests and i explained that like in high school i planned all these events and you know i really enjoyed it um and she's like well we have a major for that and i was like get out of here like i had no idea um so i think i would have to say that was also some of you know the best advice that i received so truly truly listen to your advisors and they are there to help you and they are there to help you navigate college um so i owe a lot of my decision making and you know the things that charted my career path to my advisors back at uf thank you thank you so being a gator been a gator once a gator always a gator no major which gator in which college so this is a message to our business school students if you don't feel that mathematics talk to you or students from any other colleges come to us there is china's take away thank you love it okay so we have a very big arm we welcome everybody this is a happy this is we are in the business of happiness we want to experience that you stay uh stay well and we can deliver good messages and deliver happiness to other groups as well so the next question is the network can help you as you graduated from the uf program and the following uh the following up question is what networking connections ended up being most valuable when you graduated what about now hmm so you know the interesting thing is i would not consider myself a networker in the traditional sense of the word right um doing during my internship it took me a while to kind of warm up to staff and and not necessarily feel like i was bothering them because they were just always so busy with work um and something that i remember that made things easier to kind of become a little bit more open to networking was when we would have these brown bag sessions which is um you know we'd have some of the staff sit in uh with the interns and they just tell us about themselves they tell us their story how they got there you know what their interests were um and i think knowing someone's backstory is what helped me to become a little bit more comfortable with the idea of going to them and networking per se um you know i i knew that there were folks who were gator fans so it was easy this you know it was during the fall it's during football season so it's easy for me to say oh did you see that game last night what'd you think and it kind of opened the conversation up um so when i think about networking i really don't go into it with the intention um to just build a relationship to gain something from someone i go with it i go into it with the intention um of genuinely getting to know someone and i think for at that point it becomes less of traditional networking but just being genuine um and it goes a lot further those connections go a lot further um you know when they're more genuine instead of targeted if that makes sense yes yes yeah i can see i think you are carrying that authentic leadership just think about when you're operating all the events for obama's family and that's really connecting to the whole world not only california not only washington dc but all over the world the celebrities politicians educators girls boys from all villages and there is authentic leadership right absolutely absolutely and you know i think about some of some of the relationships or connections that have formed um from doing advance and being within the obama world and i wouldn't have gotten the job at disney um had i not formed those relationships uh through advance on the road because we'd obviously do a lot of events with disney and people came to know me and i was always nice and you know a hard worker yet again and willing to help people figure things out and just always there to lend a helping hand um so when the position became available at disney they reached out to me immediately so i think you know one thing that i would definitely recommend is um you know always treating people with kindness and i know it sounds very cliche um but if you are just friendly and you are just striking up conversation to get to know people and you are kind um that connection is going to be extremely valuable and that connection will carry you a lot further than if someone can kind of sense that you're just trying to get to know them to get something from them um so that that you know and in our line of work your connections are are truly truly valuable i agree totally agree it's like the same thing when we teach in classroom when students know we care then students will listen yes yeah and when we want to bring up the network and again our people our friends they know we care then we can build up our apprenticeship and long-term vendorship oh yes so china here is one more question how uh what do you wish you would have known when you started in the event industry hmm that's a good one you know i think what i wish i would have known um well this is how i'll say it um although i'm really flexible i wish i would have known the extent of just how flexible we have to be because things are constantly changing right your host is constantly wanting something different your client doesn't thought they wanted this yesterday and they changed their minds today um you know there will be natural things that come into effect whether it's nature and you always have to be ready to pivot on a dime um so i think early on i wish that i would have been a lot more flexible i am now obviously um but in the beginning you know you you have this concept and you you really want to you know drill in on your concept but it's like at the end of the day this is this person's event so you know you have to be amenable to whatever changes or you know whatever last minute things they throw at you um and instead of having this one tracked idea of what the event should be could be um just being very open to it being uh you know constantly in flux and a flow until it's time yeah and this is because you are very organized so that's why you already got your plan yeah right it's like we've already put this much work into it and now we have to start from the beginning yeah yeah okay let's very good okay be flexible students yes yes let's be flexible and flexible okay how did your networking connections help you mentioned about how you had a very good relationship when you were with this name and then now you are with obama's family and can you talk about how did your networking connection help and how are your networking connections help yeah you know so i think um the way i look at that is you never know when you may need to call on someone right or when someone may need to call on you um so i do really cherish every opportunity i get to meet people um and at the end of the day you know being in this this orbit in this world you just never know what the date's going to bring um so essentially if i can reach back out to someone that i met 10 years ago but because we fostered this genuine relationship you know it's okay to reach back out and and they remember me and they're willing to do things and not just because i'm connected to the obamas right people are willing to do things because of me and the type of person that i am and what i've shown them or what i've given to them um so that that's kind of how you know i would say that the that the networking has helped or or these connections have helped me without you know pinpointing a specific connection um but but truly truly truly being genuine and and and you know fostering relationships that are lasting um because quite honestly there have been multiple times where i've reached back out to somebody from five years ago and they there was no hesitation in them helping us out or or you know promoting something that we needed them to promote or attending an event or you know being a part of something that we needed them to be a part of um so so definitely take the time to foster connection beyond just one offs love it yeah take time to foster relations yes and make those everlasting friendships oh yes relationships so now again for our students what advice i think you have touched down so many good elements so in conclusion what advice would you give to students to achieve a successful path in a career yeah so uh put in the work you know put in the work um honestly treat others the way you want to be treated i always make it a point that no matter how small someone may make me feel at times or how offensive someone has been you know i remember that person's actions and how they make me feel and i vow to never impose those feelings on anyone else you know i i vow to be better and do better um so between hard work between you know again just being kind it gets you far i'm trying to tell you guys um so between hard work being kind um being resilient because you may not always you know get a yes on your on your first opportunities you may get quite a few no's before you end up getting a yes um but but you know maintaining resilience um and then also being professional you know it goes a long way yes professionalism enterprise being a gator we are tough you're tough guys so a few knows we still can survive i can still do it yes yes so this is another question what are the greatest stumbling blocks students can avoid when taking a government position so you were the intern with a dual degree in our hospitality events also with political science and it was such a position in white house so what was your advice so i think some of the stumbling blocks um that we encounter um would be going into government with the goal of pleasing everyone um because there will always always always be someone who does not agree or someone who isn't happy with what you're doing um it's just the nature of the political game right um and even when you're making decisions in which the results you know can have the best possible outcomes for the most people there will always be someone who doesn't like it so you have to go into politics with tough skin and knowing you know nine times out of ten someone's gonna be unhappy regardless of how good my intentions are and being okay with that um and i also think we have to go into these things being our our authentic selves um we've been taught to to hide so much of ourselves um and only project certain things and i think it's a shame you know because we should not be ashamed of our stories and we should not be ashamed of our path um our past sorry it's it's our power right it's what makes us unique it's what allows us um you know to truly connect in ways um that that we haven't before you know when somebody understands a little bit more about you and they understand your upbringing you connect in a way i love it yeah i know i think probably i have mentioned 100 i love it we're beginning till now but i really love it the takeaway for me and i i believe i perceive for our students will be well we are in our gator nation so we are we are connected and now yes get a nation we are gator universe and a negator a true gator authenticator what do we have of course tough skin another one has even tougher skin than we have so yes been an authentic gator with tough skin and we are gated universe so this is my takeaway love you thank you so china the next one i would like to shift to a little bit to talk about diversity and inclusion because a part of our today's program uh dean reed is a visionary leader so under his leadership right now we have dean's idea council it stands for uh diversity inclusion idea equity and assets so we have this council and we i would like to hear your what's your opinion on the current efforts for inclusion and the diversity from your observation either in white house or in general what do you think yeah you know so i'm hopeful um that all of the work that's going into diversity and inclusion right now um will be a lasting effort right and not just a fad um because reputation representation makes a huge huge difference and especially for young people you know for them to see someone who looks like them in positions of power and and actually being successful in their positions um you know sick it signals to them that things are achievable that this is achievable that it gives them something to aspire to um you know mrs obama always says um you know there is power and seeing who you can become you know but you have to know that these paths and these people exist so my hope is that you know the the current work that's being done in diversity and inclusion um you know will continue on um you know and and and i'm hopeful that that work is going to ensure that these young people are seeing themselves and that representation is always there yeah i agree i'm into that yes yeah generational work and we are one one human being wow this is the one thing we all really all interconnected yes yes yes connected yes and be respectful yes for each other yes thank you so now i'm going to shift to a little bit um what advice do you have for students and the young professionals who are minorities to navigate well in this industry so this is a question from our students directly yeah um so this is what i'll say to the minority students um we are huge contributors to the workplace you know whether or not people to choose to acknowledge that we are huge contributors to the workplace and i believe um that we have a different narrative to offer and we need to have seats at the table especially at the levels where decisions are being made that will have direct impacts on our industry and on our communities you know we have to be present in order to speak to our own issues and address the things that are totally foreign to others so don't ever let someone make you feel like you don't belong don't ever let anyone you know make you feel like there's no room for you or there isn't a seat at the table for you because we absolutely deserve to be in every room we walk into yes stand tall and understand and embrace our identity absolutely yes so right now uh one more industry question then we will turn the q a to our audience the audience if you could type your question uh in the q and a window and china will get back to you in a few minutes so this question how has kobe 19 affected the events industry from your perspectives oh yeah so i think that's you know i think covet 19 um has caused us to look at things through a different lens um you know the pandemic has truly wreaked havoc on our industry but the industry isn't dead right it's just evolving um we are some of the best people and like i mentioned earlier to to handle adapting to change right we we are built for that we are built to adapt to change um because there's constant changes um within our everyday you know um within our everyday field so honestly you know i just really hope that the students aren't deterred from what the pandemic has done to us because our industry isn't dead um you know again we've evolved and and we now have to kind of get into the mindset of putting on events from a virtual perspective right that's just the nature of it for the next few years until we can get things back to a safe place um but we are built for this we are built to evolve we are built to adapt to this change um so just you know believe in our industry believe in yourselves and know that we're gonna make it out of this okay yes and again the good news is i have mentioned this during our previous efti talk there is no such everlasting virus so the virus will will pass and also pace but humanity will stay health care was the education was the tourism hospitality that is a big part of human beings celebrations worst day that's why well off we want to spend time quality time with our family beloved one to enjoy good quality food wonderful vacation so now i'm going to turn the stage to our audience and we have two q a but also a few chat i'm going to i know china you are you can see the chat too but our sarah sarah is here she said i'm here smiling face how exciting is to see you thriving and inspiring so proud of the wonderful professional and role model you are china you are for so many young girls you continue to amaze i have happy tears today and the faculty members in our th em everybody has tears today and i remember when i had a conversation with you i had tears in my eyes and i always i almost bounced out my chair because i was just so happy uh to our conversation um we have a few uh notes from our audience in the chat what day to day routines do you have in place to keep yourself organized and on track with your events and life in general yes so i live by lists and planners and reminders um so i literally have a monthly planner a little small one that i keep in my purse that keeps track of all of my personal stuff you know my my doctor's appointments and hair appointments and you know all those things obviously prior to covet that's a little different um but that's what kept my personal life organized and then when it comes to work and the events you know i i constantly uh keep a running to-do list and you know i wake up every morning and i'm looking at this list um and you know i shifting things around based on what's time-sensitive what needs a response today um you know what can wait until tomorrow what i'm waiting for information on before i can continue you know before i can hit send on this email or send something out or share anything but there's also a tool that's been very helpful we use microsoft outlook in our office and it's called cortana and essentially what it does is every morning i get an email um that has that this and it's a productivity um assistant is what they call it and what this thing has done is gone through my entire inbox and it lets me know who i owe responses to based on me saying i'll get back to you or i'll send this you know to you tomorrow or whatever and it and it shows me that so every morning i can start by saying okay this is who i need to kind of you know get back to in addition to my to-do list um so that's been very helpful and then i'm constantly setting reminders just given the nature of my job um you know things are just always coming at me so i have to write things down and i have to remind myself you know okay today this is dude tomorrow i need to address this um you know and your mind can only retain so much your memory can only retain so much um so between to-do lists and reminders and a planner that is truly how i keep myself organized thank you for sharing and then our next question um i think lots of students would like to learn would be what advice would you have for students looking for when applying for internships wow so you know i'm gonna be quite honest when when i um you know what was was looking for my internship the only thing outside of knowing that i wanted to be in atlanta um the only thing that i was looking for was descriptions that mentioned the word event i was very naive in the sense that you know i was just like okay anything that says events let me look into this let me look into that um but i also knew i did not necessarily want to do a traditional you know internship with a wedding planning company or internship you know within a hotel i wanted to do something that was a little bit more out of the box so i did sit down and i said you know what organizations what companies what fields and industries have events and quite honestly it's every single one of them um so i went you know and i looked into um the sports arenas and i'm like okay what kind of even internships do they offer so between nba nfl you know mlb um and applied for those um then you know i thought about radio stations and the fact that they also have to host events so i applied for radio station uh internships and then obviously uh sarah had mentioned the white house uh government internship but you know the advice that i would give is to you know sometimes you are fortunate enough to land opportunities that you truly truly are passionate about in cities and states that you know where you want it to be and there are other times that that won't necessarily be the case um so just want to be very realistic about that but i do think that you should lead with what you're passionate about where do you see yourself you know post graduation where would you like to be so maybe start looking for internships within that city and state you know but the other part of that is if the internship is unpaid then perhaps you want to look at internship opportunities in places you know that that um that work better for you financially so there are a bunch of different factors to consider when you're applying for internships um but first and foremost if you can afford to lead with your passion lead with where you think you want to be or the field or industry that you think you want to go into post-graduation um so that you can get that experience under your belt and you may decide that hey nope after that internship this is not where i want to go i want to try something different it's very good tips thank you china we also have two very similar questions but i'm going to put into one how did you motivate yourself whenever you felt any discouragement during your journey to eventually working with michelle obama and very similar how do you motivate yourself when you are feeling discouraged and i wanted to say how grateful i am that you took the time out of your day to talk to us oh of course i'm gonna take time out to speak to fellow gators um you know mota so when it comes to the motivation piece reflection is what helps me motivate um when i sit back and i think about just my life in general not necessarily all of the accolades and achievements in that part of my story but i just think about the fact that you know i was a product of a single parent household um and my father actually went to prison when i was three or three years old um so you know when you think about that upbringing it wasn't necessarily guaranteed that i would follow the path that i'm currently on right now you know when i think about my struggles in school when i think about you know being denied from certain positions but yet i'm still here you know so when i reflect over my life that's what kind of motivates me to keep going because i'm like although denied this or although you know given my upbringing um you know pretty much your cast out from the beginning um you know i i still have overcome those things and that's what motivates me to keep going because i'm just like there is a bigger purpose over my life right there is there there are things that i have achieved that i am proud of graduating high school graduating college you know simple little things that are not necessarily guaranteed we got to learn how to give ourselves a pat on the back for those small accomplishments in our mind but those are huge you know when you when when you look at life in general because they aren't promised um so that's what kind of motivates me just taking the time to reflect over life yeah thank you china i think every moment you reflect it on your life and you always live on your life they really show how deep that you want to become the person that you ought to be and you create the opportunity you do not just sit there and wait for the opportunity to come to me you prepare yourself for the opportunity that's such a wonderful life lesson for all of us to learn so i'm this is the last question how much do you think t-h-e-m the program of studies prepare you to work in event industry oh it 100 prepared me you know um so i actually would keep a lot of my old notes in my textbooks um and when when i started getting into the field of advance and we you know discussed certain things i was like wait a minute i go home and i pull out my book and i was like okay we did learn about this and you know here's something on budget and here's something on this and so these um my my course studies truly truly did help me um you know navigate the events world um you know and and and quite honestly just the experience the internship um you know being being in these spaces and seeing how these events come together and learning a different style of events um so you know it was a culmination of all of it so the studies the coursework but also being in the field um you know helped prepare me thank you so much i cannot tell you how much i appreciate you i'm giving a virtual hack this is thank you so much for being our speaker again uh i would love for you to continuously uh connect with our students our gators and i know your life story is so uh not only one story but your stories are so inspirational i'm so touched and i'm so grateful for you making time to be with us thank you so much china and of course thank you for your time and insights uh china really i really appreciate so much uh alex and students i appreciate you and your presence i hope you enjoy our webinar as much as i have enjoyed you and especially our speaker china look forward to seeing you all again on monday march 15th and so china before we all depart you have one more thing want to say to an audience what will you tell them well i just wanted to say you know i am happy to be a resource um you know so feel free if you want to connect with me i'm available i will make the time trust me um but but i i do want to just encourage everyone to continue the good fight um you know just because we've experienced what we've experienced within this past year um don't do not let it deter you you know do do not let this you know discourage you from moving or continuing on with the field and events we're gonna be okay trust me we're gonna be okay so i i hope that more students actually join our college um because it was one of the best and it still is awesome so remember hhp is the best phdm is the best so we open our arms we want you all to join us and the china will be in our corner thank you so much china we will come to see you wherever you and the obamas and we want to support you in every way we could as well thank you so much china you all have a wonderful day

2021-04-09 13:07

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