Actively prepare for your future as a student

Hi, I'm Dr. Natalie Pitutore and today we are talking in the month of boards about students. So it seems like it's a really far thing for a student, but trust me, it is not. Life happens much faster than you expect and the sooner you start to prepare yourself for the things you want in the future, the sooner you get them. So I'm not saying aspire to be on a board as a student, although there are student boards that you should get on. But there are certain things you can start to do so that you become the kind of person that is ready for those opportunities when they happen later in your career. So the first thing I would say is volunteer for things like student boards, committees, clubs, networks, events. And make sure you are visible and doing things at those events. Don't just be there as a passenger and sit quietly. Because when student things especially there's so many people, it's very hard to get noticed, it's very hard to get experience. Be the person who volunteers to do things. Actually, I was speaking to someone from Rotary the other day and she said what she always does is whenever they have events or meetings and she immediately volunteers herself to help in some way. Can I give out this? Can I collect the pamphlets? Can I introduce the guests? Can I help this with this so that everyone gets to know who she is? It's such an effective way to network in the community. So volunteer for things. Be in student clubs, be in networks, in associations, go for events. And in the student world there's so many things that are affordable or are free. So make the most of being a student. Even like maybe a year after I stopped being a student, I still used to sometimes say I hi, I'm a student of this, this and this. And I'm here to get research on this. Because when you say you're a student, people immediately are disarmed. They know you're not a threat or a problem or going to be difficult. You're just there for some free information or for something generally. So people are way more open. Make the most of it. Make the most of using yourself as a student. You get into places, you get discounts. Ask I'm a student, can I still attend? Is there a way you can discount the price for me for this conference? You can get these things, but make sure you're putting yourself out there. Because what you lack when you're young is experience. Yet you have all this energy, you have all this time, you have all these ideas, you have all this passion. What old people lack is passion. Because they're tired and they're cynical and life has been hard. So you can see how few old people are like, still feisty and fiery. It's because life has beaten them down. Yo, I'm seeing now, I'm experiencing the beat down. And I can imagine what I'll be like when I'm old. So when you're young and you still have all that energy and passion, harness it, make the most of it. Say yes to everything. Things you don't think you want, things that are not interesting. Just go and try. Attend this party, go to this event, volunteer to be on this committee. Be the treasurer here, be a wedding committee person there, whatever you can in your family, in your school life, in your friends, in your networks, your cousins, your uncles. Can I volunteer at your shop? Can I get this internship or apprenticeship? Can I come and see? Can I go to this event with you? Can I help you at blankets and wine to set up your stall? I'll walk for free the whole day as long as I can enter the event. There are so many ways you can benefit as a student because you have time and energy. So make the most of it because all those life experiences will be useful. You never know later when it will help you, but it will be useful. So put yourself in as many situations as you can. If you just keep to the life, like passively. School, school, home, school, home, friends, church, school, home, things like that. You never like, expose yourself. You don't grow, you don't meet new networks, you don't get out of your comfort zone, you don't get new skills. There's so many different opportunities that you can put yourself forward for that will benefit into something. Later you'll meet someone there in your student chess club that 10 years later is the person who is appointing people on a board and gets to remember. I remember that person, so helpful in the chess club, so smart, so sharp, always on time, was so useful, introduced us to this. Manage the event. They remember you well. You never know, just plant all the seeds you can. That is the most useful thing I can say. When you are still young and have all this time and energy. The next thing I would say is carry yourself well, because when you're in these situations, you want to be remembered for the right things. It's kind of like with career people, how they work on visibility and their reputation as a student. The disadvantage you have is youth. So many situations like I was in where people just don't take me seriously because I was young or I looked young, or I behaved Young. So it helps if you carry yourself in a more formal way, in a more serious way. See, I'm even dressed formally as I talk to you about this, which is not the norm for me. I have tattoos. It's something I have to think about when I meet people in new situations. When I have government work or official work or a board, I don't show up dressed in something sleeveless. I. I make sure that I'm covered up. I am decent. I am not wearing so much makeup. I am wearing an appropriate outfit. When I go to rural communities, I don't wear trousers because I know it makes women there uncomfortable. So you have to try and be thinking about your audience. When you're young, the world really revolves around you. The older you get, you realize there's so much in the world and you're really such a small, small, small part of it, which takes off a lot of pressure, I find, but also it helps you to understand, adjust them to your audience. I'm not saying lie and pretend. Don't dress completely different from how you are, but clean it up a bit. Don't use slang. Don't swear in front of older people. You know, be more formal and composed. Try and scratch up some maturity in yourself. Whatever maturity you have, that's the moment you need to use it in these kinds of situations. If you're in a club and now you're the treasurer, make sure you show up with your notebook and pen. Be on time, write everything down. Just do things more formally, more properly, you know, carry yourself well, because this is how people will remember you, especially when you're young and you're an underdog, you're coming in at a disadvantage because people are discounting you. I still get that there's so many things that I have to attend now, and I'm very honest. And they look like, what is this girl doing here? Or they don't take you seriously. Or they call me this girl in my face. Oh, that one annoys me. But I can't make a face. I can't be rude. I still have to show up. I still have to make sure I'm there doing what I'm supposed to. And then they're surprised. I always catch that moment. Those people who call me the young girl or the young girl has said this on the panel. And then I'll say something that surprises them. They're like, oh, the young girl knows her things. Yeah, be that person. Be that young girl or young boy. Know the things that you're doing. Carry yourself well because you don't want to make a bad impression. You know, when you're young, people might remember you badly. That one came with loud music, tattoos, purple hair, shouting was not. You didn't make a good impression on people. And that affects you later because these people are gonna be around and they'll remember you. Or if they're not, you won't realize why other people are getting opportunities and you are not. Maybe because you always come dressed in your jeans with cuts and tears and sparkles, because that's what's cool. Yeah, it's cool for your friends. It's not cool in the workplace. You have to think about these things. I understand, and I feel like I really relate because I have a more outgoing personality and a more edgy style of things. But I wish I could have, like, colored nose rings and tattoos everywhere, but I can't. Yes, I do have some. And you get away with more once you're adding more value. I noticed that people who are needed, who are wanted, can get away with more bad things. Like when someone is very successful, but they have weird habits, like Elon Musk. No one is going to criticize and disturb them because they're good at what they do. I realized in school I was one of what you call those stubborn kids. My mom was always stressed about school because whenever the school would call her, she's like, what have you done now? She just knew it was me, and I'm in trouble because I did something. But they could never really expel me or put me in too much trouble because I did really well in school and I made the school look good. Like, if it's a play or a public thing or an event, I was helpful and useful. I get good grades. Like, you gotta balance. I have a cousin like that who is very, very smart and was always in trouble. But they could not expel her because she'd get the best grades in the school. And it helps. If you're adding value, you get away with way more. That's why I feel like now I can get away with a small nose pin. I can get away with, like, some tattoos sometimes. Some are hard to hide, so. But it's worth it because my value outweighs the negative side or the risk. And I don't think things like piercings and tattoos are negative, personally. But I also understand. I live in a world where it's about perception. I am not the person who gets to decide. I would hire someone with tattoos and piercings because I know that their brain works fine with them, but I Know, a lot of the hiring managers, a lot of senior people, government people, officials, CEOs, won't. With certain types of hairstyles, with certain types of colloquial language. Like, there are some things that put people off, and you want to minimize those things until you're far ahead enough that you can start to let some of those things go. And like, sometimes I'll show up and I'll forget to put on the jacket and I'll realize I've sat and they've seen the tattoos and they're like, oh, but it's too late. You need me in that meeting. So now we have to just go forward. So I'll get away with it. I try not to do it often, you know, but what I'm saying is you have to be thinking about how you're carrying yourself, about the impression you're making, how you write on social media. So many people these days don't get jobs because of what they post on social media. I did interviews for a social media manager the other day, and I am a liberal person. I understand. And I. And I'm relatively young. But this guy's Twitter, he had thousands of followers. He was really funny. He was so interesting. I've actually argued with him and talked to him on Twitter before. So when he showed up in the interview, I was like, oh, it's you. Now I get to see your qualifications. But he said some bad things, things that are negative, things that are discriminatory, and he didn't see the problem. He was making jokes about different groups of people. And in the interview, I brought it up and he still didn't realize it's a problem. He. He searches his personal Twitter. He can joke about what he wants. But this is a corporate job. It's a formal place. If this is your judgment, how do I trust you with something like a Marriott brand, you know? So these are the things that can discount you. I'm not saying don't have opinions, but you need to realize how you present yourself in the world. Don't be fake. But you also have to realize you can adjust. There's a scale. I don't always look like this. You've seen me on other videos, but I put in an effort because I know when I have to be in certain situations, I. I need to adjust my own personality a little bit this side, a little bit that side in the spectrum. A personality is not yes or no. It's this is red or it's blue. You have that, the scale. Like, I won't see Certain things around certain people with the language I use, the, the ideas I share or the examples I give. It's like giving a very old person a very young, like, technological example. I can't start taking telling my grandma, oh, I saw this on TikTok and on TikTok, please, is the thing like it's just not going to click, it's not going to connect. I'm wasting both our energy and time. Unless I give her context, I'll explain it in a different way. Like, you know how in magazines they used to have adverts like this These days in the phone, they put the adverts on Tik Tok like this. You know, you adjust. You don't be fake, but you adjust. It's like turning the volume up and down. You have to know your audience and who you are around and the impression you're trying to make on them. So carry yourself in that way. Think about it when you're in these kinds of opportunities. The last thing I would say also is don't be scared. If I could go back and encourage my younger self, I think there were so many things that I was too scared to do or to say or to speak up or to ask. And it just took me longer to learn those lessons or to get in those positions. And I think I'm someone who has moved relatively fast because I do learn quickly. So I realize when I've done something and I can do it faster or better the next time. That's why I think I'm in so many positions that are typically with older people, but I'm the young one in the room or I get to be in this opportunity or in this board or in this meeting or in this project. So I would say, don't be so scared. You are also a person. You have the right to be where you are by the time you've walked your way or talked your way into this opportunity. Be there, be present, ask questions, add value. I remember one of my first board meetings. I was maybe 17 and my dad said I could come, but I should just sit. You know, learn, observe, See, Being the stubborn kid that I was, of course I asked questions in the board meeting. And this was a board meeting, like a proper board meeting with other people from other companies and real, like adults. But I was not scared. So I asked certain questions and I learned so much about how boards happen and what happens in the companies. And I remember later when the board meeting was over, in one of those breaks, one of the people who had come from South Africa was Very impressed. And he's like, wow, I'm surprised that you could ask questions and speak up, but it's very impressive. You know, I think you have a bright future. It's like, thank you. You know, I didn't ask anything stupid. I went forward with it. And it helps because it made me not scared. So now when I'm on actual boards, even when there's a contentious issue, when there's something that I know other people disagree with, I'm not scared to say it. So I think you practice that. And fear holds us back so much. And when you're young, like I said, I'm not trying to be patronizing. I remember the feeling. It feels like a world revolves around you, so your insecurities are so magnified. It seems like the end of the world if you say something stupid in public or the things that you're scared of seem so big. When you're older and you have other problems that are bigger than that, you or bigger than you, you realize how small that was. But it does feel scary in the moment. So I understand. And I'm saying you have to learn how to push past that fear. Don't let the fear limit you or not make you speak up. I know so many young people who are not scared and they go for it and they ask questions and they push and they remind me for things. You promised me this. I would like to follow up. Can I come and meet you about this? What about this? Can you introduce me to this person? Go for it. At worst, I'll forget to respond or I'll say no. But you don't lose anything. Try get yourself out there. Don't be so scared. And I know in our culture, young people are not valued or listened to and it's so frustrating. So. So it further diminishes your self esteem. You ask the questions, you show up, you be in those meetings, Ask for the opportunities. Intern, volunteer, and be present when you're there. Be paying attention, be listening, ask, notice, add the people on LinkedIn. Introduce yourself. Say, I noticed when you said this and it was really great. Sometimes it's just nice to compliment someone. Even these people who you see as big and powerful and they'll never remember you, tell them, I really enjoyed your speech. It still touches them because they are still, they are there for a reason. To share that information or to share their knowledge or to meet with these people. And it's humans are humans. At the end of the day, we still all want connections and we still all have fears and insecurities no matter how old or how successful you get. So take the pressure off yourself a little bit. Yes, there's pressure to behave in a certain way, act a certain way. You know, be more mature, show up well, iron your clothes, be on time, take off all the extra jewelry. Ladies, please. My gosh, sometimes we overdo it. I'm just saying you want to be remembered for the right things and fear often stops you. If you attend many things, but you're always really quiet. No one will notice that you attended. Yes, you're learning because you're observing. But the best way to learn is to act. So the sooner you start implementing these things, picking up these things, doing things, you will absorb that information and you embody it. It means you know it so well that you don't have to think about doing it. And that's when you no longer have to use energy to learn this new skill. Be good in this area. So don't be so scared. The fear is there, but fear can't kill you. Feel it and still do the thing and then you have outgrown that fear and you won't have that same fear for that same thing ever again. It will be less until it goes away. Feel the fear and do it anyway. That's what Susan Jeffreys says. So that is something I live by because everyone has fear. So make sure you're thinking about these things. Volunteer for all the things you can. Carry yourself well. Immature, be organized, be formal, think of your audience and don't be so scared. The fear will be there. You can power through it. You will get through it until you are not scared of that thing again. Hope you found that useful. If you found this video useful, be sure to subscribe on my social media channels so you can get more information. I believe in you. I want you to succeed and I am here to support you.