Juman Alyousif

First and foremost, my faith in God. Secondly, my mom. She has been a huge supporter of mine, building my personal brand and presence on LinkedIn, and she constantly encourages me to continue working on my podcast and putting myself out there. She always reminds me to keep a positive mindset and focus on the long-term goals. My mom is currently a PhD student in Library Science, and watching both her and my older sister build the Saudi Youth Space Association really inspired me to build and create something that I could call my own. Something that I would wake up in the morning really excited to work on.

LinkedIn, LinkedIn, LinkedIn. Building your personal brand on this platform can establish you as a thought leader in your field, opening up so many opportunities for your personal growth and career development than you ever thought possible, like landing a speaking gig or getting invited to lead workshops and programs. And you don't even have to be an expert in anything; you can just share your thoughts and be authentic.

Waiting for the perfect resume or college degree to start building your network is a trap. So many students wait until they graduate to start asking professionals how the real world works. For example, with my podcast, I realized that a microphone was the ultimate key to opening doors. It gave me a legitimate reason to reach out to brilliant minds at places like Adobe and UC Berkeley and ask them the questions that my peers and I are actually wondering about. So it shifted me from just being a passive consumer on social media to an active creator on it.

With the rise of AI tools, anybody can spin up content or generate a post in seconds. So for creators my age, the challenge is proving that our work has real depth, and authenticity is important. Since the internet is getting flooded with hyper-polished AI-generated content, people are really craving raw, genuine human conversations. That's where podcasting wins! My opportunity right now is to lean into being a beginner and redefine what a resume looks like by proving our skills through execution, rather than just waiting for a diploma.

I would say humility and modesty guide everything that I do, in both my work and my personal life. I really strive to be an individual who recognizes her own self-worth, but also knows when to stay humble and admits that she doesn't know all the answers. As a Saudi, I also hope that I can inspire young Saudi girls to follow their dreams and never give up.