Welcome to the Seidman Mentorship Podcast. This is your captain speaking.

On this show, we navigate the voyage of life through the lens of Lakers,

some who have just come aboard, and others who are well underway.

We will speak with experts who will show us the ropes,

help us plot a course and recount exhilarating tales of uncharted territory,

all while promoting lifelong learning agility and a culture of mentorship.

Welcome to the Seidman Mentorship Podcast. I'm Gerry Cooke. Today in the studio,

I get to welcome one of the legends. We have a lot of legends on the show,

but this is more recent legend,

a person who really helped the development of the Seidman Mentorship Program in

its state. I'm welcoming to the show, the fabulous Gillian Venditteli. Gillian,

welcome to the show.

Thank you, Gerry. Happy to be here.

Gillian, you were there at the beginning. Um,

it was your junior year where we recruited you?

So the Seidman Professional Mentorship Program,

which was only juniors and seniors paired with professionals at that time. We

added on a system where we brought in freshmen and

sophomores, who are going to be mentored by juniors and seniors.

You were part of CEI, College

Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Right. So that's a,

that's a center within Seidman that helps students and entrepreneurs who wanna

develop. You do pitch competitions, you develop things.

You had your own business. You're a very advanced Seidman. You,

you were light years ahead of where I was.

I was busy playing Dungeons and Dragons.

You were busy running actual businesses in, in undergrad. So way ahead of me.

But you came on board and said, "hey, I'm,

I'm willing to help out with the administration."

And some of the things that we do today are because of Gillian Venditteli.

So our event schedule is because of Gillian,

some of the ways that we book rooms, do things,

part of our marketing our SMP handbook is Gillian Venditteli. Right.

So you, you're, what's it feel like to number one, lemme back up.

Why did you volunteer to do all these things in college?

I'm gonna read your accolades here in a minute, but you're so busy.

I remember the, the talk around Seidman was, hey, you know that Gillian person?

Yeah. When's she gonna burn out? We're worried about Gillian doing too much.

Um, well, little did I know at that first encounter with you, when I said, hey,

let me know if I can help with any of the Mentorship, you know,

Program as you're looking to expand with students. It's, you know,

something I'm passionate about,

that I would be as involved and get to be a part of so many incredible aspects

of the program and still continue to be involved as an alumni,

which is even more incredible and meaningful and impactful in different ways.

Um, I,

I just always have enjoyed being a part of communities and being able

to support those around me. And so for me,

I was always busy in school, but it,

it never felt busy to me because it was all very purposeful.

It was filling my cup up,

being able to be a part of all these different organizations. And I still,

to this day, one of the first things I did after graduating was look at what,

not, not the same as a university club,

but the equal of that in the professional world.

What are those organizations that I can be a part of that fill my cup through

purposeful work and getting to support people and work with people and

collaborate? I've never seen busy as burnout yet,

at least. And I always say busy is better than bored anyways.

So 24 hours in a day, why not make the most of them?

You certainly did with your time at Seidman. So I'm gonna,

I'm gonna rattle up your accolade list here, right.

Two years in the Seidman Mentorship Program, including, its the foundation.

You couldn't do more than that. There, there was only two,

you were the first cohort leader that we had that an experiment where we put you

with multiple mentees and you did a project together with your mentees. So you,

you managed multiple mentees,

did a project with them and really broke the groundwork for that to be a thing

that we still do today. Um, you won multiple pitch comp, well,

you placed well in multiple pitch competitions with the CEI,

which is not easy to do. Summa Cum Laude, graduation.

So high honors there, the I Am GV award, Peer Mentor of the Year,

both in '22 and '23. Highest honors there in Seidman Mentorship,

um, would've won stoles and cords had we had them back then.

Dean's list every single year of your time.

In my time in undergrad, I didn't want the Dean to know who I was. Like I,

I had President Lubbers in that chair, my president, and I said,

"President Lubbers, I figured you were a principal,

not a president." And if you listen to that episode, he said, well,

that's your mistake, Gerry. And probably was. Excellence in a Discipline.

This is the highest honor Seidman has academically for a student.

So they choose one student per discipline and,

and highest in discipline in Entrepreneurship. Um,

which I think would be difficult because I don't see,

maybe I'm gonna get in trouble for this, but I'm gonna say it,

I'm looking down at the producer like, should I say this or not?

I'm looking at Dylan. Um, I don't know.

In in my simple little mind. Accounting, they're like, okay, well, who's,

you know, the best accounting student?

Sounds like it's a pretty easy way to figure out. The best entrepreneur student?

Sounds a little bit, those are the people who wanna fight.

Those are the people who want to compete.

Like you're taking the most competitive people,

you're putting 'em in the thunderdome and, you know,

trying to decide which one's best. So in my mind, that's a,

that's a hard thing to do. And what an honor.

Yeah, that one especially surprised me. Not something that I thought I'd get.

And that's something that,

something that I still feel like I was truthfully the one to deserve it,

'cause I look at so many of the incredible entrepreneurs and innovators that I

spent, I pretty much lived at the CEI,

so that I spent most of my time at Grand Valley with who have phenomenal

businesses that are doing much more impactful work than I believe mine to be.

And, um,

I'm still very honored that of all the students and the organizations that

existed and,

and came through CEI and even just students who didn't have a business,

but just embodied what it meant to have that entrepreneurial spirit,

I think of all the things I've done in college and been a part of,

that has always been the most important and meaningful to me.

And I carry that with me every day, even when things get a little tough,

I'm like, you know, they,

they believed in me and they saw something in me for this excellence in a

discipline. And, you know, that means something to me.

And I've never taken that honor for granted.

Well, certainly well learned. I,

I will share with you that on the way over to the studio this morning,

I ran into Dr. Gianakura, some other people, and I said, ah, they're sort like,

what are you doing here? And I said, well, I, hey, I work here, but

I'm on my way over to the studio to, to interview Gillian. And they're like, oh,

tell Gillian I said, hi, what time is it? Can I see Gillian? I'm like,

no I get Gillian first and then, then other people can have some Gillian time.

I mentioned this earlier.

You were not only a student at Seidman College of Business,

but you were a business owner. You're doing business with your business,

Grand and Wells. Tell us about that.

Yeah, I'll probably end up going down a rabbit hole and I'll try not to,

but my whole family has their own business, whether it's a small business,

it's a medium business,

or they're starting new business lines or departments in their corporate

organizations.

So that entrepreneurial-ness has always been in my family dating back to

my great-grandmother who immigrated here from Armenia,

and they started their family cleaners and she took that over and started her

own. So that -- try not to go down a rabbit hole --

that legacy of having your own

something is just kind of an expectation. And for me,

I didn't really know what the 77 Idea Lab Accelerator was,

but I saw an application. I'm notorious for saying yes to everything, um,

blessing and a curse, but I'd say yes to everything.

And the only idea I had was, that was tangible, was this event planning.

I'm like, you know, I worked with the planner. I've been a part of weddings,

helped my family plan their weddings.

I've helped with corporate event planning for all my family companies. I'm like,

this could be cool. And there's a lot of stuff that's not being,

being done all that great that I frankly think my Type A OCD personality

could probably, um, do a little bit better. So,

I said yes to the entrepreneurship opportunity. Um,

and that was it. It for me, again, like everything I try to do,

I try to fill my time with meaningful purposeful cup-filling activities.

And wedding planning is a lifestyle business. But for me it was very,

very purposeful because you would have the grandma that comes up to you and it's

like, I haven't seen my family in years and or the mother who's like, I haven't,

you know, gotten my family from all over the country together for an event once,

and it was not stressful and everything went to plan. Like, thank you so much.

And, um, family to me is my number one value through and through.

And I've also experienced a lot of lost in family.

So I've learned to realize the magnitude of having those moments all together

and how much it means.

And if I can be a little part of that day to make sure that they just get to be

present in the moment with each other, then that is more than enough,

um, motivation for me to start my own business.

It's not something big at the moment, but it's,

it's purposeful work that fills my cup even when the usual life

tendencies happen and I, I get overwhelmed or stressed or there is bad news.

Like I have this purposeful

cup filling thing that I can always turn to.

So I, I think of you as the Laker on the horizon.

I'm using my nautical thing here, but you're the person who is just ahead of us.

And I know that there's a ton of students every year who are looking for

programming specifically in mentorship around, man, what, what's the transition?

Like? What, what's next? What do what I wish you, I would've known.

And you've come and spoke to classes that I've was either an instructor for or

other folks doing this exact thing.

And I love your fresh perspective. So we asked,

our producer a student to ask

some questions for what that's like. But

to set this up succinctly,

kind of take us through that last part from commencement.

You walk across the stage to that transition. What was that like?

What were the fears you had?

Which ones were just unfounded fears and which ones what were really unexpected?

Kind of an overview. And then I'll ask you very specifics,

about this in just a second.

Sounds good. Um,

it's very interesting transition because you walk across the stage,

you're at a high, you've, you've accomplished something monumental.

And you know, the degree is the one big monumental accomplishment.

But there's also all the other little ones that are leading up to that.

And you're, you're excited,

you're optimistic about what the future has in store for you,

and then you kind of move back home or you move back away from

your school apartment. And then it's kind of like, oh,

I'm not going back to school. This is a little bit strange.

And you start a job and the first like summer was fine because

usually you go to school,

you move home or you move to another place and you start an internship and you

go back to school in the fall. And then fall came.

And I was still at that internship, which not not an internship,

but it was my new, um, career path.

But in that lapse between walking the stage

and starting that, um, position, there were so many fears.

And some of those were, did I major in the right thing?

Did I pick the right career path for me? Is it the right industry? Am I,

um, am I good enough for what I signed up for?

And I think those fears are valid because in,

there's fear in what you don't know,

but there's also optimism and curiosity for what you don't know.

And I think all of those fears are natural and we all have them and go through

them.

And the important thing is to not get stuck in fears

being scary and focus on the fear of unknown being

something exciting and to be curious for what's to come. Um,

I say that as also a reminder to myself,

'cause there's now times where I still have some of those fears rising up about

my career path.

And I go back to that moment of crossing the stage and

just so optimistic and excited for what's to come.

And my role was exciting to me. I,

it's in innovation and entrepreneurship and I get to work with cool people and

build really cool things and solve meaningful problems. Like,

I was so excited and that still fuels me today,

but there's absolutely moments where it's like,

oh my gosh, what am I doing? I, I, I think I'm good enough.

But that learning curve for me at least, was really hard.

And I think part of that is you're in school for a

long time from preschool. If you did daycare before that elementary,

middle school, high school, college, if you go into a master's or a doctorate,

like you get really good at school because you've had all these years behind you

of learning what comes next.

And it's a very structured plan of you go from this grade to this grade to this

grade, and college is the first introduction of a little bit of

ey-gooeyness. And you get to pick now what classes are.

And when you take the classes and what you do,

and then you move into the professional world and it's exponentially different,

structure wise. It's different routines, it's a different amount of structure,

there's more responsibilities and graduating.

I was aware that that transition was going to exist,

but I think I was not fully anticipating

how big that transition would be because I loved school and I was a nerd.

So what some people saw as work and school, I just enjoyed. And yes,

I still enjoy my work and what I do, but it's, it's very different from school.

And for me, that was the most awkward learning curve.

The most uncomfortable part of graduating and transitioning is moving from that

structure of school into now this professional role.

And I'm still learning how to navigate that today.

So let me ask you some more specific questions now about the,

that you set that up. So the students and our,

our illustrious producer, has, you know,

submitted I think great follow up questions to this.

I'm nervous about the transition from college to work life. What's the best?

So it sounds like we're picking one. What's the best piece of advice?

Yeah, speaking from experience,

build your personal board of advisors and mentors?

I think in that transition,

it's phenomenal to have people outside of your circle of friends and family,

and sometimes even coworkers to be able to lean on.

And there's so many different types of mentors that you can have in your life.

There's mentors that just help you navigate

personal and professional balance.

There's mentors that help you with very specific skills to

what's going to be your new roles. There's,

I'm always honored when a student reaches out to me to be that mentor in the

transition of, hey, you just did this and I know you're still going through it,

but I think it would be nice, you know, to be able to go to you and say, hey...

Because sometimes you just need to feel validated in,

in your concerns and your worries there. Um, Brooke,

I had another phenomenal mentor out of the Seidman Mentorship Program.

I reached out to her after my first couple months. I'm like, hey,

this transition is uncomfortable. Like,

can I just chat with you and see how your experience was?

And so I think in making that transition, having a,

a very strong support system around you of different

areas of your life. I, there's mentors that I can go to when personally,

like I said, I'm just,

I'm struggling with the balance of family and working and then there's

very specific skills to this new role that are just new to me,

that I sought mentors in so that I could get some additional education.

And then even internally, um,

it's phenomenal to have some of those internal mentors as well,

who I always say, look for people who are doing what you want to be doing.

Like if you could aspire to a role or a position or an impact that they made,

like that makes a really good mentor.

And especially if you love the organization that you're with,

like find somebody there who can help keep you afloat.

'Cause sometimes it's you, like the duck analogy, the duck swimming in water,

the swan swimming in water, like very calm up front,

but the little feet are moving really,

really fast and sometimes it feels like only the feet are moving fast.

And it's nice to have some of those people that can keep the waters calm for

you.

I know that obviously you're part of the Seidman Mentorship Program and we

strive to plug you into people. So that's, that's an easy one, right?

Getting those mentors from the Seidman Mentorship Program.

Outside of the Seidman Mentorship Program.

Give some succinct advice on how does one find and approach a

mentor? I know that some people struggle with that.

This is very much an extroverted way to go about it. But I,

I'm avid on LinkedIn, very active. I enjoy, again, connecting, community,

talking with others.

I have just followed people on LinkedIn or connected with people on LinkedIn

who I,

there was something about them that I aspire to be or aspire to learn more

about. And I just sent them a message and said, hey, so and so...

Oh, you do more than just push the connect button? Yeah. Hmm.

I'm saying that ex with extreme sarcasm because I get people all the time,

they just push the button and then I have to figure out, well,

how we should connect or not. But if you just type a message in there and say,

"Hey, I, I'm a fellow Laker or I'm a student looking for..." Never,

I've always had success with just saying I need help. And then this is why.

Right? I connected with you 'cause you're a fellow Laker.

So I keep telling students stop playing the lottery with LinkedIn and just

pushing connect or pushing apply. Yeah.

And start actually sending a message that says, oh, I'm connecting with you,

Gillian,

'cause I'm a fellow Laker and I see that you're an innovation and something I'm

interested in. I I don't know much about it.

Could we please connect or even tell you why you're gonna connect?

'Cause I don't wanna sign up for, you know, necessarily can we, can we chat for,

you know, half an hour or something?

Yeah. I, I always just reach out.

The worst that happens is they say no or they don't answer. Right.

And somebody who says no is probably not somebody that you would want to connect

with anyways.

Good point.

So that is the extroverted way of how I go about it. And obviously, like I said,

I join, you know, your local chamber of commerce, the economic club,

there's tons of professional groups, um, that exist.

Industry-wide region-wide to join. So you can go to those, um,

and usually get assigned like an ambassador when you're a new member in,

in some of these and they can kind of lead you around. So that's,

that's potentially a really phenomenal way for more of an introvert to join a

local community thing, get assigned like a, a networking buddy.

And then you can slowly start to integrate into that and find people that

match what you're looking for.

It's like you've, you haven't read the questions, so,

but it's like you're teeing 'em up. So question from our audience.

What channels did you use to find your job? And

when should I start looking for that job?

Um, so I just was in the right place at the right time.

I doubt that. I bet you set it up somehow.

You just didn't realize you set it up.

Well, I just lived at the CEI and I wanted a interesting job that allowed that.

So eventually somebody interesting was bound to walk through there.

You know, if I sit in the boat and I fish, long enough...

You're bound to get a fish.

I'm gonna catch a fish. But if I sit home, I'm not gonna catch fish. So I,

this is no, this is an, I think in underutilized and where you spend your time.

I talk to students quite often about your friend groups, right?

If I spend all my time at the Alpha-Beta-Whoopty-House,

that's where my network is. And I'm not saying you can't join a frat. I I,

I've done business, I've told the story on prior podcasts.

Like I met some of the hardest partying people at Grand Valley.

It turned out to be VPs of companies. And when we met later professionally,

the look on their face said,

please don't bring up the party at the Alpha-Beta-Whoopty-House . Um,

because we're now professionals and we're supposed to act like it. And I didn't.

And it was all fine.

But then I also had a one up and they were obligated to buy from me,

which was great.

But by spending your time at the CEI with other entrepreneurs and students where

you spend your time matters, right? And what your friend group is matters.

So yeah, please continue.

And I am very aware that most of my advice as a more extroverted person tends to

come from that lens. But for me,

I had the most success in finding jobs and internships in person,

having conversations, being at a company and just asking if,

you know, they had something or like put it into the universe.

How did you get to be at a company?

What was that?

How did you get to be at a company?

One internship was,

and it's kind of teed up to what I was leading into, is like,

ask and the universe will send it to you somehow,

some way it all put it out there, manifested and it,

it just increases the likelihood that the right ears hear it. Um,

but one internship came through a warm introduction.

It was during the pandemic.

I was striking out at any corporate position 'cause everybody was laying off or

just not hiring. Um, and I, I needed, I wanted an internship.

I still wanted to work and, and do something over the summer. Um,

and that's when I took the opportunity to pursue my curiosity and event planning

a little bit more professionally than just doing it on the side or doing it at

my family's companies.

And my mom reached out to a network that she knew and that

network returned back. And her internship had just quit on her,

like the week before wedding season. And I warm introduced to her, hey,

I'm Gillian, you know,

so and so sent me your posting that you're looking for a job. And I would,

you know, love to have the opportunity to apply for it. Another internship, came

kind of on the fly.

I was just shopping like a girl does and I was looking for some

sort of sales and management internship,

but I wanted to be close by to my family for particular reasons that summer. Um,

and the store was hiring for sales and management internships.

And just in striking up that conversation with the manager there,

they offered me the position and the interview. And that's how that happened.

And then my current role now, um, again, I was,

I was sitting in the CEI, they were working with an entrepreneur, um,

at the CEI at the time, Thomas Koch. And

I was just again,

talking about how I can't find a job that aligns with my values that's

interesting to me, that I would be passionate about and

right place, right time. Spoke it into the universe in a way. And,

and they were offered. They're like, well, we have, you know,

some open positions sounds like it could be a fit if you, I can send you,

you know,

the job descriptions and let me know if it fits and we can set up a time to

interview. So I feel like I'm a really bad example.

I did go through the LinkedIns and the Indeeds and going to career fairs,

but I had the most success when personal relationships were built to get the

job.

I, I call this, I call LinkedIn, Indeed. I, I call that playing the lottery.

Like I literally had a, a wonderful student but an introvert,

call me and just graduated and said I can't get a job. And I said, well,

what have you done? Well, I applied to 90 jobs in LinkedIn. I said, oh,

you're playing the lottery. You're not connecting. Yeah.

And that connection makes a difference.

I love what you said about speaking to the universe because rather than

networking, which I hate, connecting, I tell people, when you want something,

tell everybody about it. I had a dream that I wanted to fly a jet,

which I have no business doing, 'cause I'm a private prop pilot, right?

So I have a private pilot's license to fly little cessnas. Two years ago,

somebody showed me the, in my opinion, coolest, sexiest jet that ever was built.

The single engine Cirrus Vision SF50. Look it up, it's awesome.

I saw on an air show, static display, I went up and I said, what would it take?

What would I have to do to fly this? Well, it takes about $4.8 million.

And I said, Hmm, okay, great. How about a test drive?

And that's like going to Lamborghini dealership and asking for to drive the

Lamborghini. And they're like, haha, no. Fast forward two years,

I got invited by a, a instructor pilot to go to a,

a grand opening for a new business.

I didn't want to go because it was after work and I was tired. And I'm like,

yeah, it's gonna be dumb. It's gonna be a bunch of rich, snobby airplane people.

I actually went and found it was a family owned business.

Ended up talking to one of the owners in the back of the hangers,

this big black, sleek, sexy, single engine,

Cirrus vision jet. And I said to the universe,

I've always wanted to fly one of those. And they said, oh,

we can make that happen. They said, no, you can't. The next week I was in the,

in the front seat. They put an instructor pilot in with me,

make sure I didn't do anything dumb. And I, I paid a rental fee. Yeah.

And I got to do that. But speaking to the universe, so I tell people,

tell everybody, what you're doing, make sure you share this with your family,

with with extended family, your aunts, your uncles.

You never know what that connection's gonna come up. You know,

strike up those conversations. And I know you and I raging extroverts,

introverts, like there's no idea I'm talking to somebody in the grocery store,

about what I want to do. But you'd be surprised. Yeah. Um,

I'm famous for going around campus and poor students have their earbuds in and I

say hello to people because I, I,

I want this idea that Grand Valley's this campus where we're the,

we're home for a lot of people. Right. And,

and I like the idea that we're open and welcoming. Yeah. Um,

moving on.

Advice for students on getting noticed by employers prior to graduating

and getting job offers, pre-graduation. I think a lot of students feel like,

if I don't have this laid out by the time I graduate,

how can you walk across the stage at graduation? I had this fear. Yeah.

I took a job that I probably shouldn't have. Right. Right. Before,

because I wanted to check off, okay, the next thing I need to do is get a job,

so that my parents can shut up about did you get a job? Everybody in my life,

everybody's sitting around. Your seniors are like, what job did you get?

What jobs did you get? What job did you get? Yeah. Okay, good. You know,

and that ruins boot night, right. For those of you who are gonna boot night,

right. If we sit around, we're talking about this,

what's your advice on getting noticed?

Um, oh my gosh. Well, first and foremost, I was that student, too,

that just was absolutely defeated and totally overtaken by the feeling

and the stress of needing that next step confirmed. 'Cause again, we're,

we're used to school. We know what happens next.

And it's always solidified before it ends.

That first the phase that you're in ends.

So it's a very natural tendency to be coming up senior year

and feeling the weight of needing to have that next step confirmed.

So for students,

I think a huge regret of mine was that I stayed way too bogged down and that

stress and too focused on what that next step was.

And same thing,

I was taking any and every interview that I could get because I needed that

to be confirmed before I walked the stage.

And I remember there was a career fair and I went home after it and I called

my mom and I was just absolutely distressed. I'm like,

I've interviewed with these companies, nothing really seems like a good fit,

or the industry isn't interesting. I'm never gonna find a job. What do I do?

And, and A sometimes you just need to call your mom or call your friend or call,

call your somebody that you can go to when that hits and get it out from your

head before it snowballs into more.

But know that you don't need to have that

confirmed the day you walk the stage.

I have so many friends who waited for the right opportunity and a lot of friends

who would do an internship that summer that then turned into a job.

And sometimes internships with the newer industry or newer company is a nice

transition from school to professional.

And then you start to get to learn the organization and kind of what those paths

are a little bit more organically than applying to these entry level roles that

toss you right into it. Um, so first and foremost, because I was that student,

please don't be that student. I promise it'll all work out. Um,

but as far as getting noticed,

I think a huge portion of that is kind of starting to develop what your

personal, professional brand is going to be.

What what do you wanna be noticed for? I think is the first question. Um,

and college is a great opportunity to explore that.

And it's as simple as how do you want to dress and speak and present yourself

when you walk into a room, what is the energy that you want to evoke? How,

how do you wanna be remembered? And again, how,

how do you want to be noticed first?

Because if you don't know how you want to be noticed or why you want to be

noticed besides just getting a job with a paycheck,

then I think you're kind of chasing something aimlessly,

a little bit. So figure out why you're,

you want to be noticed and what you wanna be noticed for. Um,

and then be present I think is huge.

I think the pandemic was a hindrance to many because

we got very used to and comfortable to being on a

screen and being digital. And, that's,

you don't make relationships that way. Management 101 classes,

you go over what's the most efficient way to communicate.

And technology is last. It's face to face, it's sound, it's visuals,

it's there's, I forget the number,

but there's like so many muscles just in your eyebrows that can portray an

emotion. And it's hard to connect with people when you lose all of that.

So be present and show up when Grand Valley has career fairs,

especially when they're tabling, tabling, at least for me,

I would get very overwhelmed by the career fair and I am an extrovert because I,

I didn't have any direction. And when you have direction,

it's a little bit easier to navigate.

But the tabling in schools or in Kirkoff was much

easier for me to go up and approach somebody and just be present and start to

show up and become a familiar face to some of these folks. Um, again,

LinkedIn start to start to post about what you're doing in school and, um,

reach out to companies, people in those roles, HR recruiters,

like just start to reach out and, hey, I am Gillian, I'm, you know,

majoring in entrepreneurship.

I am really interested in your organization and graduating soon.

Just kinda wanted to reach out and say hi. And I know again,

Gerry's smiling 'cause it's so extroverted.

I'm smiling because, well, I I teach name, story, tour, right?

You find a name of somebody, you say, Hey Gillian, I saw your, your post. I,

I'd love to hear your story about how you ended up becoming a consultant for a

WynHouse. Um, you know,

would you be willing to spend some time the tour part either letting me see what

you do, come to your office, shadow you for half a day, whatever?

And again, if you ask and they say nothing,

then it's probably not a great connection anyway. And,

and sometimes we have to ask more than once. It's, it's, you know, I,

you and I are raging extroverts. We could do that. But you know,

if you're an introvert, there's a way to to to think through this too.

Yeah, absolutely.

So, you teed it up again, it's just like you're reading the script <laugh>,

even though you didn't, interview advice, advice about dressing professionally.

Um, get this a lot, and fitting in in a professional space. Is a,

is a question from the audience.

And I'm smiling 'cause I've heard you speak about this very thing in classes.

So I am, I'm a complete weirdo and I found interviews to be really fun.

I, I don't know why that is.

And it always gets some strange looks when I say that.

So I can only imagine what people listening to this...

For me, it's a headspace, right? So if I go in, hey, I'm interviewing you, you,

you happen to be talking to me, but I I I'm the wolf in the room. Like, yeah,

you need me as the employee as much as I need you.

So if I go in with that mentality, I've just changed the tables in my mind.

It's just my thinking. Yeah. Rather than, I think a lot of people go in and go,

they have all the power. They,

they get to make the decision and I'm the victim here. No,

you're a coparticipant in this. Yeah. You know,

and that mindset always helped me.

Yeah, absolutely. That's something,

and I don't even remember where that advice came from when it came to intern

looking for internships and interviewing probably was you, but like when

like, I had it into it, again, as I mentioned when we started,

like I always really look to fill my time with meaningful purposeful cup-filling

things. Like what I'm, how I'm spending my time.

You have one life to live and you should spend that time doing something that

means something to you.

So before the advice and the head shift even was brought to my attention to me

to actually like, actively think about when I was in interviews,

I always saw it as an opportunity of,

is this somewhere that I want to work at anyways? Like,

I'm gonna answer the questions.

And I was always nervous of answering them correctly and,

and showing off my skills. But at the same time, like anytime that somebody,

every interview is gonna ask you of questions for me,

and everybody's answer should always be yes, it should always, always, always,

always be yes. Either a curiosity you have about the company,

a question about one of your values or your goals. Or like for me,

a question I always asked,

and this to me showed the type of company that I was interviewing with was,

you know, I wanna find a company that will invest in me,

that I can grow with. Like,

I want to succeed in my role and be with this company.

What does that look like? What does that support,

what does that mentorship look like for somebody in my position with this

aspiration, and again, mentorship's huge to me and, and how,

how interviewers would answer that question was revealing for me of if this is

somewhere I want it to be or not. Because if I'm going to invest my time,

I want to be invested into.

Talk about professional dress in the professional work environment because I

know this is a struggle. Yeah. And I have people ask me all the time,

or I have students, especially I think for women and for men,

get a suit game over, you're done. And then get like, you know,

get a suit jacket, a pair of pants, and then you get six different shirts,

six different ties, you have a mix and match and you're done. It's very easy.

Yeah. But talk to the ladies out there, for professional dress.

Yeah. I think professional wear goes with your, your brand.

Like, how do you want to be perceived?

Do you want to be the person that's always in a full suit?

Are you always the person in a button up? Like what is that?

What do you want that to be? And it's different every industry, too.

Every industry has different, um,

expectations of how to present yourself and even how to present yourself just in

the office versus a client. Um,

so some of that professional dress is situational. But, um,

my first advice is always to be comfortable in what you're wearing. Um,

in terms of if confidence comes from like, look good, do good,

feel good is always my phrase.

And if I look good and I feel confident in what I'm doing, I'm,

I'm setting myself up to do better than if I was in a stuffy suit that I didn't

feel confident in and was walking into this meeting shaking in,

in my heels that I can't walk in. Like, that's not a, a great professional look.

Even though you're in the heels and you have the suit on and the jacket and all

of that, it's not benefiting you in your role. Um,

so I always dress for the occasion and dress for confidence, um,

in terms of like actually what to wear,

I am always just a proponent of dress pants and a nice top.

And you can't really go wrong with that in any situation. Um,

the work from home has created much more comfortable dress pants,

than I think there used to be. Um, so that's a plus in having,

having to wear that. But I, I am always a pants and a top person. Personally,

I am uncomfortable in a dress and a skirt in professional settings.

So for me,

wearing that type of clothing doesn't support my confidence. So I don't,

I don't wear it. I, I'm always in my pants. I'm short.

So I do wear heels when I,

when I need the extra confident boost because for some reason height makes me

feel more confident. Um, and if it's cold to have a jacket,

I'm always a pro for like a buttonless jacket.

I think that looks professional without looking stuffy,

'cause sometimes I put on a suit jacket and I just feel stuff in it. Or like,

I feel too masculine in it. And I think for me,

something that I had to learn too was you can be professional and still be

feminine in how you dress and respectable. Um, so some, like, I still,

I have a power suit. Everybody A. needs a power suit. Find that, invest in...

Where do you find it? The power suit? Do you have a, a brand,

do you have a website? Where, where does one find,

can I put power suit into Amazon and get a power suit? I don't know.

You might end up with like a banana yellow suit if you put that in Amazon.

Yeah, I, I honestly don't know. So...

Um, I, speaking of Banana though, I love Banana Republic.

They used to have a student discount.

So what my actual power suit was from Banana Republic or still is from Banana

Republic. Um, other phenomenal resources, Old

Navy. I have a lot from Old Navy. I have friends that shop at Old Navy that's,

that's especially like on a college budget.

And now the Banana Republic got rid of the college discount.

Maybe this podcast can bring it back.

And my spouse said, it was over the holiday weekend, said, oh, I just gotta,

can we go out and grab something to eat? I just,

I need to stop by Old Navy to return something. It'll take, it'll take a minute,

it'll take a minute. And I joined the rest of the, the spouses waiting, like,

like literally me and other guy, he was like totally on his phone.

He's just trying to find a space to hide. He's just, yeah, he's in purgatory.

And then my spouse start shopping, right?

And I'm like, okay, I, I know where this is. I, I'll get mine.

And we did that and we took forever.

And then when I got outta spousal jail with the rest of the spouses,

we got lunch and I said, oh yeah, on the way home, let's stop at Cabela's.

That's the, that's,

that's my equivalent of now you, you can, I I just need to look at a few things.

Sorry, it was my tangent.

You're fine.

We're bringing back Banana Republic, Old Navy.

Yes. And I for I think women, it's more commonly found than men, but,

boutiques, I love shopping at boutiques. A.

I'm always looking to support smaller businesses. Plug one,

coming from a small business family,

Hello Fancy in the metro Detroit area is my favorite. Um,

phenomenal ownership. And again,

like it's something coming from a small business family.

Like if I can support a small business, I am always going to choose that first.

Um, and sometimes it's just,

it can be uncomfortable shopping for professional clothes and you're nervous and

those boutiques can be a little bit more comfortable.

And you get some one-on-one time with, one

of the workers who can help outfit you. And,

and they know the clothing that they have because they only have a select

amount.

So they can help pick ones that fit your body type or match your industry.

So I love boutiques too,

or or small businesses to shop at for professional clothes.

Another question, how do you compare your workload as a student

to your workload as a full-time employee in the workplace?

And I feel like this is a loaded question to ask you, 'cause I swear

you and Alina Ladewig were the,

the two busiest students I have ever met. Like literally, I,

I think in any mentoring conversation I had with either of you,

I've sat you down. I said, okay, are you having any fun? Because you,

you guys are so busy. So I,

I almost feel like you're gonna say it was easier doing a job than it was

than being a student.

There's differences between what's easy and what's hard.

Being a student and being professional. Workload,

it's honestly probably the same. Like I was at one point,

I think I had 21 credit hours. So...

I did that once, not, I don't recommend it.

Um, so like in terms of like what the actual workload and hours dedicated it,

for me is probably equivalent. Um, speaking,

just from chatting with other friends of mine who graduated and went through the

transition themselves,

there's usually always there's always an onboarding and on ramping period,

you aren't hired into a role fresh out of college,

expected to be at the level of a director or a VP.

There's a ramp-up period for you. Um,

and most companies or companies that you'd want to be working at allow space for

that ramp-up period and grace to learn and offer support, um,

to get there. So if you're worried about,

if that question's coming from a place of worry of, oh my gosh,

it's gonna be more work. There's, there's time to get there.

And then again, it, it's a different type of work for me,

at least my experience from school to professional,

there's more responsibility, um,

in the work that I'm producing because now my output's going towards a client

and my advice and my research is impacting their business.

So I feel a little bit more weight in what I do professionally

because for school, you're doing it for yourself. You are achieving.

You are the client.

Yes. Like what your inputs and outputs, you are the person on,

on the receiving end of that. Where now you are,

you are a part of another company, too, and portraying their level of work.

And so for me, the hardest part of the transition wasn't the workload itself,

it was the where the work was going that I was doing

and the importance of the output because it's, if I mess up,

I just mess up for me. Now, if I mess up, it's impacting the company.

It's impacting my team, it's impacting the client.

So I'm, I'm hearing though about the same amount of hours as it was in school.

Probably, in my case, yes.

Alright, time to get really serious. What,

what was the hardest part of transitioning

from being a full-time student to a professional? Hardest.

Oh my gosh.

Picking the hard one.

Being comfortable with the learning curve. And it's still,

I'm two years out of it and I'm still,

that's still the hardest part for me is giving myself grace

to be good at something entirely new.

And I didn't,

I didn't think it would be as hard or it would take as long to ramp up as it is

because in school, I was a nerd. I loved school. And that caused me...

You were a rock star, you were, you were the,

you were the highest of the high performers.

I'm just gonna ahead and plug you again, like go back,

rewind to the beginning of the podcast.

You were absolutely the top of the top of your,

of your game as far as what we measure, that's academics. Right?

You were the best of the best.

Yeah. And I, I attach myself to my output.

So my results is my self-worth and value,

which is a very toxic thing in all honesty and in

entering a role in new space, new industries.

And my, my background in entrepreneurship and innovation is very scrappy,

with the family I came from. Just,

everything was bootstrapped from the ground up, you blood, sweat,

and tears into it. I went to college to formalize the experience,

but for me too,

along with the ramp-up was the confidence in myself that I deserve to be here

and that I am good enough to be in this role.

And the hardest part for me at a,

in my experience was maintaining my confidence as I am

going through that learning curve of everything that's new.

So let's, let's transition to, I want you to do some plugs.

Please. Um, what do you wanna plug?

What do I wanna plug? Um, if you need, if you need wedding planning,

Grand & Wells events, if...

How, how do we, how do we contact Grand & Wells?

Um, our website,

Grand and Wells.co or on Instagram at Grand and Wells.

Um, so full-time, I am in software innovation. I am the part of the growth team.

And then project wise,

I work a lot on more of the operations and business aspects. Um,

so if somebody is looking for a new software innovation,

an app, if you're still using pen and paper processes,

I would love to build a cool project with you. Um,

and more exciting plugs. Go to your professor's office hours.

I love that.

Utilize the resources at your disposal that you have at school. Um,

business wise, get involved in clubs. Oh my goodness.

Because clubs are the perfect bridge from academic to the

professional world.

I was personally a part of the Economic Club at Grand Valley.

I was part of the CEO club, which is not,

you do not have to be a CEO or an entrepreneur to be in the club.

It is just a business professional club. Um, I,

I hung out again at the CEI,

so speaking just for business that that was where I was.

I've tons of friends that were part of IPO and absolutely love that experience

and it's a regret, regret of mine that I actually didn't end up joining that.

But, um,

I would definitely plug those organizations that really get students connected

to professionals and,

and it allows you to take what you're learning in the class and apply it in a

safe and learning environment.

And finally, why do the Seidman Mentorship program?

Nobody does the best work alone and in joining

the program, mentorship is a two way street.

And the moment that you take that into consideration is when you can actually

unlock the power of mentorship and all that it can

provide for you. I think from a student perspective,

you should join because it's hard,

it's tough to navigate alone all of this.

And it's nice to have a resource and somebody to go to for help.

Um, it's, it's a, again, it's a safe environment to learn and make mistakes.

And as a upperclassmen student,

you really get the best of both worlds.

You get to experience being a mentor to a student.

And I always walk away from those relationships feeling guilty,

like I didn't do enough mentoring because they mentored me so much back, um,

so many times they're going through something or curious about something that

I kind of need the reminder myself about. And it's kind of a good checkpoint.

Um, and that transitions me into professionals join the program because a,

it's a very fulfilling thing to do to know that you're helping

somebody's career get started and you can be a,

a source of support for somebody who's really scared,

because it is scary to make the transition.

And no matter how confident the front is that you put on it, it's a big change.

It's a big shift. Um, so the mentorship program,

I think from every angle that you look at,

it is valuable and meaningful and

just exciting to be a part of,

especially with it growing like you're a part of something new and you get to

really see the impact that you have every day.

We are seeing the impact you are doing, every day. And, and Gillian,

it's been an honor to be part of your, voyage at Grand Valley.

We're extremely, I'm using the royal we.

I am extremely proud of the, the work you've done, the transition.

I'm always humbled by your sharing your vulnerability

and your constant giving to whatever it is you're doing. And

the how much you've given to the program. I mean,

the Seidman Mentorship Program as it exists today does not exist without your

involvement. You guys, um, I got a chance to mentor a few of you,

not really specifically,

but I definitely got so much from probably more than you guys know that,

I was definitely giving to you. So you helped build the program. Um,

so you have a legacy here,

for that to add to all your other accolades,I read off. Um,

and we're really proud of you, um,

and wish you all the best and thank you so much for coming in today.

Yeah, thank you so much for having me. And I'm,

I'm here to be a part of the program as long as you'll let me stick around for

it.

Well, we're, we're gonna keep calling on you for as,

as long as you're willing to participate and we appreciate you.

Sounds good. Bye.

Thank you for sailing along on this episode of the Seidman Mentorship Podcast.

For more information on the Seidman College of Business Mentorship Program at

Grand Valley State University, look us up on your favorite search engine.

If you have a story to tell, know someone we should interview,

have questions or comments,

please email us at smp@gvsu.edu.

Until next time, keep a weathered eye on the horizon and we wish you fair winds.

So long.