You must be the change you wish to see in the world." |
I am an intrapreneur.
Intrapreneurs are highly intrinsically motivated individuals and, indeed, my passion for fostering positive cross-cultural relations has been reflected in every aspect of my development -- my personal, academic and professional pursuits. The diverse range of aforementioned experiences and skills I have cultivated in pursuit of my passions enables me to instinctively view problems and opportunities from multiple lenses and think outside the box. I am also confident communicating with individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds and stakeholders at all levels of organisations. In addition to these capacities, my time management abilities, organisation skills and acute attention to detail make me an ideal project manager.
As an intrapreneur, I am both a dreamer and an achiever: I frequently invent opportunities to generate additional impact, and I have a proven track record of following through with my ideas to drive transformations within organisations that have maintained lasting legacies. My infectious enthusiasm, gregarious nature and propensity to take initiative makes me a natural leader capable of inspiring motivation and collaboration across teams. Below, I will showcase three critical incidents from my previous work-related and extra-curricular experiences in order to succinctly illustrate my intrapreneurial spirit. First, I will highlight my first extracurricular leadership role as the President of NaviGators International Program at University of Florida -- an experience that sparked my passion for for working with extremely diverse groups of individuals and enabled me to cultivate my ability to coordinate large-scale events. Next, I will discuss my experience as an International Student Advisor at Auburn Global, whereby I put my creativity and resourcefulness to task by founding an intramural sports (IM) program to help integrate our students into Auburn University's campus culture. Finally, I will share a recent success story from my current role as President of the PhD Society at University of Glasgow. This role has further enhanced my penchant for working in diverse teams and facilitating student support and engagement.
As an intrapreneur, I am both a dreamer and an achiever: I frequently invent opportunities to generate additional impact, and I have a proven track record of following through with my ideas to drive transformations within organisations that have maintained lasting legacies. My infectious enthusiasm, gregarious nature and propensity to take initiative makes me a natural leader capable of inspiring motivation and collaboration across teams. Below, I will showcase three critical incidents from my previous work-related and extra-curricular experiences in order to succinctly illustrate my intrapreneurial spirit. First, I will highlight my first extracurricular leadership role as the President of NaviGators International Program at University of Florida -- an experience that sparked my passion for for working with extremely diverse groups of individuals and enabled me to cultivate my ability to coordinate large-scale events. Next, I will discuss my experience as an International Student Advisor at Auburn Global, whereby I put my creativity and resourcefulness to task by founding an intramural sports (IM) program to help integrate our students into Auburn University's campus culture. Finally, I will share a recent success story from my current role as President of the PhD Society at University of Glasgow. This role has further enhanced my penchant for working in diverse teams and facilitating student support and engagement.
NaviGators International Program Presidency
(University of Florida)
Throughout my time at University of Florida, the most highly anticipated NaviGators International Programme event each year was an annual two-day trip to Orlando, Florida theme parks. This single event was the greatest source of revenue for the society as well -- usually attracting more than 100 students each semester. However, after being involved in the organisation for two years, I observed that word-of-mouth feedback about the trip appeared increasingly negative and it became more challenging to drive sales each semester. The most common complaint was that our chosen parks (both Disney) lacked a sufficient amount of thrill rides. Therefore, during my 1st term as president of the organisation in 2010, I proposed a significant and unprecedented amendment to this event: a transition from Disney to Universal theme parks. |
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As a proponent of democratic processes, I was intent upon leaving the final decision up to the society’s executive board team. Therefore, I organised a special meeting during which each board member presented arguments for and against the proposed change. At the end of this meeting, the board voted in favour of the transition to Universal parks. This decision ushered in a flood of preparation workin an effort to maximise the chance for a successful transition. I myself liaised with area hotels and transportation companies to negotiate flexible contracts and the most competitive rates. As one final step, I proposed we administer satisfaction surveys to each of the attendees during the two-hour return bus trip (thereby ensuring a 100% response rate). I then delegated the survey design, creation of promotional materials and breakeven point calculation to other team members.
This pivotal decision-making moment enabled me to sharpen my business acumen by leading a team through calculated risk taking that ultimately reaped dividends. In the end, the satisfaction surveys reinforced our decision to transition to the Universal parks and ticket sales exceeded the previous record by 50%. Further still, our efforts to cut costs resulted in an even greater profit margin and we generated over $5000 in profit for the society. Perhaps owing to this, each successive NaviGators executive board has upheld the move to Universal parks in lieu of Disney. On a personal level, I gained confidence negotiating contractswith external vendors and with managing large amounts of cash flows through this experience.
This pivotal decision-making moment enabled me to sharpen my business acumen by leading a team through calculated risk taking that ultimately reaped dividends. In the end, the satisfaction surveys reinforced our decision to transition to the Universal parks and ticket sales exceeded the previous record by 50%. Further still, our efforts to cut costs resulted in an even greater profit margin and we generated over $5000 in profit for the society. Perhaps owing to this, each successive NaviGators executive board has upheld the move to Universal parks in lieu of Disney. On a personal level, I gained confidence negotiating contractswith external vendors and with managing large amounts of cash flows through this experience.
Developing Auburn Global's Intramural Sports (IM) Program
Owing to my naturally enthusiastic nature and long history of involvement in student societies, while serving as an International Students Advisor at Auburn Global from 2015 to 2017, I was appointed the lead advisor of Student Involvement. Initially, the scope of my responsibility was limited to leading the Student Involvement presentations at new-student orientations each semester. During these hour-long presentations, I stressed the benefits of extracurricular involvement at U.S. universities and illustrated the various opportunities that awaited our students on Auburn’s campus. Unfortunately, despite such efforts, extracurricular participation amongst our students remained significantly low. During my first semester as an advisor, only about 5 in 100 students had joined a student organisation. At the same time, our students were reporting a lack of engagement with domestic (U.S.) students and a feeling of disconnection with the university in student satisfaction surveys.
As the student involvement champion of the office, I took it upon myself to tackle this paradox between students’ intentions (a purported desire to engage with domestic students) and behaviours (lack of involvement) during individual advising appointments. Having identified some commonly cited barriers to participation, I then brainstormed ways to circumvent these. For example, students often claimed they were apprehensive about joining organisations because they were ‘shy’ and self-conscious about their English language abilities. Recalling that basketball was the most popular hobby amongst our students, I identified an opportunity to increase student involvement through sports. At first, the time consuming and complex nature of the intramural sports (IMs) online registration process posed a major deterrent. However, I took the initiative to organise meetings each semester to provide step-by-step guidance for the registration process and to ensure the league’s rules and procedures were clearly communicated. I also developed a membership database to coordinate the formation of teams and utilised personal connections to recruit American students. Recognising our students often lacked means of transportation, I also purchased all of the uniforms and sports equipment on their behalf. Finally, I showed added support by making an effort to attend at least one of every student’s matches and brought along as many instructors and advisors as I could rally as well.
Due to my resourcefulness and unwavering commitment to the cause, our IM program attracted more than 100 international students by the second semester; thereby doubling our rate of student involvement. For these students, participating in IMs unlocked many benefits including increased engagement with domestic students, greater confidence speaking English and a stronger connection to the university. One of my students was even recruited to play for the university’s official men’s volleyball team! For me, the greatest reward was seeing my students thriving in their new home. The success of the program eventually attracted attention from the corporate leadership team, who asked me to lead a company-wide presentation on the IM program as a model student involvement initiative. Ultimately, by guiding the students through every step of their journey, I made the IM experience less daunting and more enjoyable. For this reason, by the time I left my position to move to Scotland for my master’s programme, I had created a self-sustaining legacy.
Due to my resourcefulness and unwavering commitment to the cause, our IM program attracted more than 100 international students by the second semester; thereby doubling our rate of student involvement. For these students, participating in IMs unlocked many benefits including increased engagement with domestic students, greater confidence speaking English and a stronger connection to the university. One of my students was even recruited to play for the university’s official men’s volleyball team! For me, the greatest reward was seeing my students thriving in their new home. The success of the program eventually attracted attention from the corporate leadership team, who asked me to lead a company-wide presentation on the IM program as a model student involvement initiative. Ultimately, by guiding the students through every step of their journey, I made the IM experience less daunting and more enjoyable. For this reason, by the time I left my position to move to Scotland for my master’s programme, I had created a self-sustaining legacy.
PhD Society Presidency
(University of Glasgow)
As a nascent organisation, the PhD Society is currently striving to mature and carve out its unique fit on campus. It seems the current executive board has inherited strained relations with some departments and is experiencing a lack of visibility entirely in others. In my first year as president of the PhD Society at University of Glasgow, my primary goal is to grow the society by enhancing our profile, reach, scope and impact. This will involve a multimethod approach to confront a range of existing challenges. However, my first focus has been capitalising on existing Induction Week programming through proactively seeking collaboration opportunities with various departments and organisations on campus.
My refined attention to detail, seasoned organisational skills and strong project management abilities developed through prior roles have prepared me for successfully coordinating collective action as PhD Society President. I began our Induction Week campaign by tasking each of the four College Officers with reaching out to the administrative staff in their respective colleges in order to collate an Induction Week event calendar and identify potential opportunities to offer our support. To effectively manage this concerted effort, I created and shared a live document to record correspondences, identify key gatekeepers within colleges and make note of important events. Early on, I received an invitation from the College of Social Sciences (CoSS) Graduate School to co-host a Q&A panel for incoming CoSS students. Participating in this panel quickly opened a cascade of opportunities that generated increased visibility for the society. Although celebrated, this flood of opportunities was accompanied by a greater need for effective organisational and communication practices within the society. In order to ensure equitable division of labour amongst board members and to minimise risks of diffusion of responsibility as our Induction Week demands grew, I created a signup sheet to allocate event hosting responsibilities equitably across the team. With it, I provided clear instructions for each board member to register to host one of the listed events during the week and set an explicit deadline. However, I made sure to allow flexibility for team members to pursue the events that most aligned with their individual areas of interest and expertise.
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As a result of my swift ability to take action, identify priorities and provide direction, we were able to fulfil every request we received. By being featured in each college’s induction week programming, we significantly increased our exposure to the university’s incoming PGR community – a key, captive audience. Taking a novel approach to Induction Week by offering event support in exchange for an opportunity to promote the society seems to have changed the tone of our relationship with college leaders, who now treat us as an ally rather than a detractor. Positive public recognition from high level actors at the university has afforded us more legitimacy as a society. Consequently, we are now receiving an influx of requests for collaboration from other organisations at University of Glasgow, in the wider Glasgow community and from farther afield in the UK.. Further, my experience in the Ph.D. Society has enabled me to become a more effective leader in that I have significantly improved my ability to delegate and am more adept at distinguishing between situations when I should take a more supportive or hands-on approach as a leader.