PLDP

As told in my Professional Leadership Development Plan for Women & Leadership.  Note: Part of this passage is spoken in the future tense.  In other words, I have yet to receive any offer from EMC-I only hope I do so I can jump-start my career with them:

I was born on December 8, 1992 to two loving parents and two grandparents which spoiled me to no end.  At age 5 I decided to start competitively dancing and didn’t give it up until I was entering college.  At age 13 I made the decision to leave my public school friends behind and begin my high school career at a private all-girls catholic college preparatory school.  At age 17 I made the decision that Bryant had to accept me and that I was going to soon be one of their best students.  At age 21, I have now made the decision that I not only will jump-start my professional career at EMC but I will graduate from Bryant University, maintain a long distance relationship with my (so far) college sweetheart, and enjoy entering my 20s.

I’ve never been one to just go with the flow and see what happens.  Most of everything I do is very planned out or strategized.  Of course there has never been a day where everything has gone planned, which is where my adaptability kicks in, but for the most part I’m not one to sit back.  I’m one to steer.

Now, as I am entering my 20s, entering the workforce, entering a much more serious relationship, and really just beginning a completely new chapter of my life, I don’t really have a lot of plans.  This is new to me.  Yes, I will graduate.  But no matter how badly I want to jump start my career at EMC, who is to say I am exactly what they are looking for?  Yes, my boyfriend of three years is someone I love tremendously, but who is to say someone else will not come into my life?  These are the realities I am facing as I am closing out my first semester of senior year and about to embark on my second.  I have always been one to plan things out but for some reason it is very hard to do that now because I think life is what happens when we are busy making plans.  Sitting down to really write out my Professional Leadership Development Plan was highly important to me for these reasons.  There is a lot of things that are unknown and will be answered within the next few weeks to few years but by taking the time to create a strategy, I continue to steer my life in the direction I choose.  I understand there will be heavy winds that may shift my sails, but by having a strong map, I will not lose myself.

Thank you Dr. Coakley for giving me the opportunity to do this,

Jessica