My first epiphany came about when my uncle opened up a cafe near my house in Clear Lake. I started working there as a barista, but when summer came along, I was working full time as an Assistant Manager. But my title didn't end there. I was really passionate about the company succeeding (partly due to the fact that it was a family member's business) that it motivated me to do more than just serve drinks and food:

Take a look at Tea Leaf's Menu. This is displayed as a huge board on the wall where customers order..

My uncle was rarely at the shop because I was working. For him, it was a bit of a break from ALWAYS being there. I was working 80 hour weeks; I would arrive at work around 9:30am and leave around 11:30pm EVERY DAY. Although I was tired and weary in the summer (when you're supposed to be having fun), it was worth it. I saw my motivation grow, and I worked EXTREMELY hard. I was only being paid minimum wage (it was a startup company and I know that money was tight), but it wasn't even about the pay.

At the end of summer, I knew what I wanted to do. The business was doing better than before, and I'm a bit shy to say it was because of me. I was being an active manager, getting involved. The employees didn't really favor my uncle because he was more of the "Theory X" type manager. I mean, yes, you have to be sometimes, especially when your employees are mostly high school students with a high turnover rate. But you have to trust and believe in your employees. The way you communicate and treat your employees makes a big difference. They actually do care more about the business.

Tea Leaf employees wear these t-shirts. They are also sold to customers.

So at this point, I knew that I wanted to be an executive in management. I like to manage people and projects. I've always took notice that in group assignments, I've been the leader, although not appointed directly at first. I decided to major in corporate communications for a reason. I believe that communication is the most important aspect in a business, whether it be with your client, employee, co-workers, etc. I don't like bossing people around and that isn't why I want to be in management. I love having the ability of turning a vision into reality-seeing the process through. But sometimes, people need someone to push and motivate them to complete a task. I think people have a lot of creativity and much to offer; they just need someone to guide them in order to optimize their potential.

This was my first step in the right direction towards my career. I knew I wanted to go into business, so therefore, I dropped the pre-med status and went from a Latin Major to a Corporate Communication Major.

My next epiphany came as a result a sophomore business foundations class project: Management Information Systems: Business Fair Project

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