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Parent Department University of Florida

Use Your Resources & Do Not Give Up

By Monica Schiller

Monica Schiller (she/her) is currently a senior in the Innovation Academy at the University of Florida. She majors in marketing and has a passion for business, entrepreneurship, technology, and beauty.

Monica Schiller

The University of Florida Innovation Academy has made a huge impact on not only my career endeavors, but my college experience and has helped me build a strong foundation for my future.

My interest in innovation started in high school when I created my own nonprofit with my sisters called TeachTech. We flipped the classroom and had teenagers teach the senior citizens in retirement homes how to use their technological devices. I remember one of the senior citizens named Dorothy would come to our classes every week. At first, she needed help with simply turning on her phone, then she advanced to making a phone call to her grandchildren and towards the end, she was an expert and wanted to get on social media. Once these skills were mastered, Dorothy threw us a surprise party thanking us for all the help we had given to the residents via technology and through the relationships we had made with them. In this moment, I felt fulfilled that I was able to teach Dorothy such a universal concept, but I also made a friend during the process. Not only was the impact beneficial to the residents and myself, but I also got experience being an entrepreneur firsthand by starting an organization from scratch.

Based on that experience, I knew that I wanted to major in business, but I struggled to figure out what part of business to pursue. When I decided I wanted to go to the University of Florida, I applied to the Innovation Academy as my sister was part of the program and I heard so many great things about the curriculum. I applied and was hoping that by being in this academy I would gain insight and be given opportunities to figure out exactly what I wanted to major in and ultimately do with my career. And my hopes did come true. After my acceptance into the Innovation Academy, I saw immediate value. From finding some of my closest friends by living at Beaty Towers, to having real world discussions and projects during the dynamic classes, I would say the Innovation Academy has made me grow tremendously as a person and start my career in marketing. For example, during the 2020 Catalyst Competition, I remember at first being scared because I didn’t know my team members and I didn’t know how to go about creating an invention. But throughout the process and steps we were given to follow, our team ended up coming up with a successful project. From there, I realized that I gained many resourceful skills such as being a team member, the importance of effective communication, developing time management skills, and taking advantage of our resources such as our educated professors. And most importantly, I learned that I enjoyed the marketing and communication tasks of the group project the most.

With that said, the Innovation Academy ultimately did help me discover my future career path. Not only did I enjoy the marketing aspects of complex group projects, ​​such as creating the logo, PowerPoint design layouts and marketing promotion strategies, but I accepted my first marketing internship at the Cade Museum here in Gainesville through the Innovation Academy internship portal. From there on, I decided to enroll in more leadership programs. I joined the Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT) program to further explore marketing roles and connect with marketing-minded individuals. MLT helped me find and accept two more internships and with graduation upon me, I landed a full-time marketing position at my dream company ever since I have been young: L’Oréal USA in New York City.

Throughout the four years at school and prior, I worked hard in my classes and my previous internships to get my marketing role, but I could not have done it without my support system, mainly my family and friends, the connections I have made, the opportunities I was given through the IA program, and support from MLT and the University of Florida.

My advice to those reading is to put yourself out there, be open minded, work hard in your classes, make as many connections as you can, join leadership/career programs, ask for help if needed, use your resources and do not give up. Everything will work out and be sure to try your best and apply to everything until you truly figure out what you want to do.

The opportunities I have been given and the individuals I have met thus far through this program are invaluable. I am so grateful for all that has happened to me because of the Innovation Academy. I hope you join this program as well and if you already are in it, take advantage! Thank you for reading.