Core Values

During my time at the University of Washington, I have established what my core values are and why they are significant to me. My five core values include:

Ambition - For as long as I could remember I have always been an ambitious individual. I always pushed myself to be at the top of my class, to receive academic achievements and awards, and to obtain leadership opportunities when they came my way. For me, I have always enjoyed challenging myself and setting more difficult goals to meet. These goals then become something that I desire to accomplish in order to obtain that feeling of success. Therefore, making goals for myself and fulfilling them is rewarding and is what continues to fuel my ambitious side.

Determination - I think it is vital to have motivation and drive when it comes to everyday and not-so-everyday tasks. In my opinion, being determined is a way for one to feel like they have a purpose in life. There have been many times where I felt like taking the easy route and quitting a difficult task such as no longer taking the prerequisites for medical school, but I always manage to overcome my feelings of self-doubt and push through while giving it my all.

Family - Having people who love you unconditionally despite your flaws is everything. Without my family, I would not be the person that I am today. My family has taught me what it feels to be loved and cared for. Having people who care about you, your dreams, and your well-being is one of the most inspiring things to have and should not be taken for granted.

Passion - A quote that I live by is “Do what you love, love what you do.” Being passionate about something shows that you really care about what you are doing. Moreover, I think that passions correspond to happiness. To illustrate, I am very passionate about helping others. I have always been drawn to lending a hand wherever it’s needed in order to accomplish a project or to lessen someone else’s burden. The result of giving my service to someone else has always been rewarding because it brings a smile to their face which in turn brings a smile to mine.

Organization - A common metaphor that I hear from my peers is “my life is a mess.” Feeling like you have no control inhibits one from being able to accomplish things and results in a state of discouragement. Therefore, organization is important because it prevents one from being distraught and lost. I keep myself organized by making checklists, using my daily planner, and prioritizing what needs to be done first.

Leadership Identities

In addition to my core values, I have also curated unique leadership identities that pertain to me and are reflective of my key learning experiences.

During my Freshman year at the University of Washington, I commuted from home. After a year of commuting I realized how distant I felt from the UW community and I sought to change this feeling. Therefore, I became a supportive resource guide by being a Resident Adviser (RA) for the Residential Halls at the University of Washington. An important aspect of this job is to be a resource to the residents on your floor. Prior to this job, I never considered myself as being a resource to anyone. In other words, I was more dependent on others and would always be the person asking others for help instead of the other way around. This job has helped me grow as a person because I hold myself accountable for knowing information that my residents will most likely ask about. Whenever I am able to be a resource to my residents, I am always left with a feeling of pride and joy.

Additionally, creating relationships has always been a significant part of my life. I am a relationship nurturer and developer. My current leadership roles have all dealt with developing relationships and nurturing them into being meaningful ones. For instance, I make meaningful relationships with my residents on my floor as well as with the other RAs on my staff. It is vital for me to care and protect these relationships that I have because it helps me thrive as a person. Additionally, as a Meeting Space Assistant I have developed professional relationships with the management team as well as my co-workers. Moreover, as a Gameday Recruiting Intern it was my job to build a relationship with the potential high school recruits the Husky Football coaches were looking at. Overall, relationships are an important aspect of my life and they have helped enhance my social skills and my approachability skills which are essential when it comes to networking with people and working with different types of people.

My current roles involve me having to be a part of a team. I personally think that I collaborate well with others because I am open to new ideas, I voice my opinions when I want to be heard, and I try my best to build relationships with each of my team members. Therefore, I have a unique leadership identity of being an avid team player promoter because I find myself being the person who promotes team camaraderie.

Furthermore, as a Diversity minor I have become a diversity knowledge seeker and scholar. Working with different types of people has taught me the importance of learning about diversity in order to become more open-minded. I am grateful for taking these diversity classes because I strongly feel that this knowledge will always be relevant and it has helped me become a more inclusive person.

I do what I do because I want to be able to do what I love in life, and that is to help people. I want my altruistic nature to rub off on others in order to make the world a better and more inclusive place. No one deserves to face hardships and be discriminated towards alone. Therefore, to accomplish this I have worked hard to gain knowledge in diversity and become more open-minded so I can educate those around me as well as be equipped with the ability to know how to work with all different kinds of people.

I envision myself engaging in leadership in the future no matter what career I have, where I am, or who I am with. I strongly feel that everyone is a leader in their own unique way, even those who doubt it. Being a leader is like technology and medicine, it is always evolving and progressing. Moreover, there is no “perfect” leader in the world. There is always room to improve upon my leadership skills and I am eager to work on them for as long as I live. I know that I will continue to work on my leadership competencies and obtain new ones as I pursue other opportunities.