Mentor Meeting Trip

These past few months with our mentor, David Jacobs, have been both entertaining and a great learning experience. I looked forward to our mentor meetings because I enjoyed discussing his experiences of the business world. It gave me a first hand look at what exactly I would be experiencing in the field of business and whether I would choose to continue pursuing it. In our last mentor meeting, we and our mentors were assigned to visit their work businesses and interact with fellow executives in their offices. Our group however, was unable to attend this visit because of security issues in the corporation. I will admit that hearing this was a disappointment since I was looking forward to this experience. Instead, our mentor took us to a study room in Monroe Library where he showed us the uses of Microsoft Project and how it can be used for organization. I found this knowledge to be very interesting since I am currently pursuing a future career in Law, organization is very important. Project basically shows a step by step process on how you will complete work assignments or any other uses. He demonstrated an example on how we can plan out a date with specific details. It was very humorous and I look forward to possibly using this program in the future.

Mardi Mentor

After just recently meeting with my mentor, David Jacobs, I have learned much from him about business communication just by the way he communicates with us. It’s easy to see that he is a very successful person who knows his way around the business world. Personally, I am grateful to have been presented with such a great mentor who knows exactly what to do in bad situations whether he must be serious or merely having a good time. He also taught us how important it is too be able to communicate with your client. Jacobs stated when taking a client to a steak restaurant only to realize that he was a vegetarian. I found this humorous because as he told us before, you should always know every detail about your client whether it is a key person or not, communication is important and is only done successfully with more than one person.

I recall during the Networking event for the business students where I learned from several different executives about employment in accounting and finance. From the information gathered, I decided that I would probably be interested more in accounting because it allows you to work in multiple surroundings in business rather than finance that focuses on banks. Although I have not yet decided, I am still putting a lot of thought into what I am going to do with my life.

Mardi Gras is important to New Orleans because it gives the city its life. Aside from Bourbon Street, Mardi Gras brings both locals and tourist from all over the country to experience the fun that New Orleans has to offer. I myself have experienced New Orleans parades my entire life and still look forward to Mardi Gras to live it up some more. As usual, I mainly intend to avoid getting arrested or living it up a bit too much because then you will wake up in the morning and not realize where you are.

Networking Event

On January 15, 2009 I had the pleasure to meet several well-known business executives from Louisiana during our Networking meeting at Loyola University for the business communications students. Listed below are five executives I had the pleasure of meeting. Meredith M. Hartley, the Director of Public Affairs and External Relations at Loyola University of New Orleans. Before entering this position, Hartley operated a full-service marketing and public relations consulting company in Charleston, SC and the public relations manager for Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System in Spartanburg, SC. Next, Michelle K. Johnston, Ph.D. holder and Business Communication teacher at Loyola University of New Orleans, is an Associate Professor of Management and Director of the Executive Mentoring Program at Loyola. John J. Zoolinger IV is the Regional Manager for Regions Financial Corporation as well as Homebuilder Financer and Senior Vice-President for Regions. Brian A. Gueniot, a consultant for business, leadership, sales, and human resources consulting as well as the Director of Human Resources and Development at the Standard Companies, INC. Last but not least, my mentor David Jacobs, a project manager at Unisys Inc and an MBA in Finance from Loyola University of New Orleans.
One thing I accomplished well during this event is finally ensuring me on what major I will be pursuing along with how important a firm handshake can be. Something I could improve would be my direction toward people and how I present myself. Businessknowhow is a useful site for networking as well.

Executive Mentor Program Experience

The executive mentor program at Loyola University of New Orleans is a program that allows students to meet with executive business leaders to get a firsthand experience in the field of business along with an everyday outlook on what to expect. My mentor, David Jacobs, is a finance graduate from Loyola University and a smart well rounded official. He taught me a lot about the business world and what we can do with our degrees from getting a job to helping the economy.
My first expectations of the program was indifferent, I expected the program to teach us about the business world but through lecture rather than through experience. As the semester went by, David changed my outlook on the program and exceeded my expectations. Personally, what I admired most of my mentor was how he took charge of the argument towards the election and how the economy would stand toward a new leader. After several falls in the economy, there is really no telling which way the tide will turn; only time can reveal that answer.
I believe this program should be demonstrated throughout other universities because by giving a firsthand experience and showing students what they may be expecting, they are giving those students an opportunity to continue and know what they are getting into so that they may either stick with it or decide a different perspective. This program did not only teach me about a degree in finance but it showed me that I am pursuing the right career and that is what makes it worthwhile.
Throughout the next semester, I hope to get a deeper perspective of the finance world through the mentor program and learn more on the current state of the economy and how it will change for the better or worse. As for Loyola, I expect no more than the best from such an institution. Our business teachers, Howard and Reed, have both taught us much about the business world. Howard has taught me much about the current economic state along with how and why businesses fail because of bad management. It’s sad to say this semester is nearly over but next semester there will be new challenges to face.
Those who wish to stay up to date with the current economic states or just wish to read more up on business; I suggest to them the businessweek. It’s a great way to learn more about current affairs along with valuable knowledge.

Wolves on the Prowl

On November 8, 2008, I participated in the 7th annual Wolves on the Prowl Community Service Day at Loyola University of New Orleans. Throughout the country, students and alumni participate to help "roll up their sleeves for charity" and Wolves on the Prowl is an opportunity for students to interact with local communities and get a real hand on life and how together one can make a difference.
During Wolves on the Prowl, students were presented with various activities to choose from including: a field day at Good Shepherd School, painting at Andrew H. Wilson Charter School, planting pots at Project SMILE, cleaning a New Orleans Recreation Department park, and cleaning the break room at Loyola. I chose to clean up the break room under the Dana Center. Upon arriving to the break room, we were told to clean out the entire room and remove the old furniture and refurbishing the room with new furniture. The task seemed impossible, the room was piled with old furniture and unused products. Fortunately, with a pair of gloves and some heavy lifting, the old furniture was discarded and the room was nearly finished. Most of the room was finished by others since the leaders sent some of us toward the old library and Thomas Hall. I thought the break room was bad, this was much worse. This time, we had to move large tables out of the library and place them into a truck where they would be taken to an organization for use. Several of us were used to carry the tables into the truck but we got it done after a few hours. We even got to explore the unused residence building, Thomas Hall. I will admit the building was not very pleasant in its current state but overall, was quite an extraordinary discovery. The building reminded me of being inside a castle especially the spiral staircase leading to the bell tower. After everything got done and the truck was loaded, we proceeded back to the Dana Center where the break room had been cleaned and ready to load furniture in.Upon the end of the day, I had learned to better respect community service because if it were not for us sacrificing a couple hours of our time to load some tables into a truck, the organization would not have been able to complete its activities. I feel that i made a difference to help those children along with feeling a sense of accomplishment that I helped out in my community.
Another organization I learned of that makes a difference in New Orleans is the Youth Building New Orleans organization. It is a nonprofit organization that focuses on the recovery of New Orleans open to everyone willing to make a difference. Its mission to help youth make a difference in helping restore New Orleans and its vision is to allow the youth to make a difference in the world because they are the ones who are going to shape the future of this world.

Credit Scores

Our past Thursday night meeting was our second mentor meeting where a Regions bank executive spoke to us on the issue of credit cards and how easy it is to be placed in debt for several years. He explained to us of our credit scores and how they are used to determine life situations. For example, credit scores are used to determine whether or not you will receive a loan for a car or house. In addition, even employers look at your credit score; good credit score shows that you have good financial and personal responsibility. He also explained mistakes that can kill your credit score which are spending at the wrong time, being too thin, missing payments, being too young and cocky, being too tidy, and being too nonchalant.
Our mentor, David also explained of how credit cards work and exactly how they have to be repaid. Although using a credit card does assist when borrowing money, it should not be used as a habit but for emergencies. Even if you spend a certain amount on your credit card, interest rates may increase it much higher and even double it over long periods of time. There are also some organizations that assist students in credit scores and loans. One of these sources, Chase, gives allocate resources of how to repay affordable loans over time with small interest rates. It also explains loan facts and credit card information.

Career Beam Values and Vision

The vision of my ideal future is mainly to graduate college and use my strengths to help others when I become a lawyer. That is my ideal goal in life. The benefits of writing a vision statement are that it focuses on your goal in life. In other words, it paints a picture of what you’re trying to get to over large periods of time. There are, however, some challenges to writing a vision statement. If you only look ahead a couple years in your vision, your long time results will end badly.

Values are another important aspect of your career as they shape your career decisions. I believe my most important values of life are my strengths and experiences that allow me to communicate well with others. I believe it is important to be in a well working environment. I express my values on a daily basis during school. For example, in classes I try my best and focus on my studies to do the best that I can. I also work with others to improve my own knowledge of a certain subject. It is important to make friends in school so that if you were to miss a day of class you know someone who can help you.

There are even some organizations that share my values; one of those organizations is the Presidio Bank in the San Francisco Bay area. There values, similar to mine, focus on the environment and on teamwork. "Among our most important stakeholders are the communities where our customers and employees live and work. We have a vested interest in building economically healthy communities." quoted Presidio Bank as they described their work environments. "We stress teamwork in everything we do. While we certainly value individual creativity, we have found that team effort generally produces the best results. We cooperate for the betterment of the whole." quoted Presidio Bank describing their strive for teamwork and how cooperation is the best choice.

I believe working with these typical values are an essential part of a successful business. Teamwork and a good working environment are important to both employees and customers. For example, no one would wish to shop in a store with evenly priced merchandise if the store is highly unorganized and the environment is unsanitary.