Zuleyka Henriquez

I attribute my success to being an athlete. You learn many qualities from sports - discipline, working with coaches who you might not agree with, having teammates which kind of relates to co-workers. It's that drive and discipline to keep working, keep pushing. I would definitely thank my athletic career for giving me the qualities I have now to go into the work field. All that discipline, motivation, and keep pushing, and being able to work with not the best employers or people that you don't really agree with - I would 100% thank my athletic career for that. Those 12 years as an athlete taught me how to stay motivated and disciplined, which helps me now in everything from my courses to my side jobs to pushing myself at the gym.

The best career advice I've ever received is to always put yourself out there, and it doesn't matter if it has nothing to do with what you think you want to do. Always put yourself out there, talk to people, introduce yourself. That's actually how I got many of the opportunities so far. I'm a very introverted person, however, making myself go to places where I don't know anyone and make connections has really made me put myself out there. I think people need to be more open to being more sociable, just saying hi, how are you, my name is this, and that is it. Just being more out there is an important attribute. Even if it's uncomfortable at first, those connections and that willingness to introduce yourself can open so many doors.

I would say the biggest opportunity is the AI world, because right now, my generation, we're in the midst of AI and its growth. I believe that we have a lot more opportunities since we're a very tech-savvy generation, and we could also introduce that aspect to different companies who aren't very technological advanced. However, some of the challenges I believe is that it's hard networking, especially if you have no one in your family, friends, or anyone close to you that has done something like this. You kind of have to really put yourself out there, which is hard for individuals, and I'm just now starting to learn that. But if you're in the right place at the right time, it could happen at any moment.

I think being disciplined and holding yourself accountable are the most important values. If you're disciplined and motivated, you could achieve whatever goals you have in mind. You also have to hold yourself accountable, because you could be in a city with so many people, and you're not going to always have the people closest to you near you. You have to make sure you push yourself in everything you do. I can relate that to me in the gym, me during my courses, and my little side jobs. You always have to hold yourself accountable and do the best you can. It took a while to build that routine - like right now, I have 8 AMs for classes, so I'm done midday, but I know myself and I know I won't want to work out later in the day, so I make myself wake up at 4:30 to go work out. That discipline and accountability keeps me on track.