Ariadna Ramirez

I give all my thanks to God. I feel like I don't have any special qualities more than anyone else - it's just the grace through Him that shows off, and He opens the doors. I'm just glad to have landed in this opportunity as of right now, to learn and to keep growing. And then my family, of course, my family values. I've been blessed to come across people and opportunities that have helped me progress, but I truly believe it's God putting the right people in front of me and the right opportunities, and just having that thought of 'I can do it.' The qualities that I have have pulled me through, but I wouldn't take full credit for it - it's really about knowing how to learn the basics and not staying within that frame of knowing something and just sticking with it, but also trying to learn more things as I go.

I've been thankful to come across managers who have given me lots of good advice. One of the best things I was told by one of my managers is that if someone's willing to teach you, then learn. It's really hard in any type of industry because people don't want to teach you their position as it is, and sometimes you can feel out of place. But it's important to know that if given the opportunity to learn something, even if you might not be the best at it, just try your best and focus on doing your job correctly as it is, that way it won't backfire on you. Learning is a very important quality and skill that a lot of people need when it comes to learning new jobs in different industries. Also, professionally speaking, always know when to step back and know that you've met your full capacity at doing something. If for some reason you feel like you can't, it's okay to take a step back and rethink everything and just take a break. Don't overwhelm yourself, because sometimes industries or corporations can make you feel like a lot, but it's important to keep yourself within what you're doing and your job.

I would give the advice to not feel like you need to have all the right tools to start. A lot of younger people, just like myself, get discouraged with thinking, 'Well, I don't have experience, or I don't have a bachelor's degree, or whatever it is, to be in this position.' But it's really about trusting in yourself and wanting to do more. If the opportunity presents itself, don't doubt yourself - just go ahead and try it. At least if you end up not staying in the industry, you can say, 'I tried it, I gave it a chance.' And if you didn't like it, you can move on to something else. But just try, give anything a chance, and then just look back and say, 'Okay, well, at least I did it, I tried it.' I think that's the best thing that I could say.

As I'm learning now, this is a new field for me, so I came in with no experience at all. Now that I'm starting to learn so much - learning terms and benefits and just getting a lot of terminology down to know what and how to help the customers and clients that we deal with in our daily duties - I do have a lot of times where I can get discouraged, just because it's a lot of studying that you have to do to get everything down. But I give myself the benefit of the doubt that I'm barely starting, so it's completely normal to feel overwhelmed sometimes when learning new things. I stay motivated by knowing that this is something that I want to learn to use maybe in my future, whether I choose to stay in the industry or just move somewhere else. I think just learning and having any type of experience is good.

To me, I would always say honesty, just in general. I think within any job that I've come across, just being honest is the best way. In my interviews, I tell them I might not be able to know everything right off the bat, but I'm willing to try, and I'm willing to put effort forward. I think that shows a lot to whoever you're seeking to get a job from, and it shows them that you're willing to try. That's something that comes with the values that I grew up with in general - just trying, even if you feel like you can't do the perfect job, at least you tried. I feel like in all of my past jobs, I tried my best to be as helpful as I can, even if the job might be difficult. Also, treating people equally is important. Even if I'm having a bad day, I feel like there's no such thing as making them feel that heaviness just because I'm having a bad day.