Congratulations Orqui on becoming April’s MVM! What did you have in mind when you became the first VP of the Alumnae Relations committee?
When I first signed up as VP, I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. I didn’t know what the alumnae were looking for, but I knew they wanted to make a connection with us so I started creating events and socials. My committee noticed that it was better for alumnae to come help professionally develop our current members so we decided to host more professional events. In order to do that, I needed to build a strong relationship with the alumnae so my main mission quickly became brining in as many alumnae out as possible. When they had a good time at our events, they would spread the word to other alumnae and motivate them to come out. I also use the Alumnae Facebook group and our own newsletters to connect with them.
I’ve heard that you are a very engaging person. What is your motivation to genuinely help your team members?
The reason why I joined WIB was because of how motivated members at the time were. They genuinely wanted to develop women to handle professional situations such as networking sessions or even this interview. There are so many women out there who are afraid to take on leadership roles because they don’t feel prepared. I want to help them become prepared. When I see one of my girls struggle with problems, I want to teach them what I know. If I can teach you, then you can teach other girls entering WIB in the future. I want them to be better than me and outgrow everything that I have done!
How long have you been in WIB and what positions have you taken before becoming VP of AR?
I was a transfer student, but from the moment I entered Baruch, I knew I wanted to get involved with Student Life so I joined WIB. I was a part of the fundraising, philanthropy, and events committees. I signed up for fundraising because I love baking and it’s for a good cause! As for philanthropy, I have always wanted to start my own non-profit organization. As I grew up, my father ran his own non-profit and it influenced me so much. When I was part of the philanthropy committee, I loved how Erika gave me the freedom to organize more hands-on events. I also joined the events committee because I love hosting events. I have a huge family so I am used to organizing large events. My sister is also an event decorator so she helped me realize how much I love to prepare and organize events. However, the events at WIB were more professional than my family ones, but I took on the challenge and I was offered the events co-chair position in my second semester.
I wasn’t always active in all three committees, but I was always a part of WIB. I volunteered to do anything at the time and people did recognize me for my participation. The previous board encouraged me to become VP of Alumnae Relations because the position entails a little bit of everything.
How were you able to take the feedback you received after every single event and incorporate that into your next event?
I like it when people give me feedback because people give me different perspectives. I want to have an idea of what people thought about my events. If one person has this idea, then another person might be thinking about the same thing. When I take feedback, I don’t take it personally because at the end of the day, the event isn’t about me. It was about the execution, the take away of the event , and what was accomplished. If the event went wrong, I want to know what went wrong and how could it be better. I started to see a connection in the first two events I hosted. I listed out the things people wanted and executed that.
What advice would you give for someone who wants to maintain a relationship with alumnae and/or their mentors?
Some advice I took in was from one of our alumnae, Cuiyu. As she always says, be authentic. I initially thought networking was difficult because of what other people said about it. Now I try to think of it as meeting new people and genuinely having a conversation with them. If you have a good conversation, then the person is going to remember you. It doesn’t have to be related to work, but it needs to create a connection that will lead to a lasting relationship. To maintain my connections, I try to text them every now and then. I always tell me committee members to be more considerate of others by asking how other people are doing or having lunch with them. You should always ask for feedback because alumnae and mentors love giving advice.
How and when do you push yourself to get out of your comfort zone?
One thing that helped me get out of my comfort zone was remembering who I am and knowing my good qualities. When you are looking to join a company, you shouldn’t be asking yourself, ‘will I fit them?’ It should be the other way around, ‘will they fit you?’ You want to do your job comfortably and feel happy about it. You don’t want to feel negative in your own job. When I know my skills, I know what I am good at and what I need to work on. I can emphasize on how I can work on it so people will focus on my good qualities rather than something I am bad at.
Let me give you an example. I am a member of Alpha and I went to one their conventions. I had to put myself out my comfort zone in meeting all these intimidating professionals who didn’t know who I was. I was only a junior looking for an internship. Why would they want to help me? You need to have the mentality where these professionals were once like you. They were in my position before and they know how hard it is to get to where they are, so the worst they could tell me is “No, I don’t want to help you.” That’s the only thing they can say. I won’t give up from that so I try to connect to as much people as possible.
I stayed authentic when I started conversations with the professionals there. I remained in casual conversations instead of talking about myself. If you meet someone at a party, don’t force or sell yourself directly because they sense that you’re trying to use them. You have to get to know them first by building a relationship. Once I was speaking with a manager of a big company, and I honestly didn’t know about the company so I asked her, “I actually didn’t hear about your company, can you tell more about it?“ -- Don’t be afraid to ask questions because these professionals love to talk about their job. People honestly don’t expect you to know everything the moment you graduate out of college.
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What did you have in mind when you became the first VP of the Alumnae Relations committee?
When I first signed up as VP, I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. I didn’t know what the alumnae were looking for, but I knew they wanted to make a connection with us so I started creating events and socials. My committee noticed that it was better for alumnae to come help professionally develop our current members so we decided to host more professional events. In order to do that, I needed to build a strong relationship with the alumnae so my main mission quickly became brining in as many alumnae out as possible. When they had a good time at our events, they would spread the word to other alumnae and motivate them to come out. I also use the Alumnae Facebook group and our own newsletters to connect with them.
I’ve heard that you are a very engaging person. What is your motivation to genuinely help your team members?
The reason why I joined WIB was because of how motivated members at the time were. They genuinely wanted to develop women to handle professional situations such as networking sessions or even this interview. There are so many women out there who are afraid to take on leadership roles because they don’t feel prepared. I want to help them become prepared. When I see one of my girls struggle with problems, I want to teach them what I know. If I can teach you, then you can teach other girls entering WIB in the future. I want them to be better than me and outgrow everything that I have done!