What makes you a Difference Maker?    

I'm a Difference Maker because I don't just aspire to be great, I aspire for greatness in everyone around me. My experiences at UM-Dearborn as an emerging leader taught me a lot about who I am as a leader among my peers. I learned that to make an impact, I must focus on being an example to my friends all of the time. It's about leading yourself to lead change and being drawn to the opportunity. Steve Jobs said, "...great things in business are never done by one person, they're done by a team of people." I'm dedicated to building and developing my team in all walks of life and understand that making a difference starts with me. 

Highlight your campus achievements:    

As the vice president of case competitions for the Society for Human Resources Management student organization, I lead national case competition prep teams and serve as point of contact for SHRM’s executive leadership board. Each year students from top universities throughout the country face off in the annual SHRM Student Case Competition and Career Summit. Upon receiving my officer role in the organization, I lead the first ever team of HR students to a national conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, where we placed among the top 10 universities in the nation. 

Highlight your leadership experiences both on and off campus:

On campus, I began developing leadership skills serving on the SHRM executive board by organizing several fundraising and professional development events. This involves significant administrative duties including preparing travel budgets with our student organization’s treasurer, coordinating travel and event planning.  As the vice president of case competition for SHRM, I’m responsible for leading student teams to local and national HR business case competitions requiring integrated HR thinking, exceptional communication and presentation technique. Through this position, I learned the importance of becoming apparent to each of your team member’s strengths and weaknesses, and finding ways to utilize both to the fullest amount possible. Additionally, I took the lead creating the organization's online social media presence, including Instagram and Facebook. Off campus, I’m a longtime volunteer with Rockin’ For a Match Foundation in their mission to increase bone marrow donor awareness—a cause that’s very close to my heart.  

What is your dream career and/or long term life goal?

My dream career is to be instructional designer, creating e-learning and other instructional experiences. Throughout much of my internship with Quicken Loans, I've gained ample exposure to various segments of the industry working alongside a senior business consultant to develop major HR-related projects. More recently, I took the opportunity to begin working as an instructional design intern on their leadership training and development team. My passion for training and development is what drew me to pursue the HR program initially, so naturally, I was thrilled to be given this opportunity. I hope to continue on this path and one day pursue a graduate degree in instructional design. 

What was your most defining moment at UM-Dearborn?

My most defining moment was joining the SHRM student-led organization. Until that point, I wasn't involved in any other student-led organizations on campus and was starting to feel like an outsider. I spoke with an academic advisor who insisted I get involved and helped me find an organization I could be passionate about. Before long, I started making new friends and finding new opportunities to get involved on campus.