Jacqueline Martinez

I definitely attribute my success to my mother. I think she's truly just my support network in all. I grew up with a single parent, so she has truly always pushed me, and even when I didn't even know college was an option, I think she always instilled in me the idea that, you know, higher ed and just going and getting something. She may not have taught me directly, like, professionally, advisor stuff, but I think she's definitely taught me basic things like respecting others, responsibility, being driven. Things like that.

I think I'd have to say from my first accounting professor, after my first internship, I met with him, and I think what he told me was that you're expected to not know everything, and that's the whole point, but it's curiosity that will change that, and that is what people are looking for. At that time, I felt really kind of overwhelmed in a way because I felt like I needed to know more, and I think he helped me just understand, like, hey, like, you're literally in college, no one expects you to know everything, take a step.

I think I would tell them to not limit themselves. Truly, I think college is one of the, it's a privilege, and it's a beautiful time where you could just discover and be who you absolutely want to be. As I look back in the last four years, I'm proud of everything I've done, and kind of where it has taken me today, so truly explore different options, put yourself out there. If you're a shy person, like, don't, maybe this is the time where you'll try to do something different, right? And also, like, build your network, and that starts with, like, your closest friends, the clubs you go into.

Opportunity-wise, it's looking into different career fields, whether that's diving into more accounting or diving into information systems, which in this current day, it's a really big part with AI and everything. So I think those are opportunities that have been created and always require me to kind of take a step back and analyze where do I want to go, what do I wish to get into. And as of challenges, I think staying informed, staying driven. I think there's a lot of stuff changing and happening, but it's always very important to stay driven, stay informed, and even with values, right? Analyzing what do I want to do, where do I want to work, does it align with me, and stuff like that.

I think some values that are the most important would definitely be empathy. I really drive on empathy, responsibility, and respectfulness.