Before college I was unsure of what I wanted to do in life. That is why I applied to Liberal Studies. I wanted to learn new ways of thinking and become familiarized with different cultures. I yearned to learn what it meant to live in our world. I was unsure of what I was signing up for, but knew nothing else felt right. Other majors either felt too literal and specific or too abstract and complicated. Global Liberal Studies was the perfect in-between. As I spent a longer time in the program I began to realize why. Unlike other majors, GLS does not tell you what to think. Instead, you learn about how many have thought throughout time and are encouraged to come to your own conclusions. The classes I took were thought-provoking and complex. My ability to analyze and question the world grew as I started to rethink things I had been taught to believe. Soon I began to question my place in the world and how that could manifest into a life path that felt right.
That desire to learn more about myself continued into my year-long study abroad junior year in Paris. There, I became an observer and participant of a different culture. Being away from home for so long made me grow in ways I had not anticipated. I was forced to truly take care of myself on my own while taking on new responsibilities. One of those responsibilities was my internship at WILLA, an incubator for female-led startups.
WILLA was definitely a turning point in my life. My job was to be in charge of the social media presence and help with event management. Participating in the events and showcasing the work of the different teams on Instagram inspired me. Being around women who were taking a risk to make their dreams a reality made me realize that the only thing stopping me was my own self doubt. Soon the fear of not trying and never failing became more consuming than the fear of trying and failing miserably.
WILLA drove me to start working on EniThingIWant.com. I bought a domain and began teaching myself how to create a website of my own. I was not sure what I wanted the project to become but knew I needed to start working on a platform for myself. Somewhere I could share my aspirations, interests, and art. I want EniThingIWant to be an example of what can happen when you allow yourself to be 100% you. I hope to inspire others to do the same and give them a space on my website to share their own stories, passions, and struggles.
Being in Paris was liberating because it helped me rediscover my creativity. For 10 years I had ignored the sides of myself that were creative due to my parents’ desire for me to do something more practical like medicine or law. But those professions never felt right. When I returned to NYC, I reached out to Bowery Poetry and began an internship with them. Once again, just like I did at WILLA, I found myself gravitating to their social media strategy.
And thus, the inspiration for my thesis, The Power of Creative Visuals: Instagram Marketing Consulting and Its Potentials for Brand Visibility, was found. Without this thesis, I would not have felt fully prepared for life post graduation. My entire college experience has been filled with serendipitous moments that snowballed into one another and changed my life. As a result of my years of perseverance and dedication to finding a life path, I ended up working on a thesis that now works as a professional case study for my personal website.
I love GLS because instead of being taught what to think I learned how to think and come to my own conclusions. Everything I am now setting out to accomplish has been inside of me for as long as I can remember. GLS has helped make more sense of the world around me. Doing so ultimately led me to finding my passions again and turning them into concrete life aspirations.
