Alumni panelists stressed the importance of connecting with professionals
On February 22nd, I attended the Big Tech Industry Bite, hosted by Mohr Career Services. As a junior studying business, I enjoyed the valuable insights that the alumni shared and the free pizza! The panel was comprised of three Duck alums who shared their interesting career journeys.
Panelist Grant Gurewitz graduated in 2013 and worked at firms like Zillow and Qualtrics before starting his position as a Marketing Senior Manager at Headway. It was great to hear his insights on work/life balance and how to handle a rapidly changing industry. Grant explained how he reduces his burnout by logging off for the weekend and resuming work when the week begins.
Anetra Brown is a Senior Program Manager of Diversity and Inclusion at Salesforce. It was interesting to hear how her experience working in nonprofits differed from her current position and her time at Lyft. She encouraged students to reach out and form connections with Duck alumni.
Elizabeth Ahern had a tenured career at Adobe as a Director of Business Partnering. Elizabeth touched on the culture of big tech firms and how quickly change is enacted at large firms. She advised students to combine initiative with an actual business proposal. The proposal is used to lay out the logic behind what you want to accomplish with the initiative and increases the odds of your idea being implemented.
The alumni were very inviting and friendly. After the panel, I talked to Grant, and that turned out to be my favorite part of the event. Grant was genuinely interested in helping me articulate and accomplish my goals. After the event, I connected with all the panelists on LinkedIn, and plan to have more conversations with them in the near future!
If you haven’t attended an Industry Bite event yet, I recommend it. These events provide insights from companies and make it easy to connect with UO alumni and other professionals.
