From Student to Aspiring Tech Professional: Paola Mendiola on Building a Career in Cybersecurity | Ep036

In this episode of Career Downloads, host Manuel Martinez interviews Paola Mendiola, a promising digital forensics student at CSN who shares her journey into technology and cybersecurity.

Episode Summary
Paola takes us through her tech journey, beginning with the transformative moment when her father brought home their first computer. This experience allowed her to connect with family in Mexico through video calls – a pivotal event that sparked her passion for technology. As a first-generation tech enthusiast, Paola discusses navigating educational opportunities, from her high school IT and cybersecurity program to her current studies at CSN.

Throughout the conversation, Paola candidly shares her experiences with high school robotics competitions, her valuable training at Tech Impact, and how she’s building her professional network as a newcomer to the industry. She provides thoughtful insights about overcoming shyness, establishing a professional presence on LinkedIn, and the crucial importance of finding mentors who can guide your career path.

What makes this episode particularly valuable is Paola’s fresh perspective as someone actively entering the field. Her story of recently speaking to young women in tech and her aspirations to become a cybersecurity educator highlight her commitment to helping others following in her footsteps.

Key Moments in This Episode
02:38 – How Paola’s tech journey began when her dad brought home a computer
11:55 – Paola’s experience in high school robotics competitions
16:24 – Getting hands-on IT experience through Tech Impact
29:20 – Transitioning from shy student to LinkedIn networker
44:30 – Speaking to young women about tech and coming full circle
52:54 – Paola’s aspiration to become a cybersecurity teacher
01:02:40 – Advice for people looking for opportunities in tech

Connect with Paola
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paolamend/

Resources Mentioned
Tech Impact: Non-profit organization providing IT training
SIM Las Vegas: Society for Information Management
NCWIT: National Center for Women in Information Technology

New episodes of Career Downloads are released every Tuesday. Subscribe to our podcast on your favorite platform to catch all our career conversations with professionals across the tech industry!

Join our community on the social platforms:
Website: https://careerdownloads.com
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/career-downloads
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@careerdownloads
X/Twitter https://twitter.com/@careerdownloads
TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@careerdownloads
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/careerdownloads
FaceBook https://www.facebook.com/people/CareerDownloads/61561144531249

#CareerDownloads #Cybersecurity #TechCareers #WomenInTech #DigitalForensics

Released: May 20, 2025

Manuel: Welcome everyone. My name is Manuel Martinez and this is another episode of Career Downloads. Where each episode I basically hit the refresh button, bring on a different guest to really learn more about their experiences and how they’re managing their career over time. With the ultimate goal to be able to uncover any actionable advice that you can use as you’re managing your own career. So I’m excited for today’s episode. I have with me, Paola Mendiola. And I’m bringing her on because this is gonna be a slightly different conversation. So most of the times I bring on different guests who are already in the industry, have been in for a while and are explaining the different things that they’ve used throughout their career. So the reason that this one’s exciting for me is I have seen a lot of the posts, a lot of the activities that Paola has been doing, you know, on LinkedIn. I reached out to her, we had a couple conversations and I thought it would be beneficial. She’s somebody that’s new and kind of entering into the field. So I think it’d be perfect time to kind of get the perspective from somebody new who’s starting in. You know, some of her background, what led her into technology. And then also eventually, you know, what are some of the activities that she’s doing and why she chose those and you know, how she feels they have either helped or hindered her along her career journey. So with that, I’ll go ahead and introduce Paola.

Paola: All right, hi everyone. My name is Paola Mendiola and I’m very excited to be here. So a little bit of a background before we go into anything. I’m currently a student at CSN. So I’m doing my associate’s degree in digital forensics. So cybersecurity. So I’m really excited to be here and nervous obviously, but I’m excited.

Manuel: And I appreciate you just kind of telling people what you’re doing now. So if you don’t mind, just so that we can get an idea of kind of where you started. So if you don’t, if you want to tell me, you know, where you grew up and what eventually transpired that made you get interested in technology and it sounds like it might’ve been since you’re a student, there might’ve been something that kind of led you down that path. So, you know, I’m just kind of interested in hearing a little bit more about, you know, that journey.

Paola: Okay, all right. So something, sorry. I’m really excited. That’s what, but I was born and raised here in Vegas. So I was little, grew up here, went to elementary, middle, high school, going to college here. So yeah, that’s a little bit about where I’m from. But to be honest, my tech journey started, I was talking to you about this, like on our Google Meets, but my journey started really when my dad brought home a computer. So back then we didn’t really have like a lot of resources. So the moment when my dad brought home like this really cool computer, I don’t remember what it was. It was like in the, I don’t know, like 2010, 2011. It wasn’t the best computer out there, but he brought home this computer. And well, since then, I kind of fell in love with computers. You know, I was kind of curious about how they worked. Like, you know, he just plugged in stuff on a little like TV monitor thing. You know, suddenly he was able to manage the web. He was able to go on YouTube, watch like cool music videos, that sort of stuff. It was really, really impactful. Along with that, I was able to, well at that time, well, my family, most of them are in Mexico and a lot of them, well, they’re there and they can’t really travel over here because it’s kind of costly and stuff. So what my dad did is he set up like this little Zoom call. No, it wasn’t Zoom. It was like Skype at that time. It was like, oh, long time ago. Like this was before like WhatsApp, like FaceTime, all that sort of stuff. So he set up like this call. And so I was able to see my grandparents for the first time ever. Like, you know, I was usually, well, I was really young, so they couldn’t really send me to Mexico to meet my family. So seeing my abuelita, seeing my aunts, seeing everyone there, like in the video call, kind of really, that’s a moment that like sticks out to me till this day. Like this was like years ago, but being able to see their faces, you know, connect their faces to the voices that I used to hear via like just a regular phone call, really, I don’t know. It was such a like moment that, I don’t know, made me want to pursue tech. I wanted to learn about how I could, you know, make something that helps other people in a similar way. So yeah, that’s kind of a little bit about my background. Yeah, it’s a very, it was a really impactful moment. And I still think about it for this day.

Manuel: And it makes sense. So I remember as a kid, you know, my first introduction to like computers was like in the classroom, but it was very basic. You were doing assignments, occasionally you got to play a game and that was it. But when my dad and his office, like they had gotten a computer and it was old. I remember we had a monitor and it was green. You know, we had to play, we got to play a couple games, but then eventually they, you know, they replaced that and we got to bring that home. And it was just like playing it and like playing around with it and, you know, at the time we didn’t have like, you know, Skype and those kinds of things, but, you know, me and my siblings just playing around and hey, this isn’t working or, you know, hey, something got disconnected. Now the keyboard is not working and like troubleshooting and trying to figure that out was just, it was something that I didn’t realize it at the time, but to your point, right, it stuck with me all those years. So then now you get this computer, you’re obviously, you know, experiencing, you know, not only technology, but what it can do, right? It’s not just like, hey, this does a thing for me. I can print out my, you know, my assignments and do things like that. So then after you get that computer, did you also start kind of using them in school? Did you use it for assignments? Was it really just to kind of play games? Like what was your continuation after that moment?

Paola: To be honest, it was, like our like home computer, like during elementary school, early elementary school, from what I remember, it was just for me to play games. Like to be completely frank, my dad and I would go to the library and we’d pick out like a CD game or like, I don’t know, we’d pick out like a, I don’t know, they don’t even use them anymore, like CDs, DVDs, whatever. We picked that up. I remember it was a Care Bears game. Like we used to play, we used to go to the library, get games, put them into the computer and then just kind of go and have fun. But I think it wasn’t, I guess, late elementary school, like I remember there was also like gamified, like math problems that we’d go and do. So yeah, that was elementary school and middle school. Same thing, like, you know, it was, technology was kind of growing as well. So from that big blocky computer that we had moved on to like a laptop, something a little bit slimmer. And then while in high school, well, obviously use computers because of school and all that sort of stuff. But technology has just been there all my life. I know a lot of people can’t really relate to that. You know, some people, technology computers weren’t as advanced as they are now. Like, you know, back then, you didn’t, not everyone had access to a computer or a smartphone like we do now.

Manuel: So then you get into high school and at this point, it sounds like you’re deciding, you know, at some point, hey, I’m either gonna go to college, not gonna go to college, were your parents kind of influencing you there and, you know, what was the decision process or, you know, was there even decision? Because I know like in a lot of Latin households, right? Like I didn’t have the choice. It was, you’re gonna go to college or my alternative was my dad, again, I mentioned they were in construction. It was go work for him in construction, which I already was doing like on summer breaks and things of that nature, but it was, you know, what do you wanna do forever? So what was it like for you?

Paola: So we were talking about this as well, but back like when I was in middle school, okay, so thankfully here in Vegas, there’s a lot of vocational like tech schools for high schoolers. So back in middle school, I decided to apply for like a vocational school here. And I originally applied for a major in photography, which is weird, which is weird. I was telling you this as well. I did, that was my first choice, but my second choice was IT, cybersecurity. So hopefully my teacher isn’t listening to this, but yeah, my first choice was photography and my second was IT, cyber. I didn’t get accepted into the photography program, but I did get accepted into the IT and cyber program. So I did that during my four years of high school. And honestly, I don’t know, I kind of wonder what my career would look like, like if I would even be here if I was in photo, I’m not too sure, but yeah, I did the IT and cyber program and well, I’m continuing it now, so.

Manuel: Even in high school, like, do you feel that they, you got a good foundation of it and did it continue to kind of grow that curiosity and that want to continue it? I mean, obviously it sounds like it did, but what was that experience like? Because again, I remember there being vocational schools, but there’s not as many as there are now here in Vegas. And a lot of vocations weren’t as vast as they are now. So I’m just curious, like, do you feel that you learned quite a bit in high school, at least got a foundation to say, “Okay, I want to continue to do this.” Or, you know, and I also know that you got involved in a couple programs. So I remember if that was high school time or not. So if you want to kind of…

Paola: Yeah, so in the IT program, like, keep in mind, I was in high school during the pandemic. So, yeah, my first year we got to, you know, actually be hands on with the computers. We learned how to like open them, put a RAM stick in there, all that awesome stuff. But my freshman year was cut short because of the pandemic, because of COVID. So I wasn’t able to continue. You know, my teacher, he’s like, “Yeah, guys, don’t worry. Like after the three weeks of the pandemic, like you guys can come back and we’ll work on like RJ45 cables.” But it didn’t happen. So my sophomore year I did it all online. And online, it was kind of challenging, not even gonna lie, because, you know, computers, technology, a lot of it can be hands on. I know a lot, most of it’s like online. You know, you can do, you can research, you can study, you can do everything online. But a lot of it, a lot of the stuff that I wanted to learn was hands on and I couldn’t do it. So it was kind of frustrating there. But yeah, so we were talking about, you were asking about like the programs that I was in. During my second year, my sophomore year of high school, I was involved in my school’s like automation, STEM robotics elective class. And I had a really awesome teacher teach me like CAD. We did, we used Onshape online. You know, it was really cool making like, I don’t know, figures online. I don’t know. It was a really good experience, my sophomore year. So that was kind of a program that I was in. That same teacher, he asked me if I wanted to be on my school’s robotics team. And so I went on the team and I kind of learned more of the business side of robotics nonetheless, but I was still on my school’s robotics team. So that’s one of the programs that I was in during high school.

Manuel: And on there, how big was the robotics team, you know, that you were involved in? And were you competing against other schools here in the Valley? Were you kind of competing nationwide? Like just what was, you know, what did you kind of learn from that experience?

Paola: Okay, so shout out to my robotics team, Pair of Dice Robotics at SECTA (Southeast Career Technical Academy). But at the time when I was there, I think we had like 20, 30 members. So it was high school, just high school. We had mentors, the robotics teachers, they were the mentors for that team. But yeah, we competed in the first FRC competition. So the First Robotics Competition, that’s a nationwide thing, but we competed here in the Las Vegas regional and two different regionals in Arizona. So yeah, we did a few competitions. I got to travel during my high school years. So it was really fun. I really enjoy it. And if anyone’s watching this, that’s a little younger, that’s in high school, I definitely recommend going into it.

Manuel: For the robotics, do you think it at that time, and I’m assuming this is probably after the pandemic, so you’re able to meet in person, did that kind of help fill some of that hands-on need? I know it’s not the same as computers, but I mean, there’s a lot of that. And, you know, did that kind of spark more creativity into, you know, originally your first experience was video chatting and playing games, and now you’re seeing robotics. And recently I’ve come to find out, there’s a robotics group that’s here in Vegas, a lot of startups are involved in that. So again, it’s something newer, but what was that like? And I’m assuming also there weren’t probably a lot of girls in that field or even in that club. So, you know, what was that like?

Paola: For the most part, the robotics team is very student-led. So the mentors are there to help, but for the most part it is like the students are hands-on and they actually get to build the robot themselves, you know, wire it, do all this cool, awesome stuff. I wasn’t as hands-on with the robot as I would like to be, because I was a little scared, not even gonna lie. I was a little bit scared. And I guess because you don’t really see a lot of girls, you know, working with robots, I feel like maybe that also kind of scared me a little bit, but it’s gotten, I don’t know, from now the team is like really awesome. Like I’ve been seeing a lot more girls, but back then when I was there, we had just a handful of us, I think it was like, I wanna say like five or six. So yeah, it was very few, but recently, they’ve been working on some cool projects, like a girls in tech event. So they’ve been like getting middle school students, girls from all over the Valley and kind of bringing them to SECTA to teach them about the different majors and kind of teach them about our robot and robotics and all that sort of stuff. So they’ve been doing a really good job kind of getting more girls into it.

Manuel: That’s awesome. And now, so you go through, you’re competing, you’re starting to meet more people. I understand at first you’re a little bit more shy, you know, and I get it because it’s something new, right? Like we all go through that. And especially if you’re not seeing a lot of other girls, so you’re like, oh my gosh, so now apart from this being new, but now it’s new and there’s not a lot of people that you’re like, oh, well, she’s like me, like we can all do this. During that time, as you’re going through and you’re starting to kind of meet more people and you’re learning more, did that kind of help, I’m gonna say propel you to go through and kind of start putting yourself out there a little bit more because it sounds like at some point there was a transition. And if it’s later on, we can get to it at that point.

Paola: There’s like a lot, I don’t know, I’m like jumping around, I’m like, I don’t know what to talk about. There’s so many little things that have impacted and had a huge effort in my career, in my early career at least. So there’s a lot, so.

Manuel: And that’s fine. I mean, again, it doesn’t have to be linear. And if at some point we jump around and you think it makes sense to talk about something now, because like I mentioned, right, that shy person to, I see a lot of what you’re posting online and sounds like you’re encouraging other people to like, hey, I can kind of do this. So what was the, I guess the event that made you say, okay, I’m gonna start putting myself out there a little bit more, or I’m gonna start doing more things as opposed to just kind of sitting back and staying quiet.

Paola: Okay, so I guess this is a little bit more after high school, like after high school graduation, I was in robotics, I was in my IT cyber program, all that sort of stuff, but it was a little bit after high school. So what really caused me to put myself out there was probably meeting my mentor, meeting a mentor. And she kind of encouraged me to, I don’t know, she has like all these really cool posts. Her name’s Chelsea. Shout out to Chelsea, she’s watching this hopefully. But a lot of shout outs today.

Manuel: Yeah, and that’s fine. And when you say a mentor, how did you come across this mentor? Is it just somebody that you came across and they took you under your wing? Or kind of what, how did you find a mentor?

Paola: After high school, I enrolled in Tech Impact. So kind of want to talk about Tech Impact. I read about Tech Impact and I kind of wanted to apply. I was telling you earlier, I didn’t really get the hands-on skills that I wished I had during high school because of the pandemic. So through Tech Impact, I was able to get a lot of hands-on IT experience. It’s a 16 weeks of training. I was able to go through the 16 weeks. And I feel like that really helped me get those hands-on skills. But apart from the hands-on skills, they also have a great mentorship program. So as you’re going through the 16 weeks or the 10 weeks and the six week internship, they provide you with a mentor. So they make these mentor connections and they provide every cohort member their own mentor. So I was able to meet Chelsea through theirs.

Manuel: How did you find out about Tech Impact? So the reason I ask is other people might not be familiar and it was relatively new to me. So I know that it’s a nonprofit organization that kind of goes through and brings on younger people to, it sounds like through a cohort, like I don’t know if it’s like a bootcamp or what. So if you kind of explain how you found out about it and a little bit more about what Tech Impact is.

Paola: Yeah, so funny enough, I found Tech Impact through LinkedIn. So this was before I was like really active on LinkedIn. I used to be the LinkedIn person that didn’t have a profile picture. I didn’t have anything under my account. I saw like a post about it. And so I remember going onto my computer, kind of searching it up, what’s Tech Impact, that sort of thing. And through there, I found out that they had a program here in Vegas. So I know Tech Impact has different programs across the nation, but I found out that they have one here in Vegas. So I was like, you know what, I’ll apply. So yeah, I applied and it was a really good, it was like really awesome, not even gonna lie. It’s a really awesome experience. And like I was saying, it’s 16 weeks. The first 10 weeks are training and the last six are an internship. So yeah, there’s a really awesome instructor, Art. Shout out to Art. Yeah, Art, he’s awesome. He’s a great instructor. He walks you through both the CompTIA A+ exams. So he does a really good job of explaining and teaching others. And like I said, you get that hands-on experience, not only through your training, but through your internship as well. So it’s really awesome. It’s a free program. It’s here in Vegas. I think they’re starting one somewhere new, somewhere across the nation, but it’s a really awesome program.

Manuel: Now I have a question and you brought up the fact that you had a LinkedIn, but you weren’t really active, no profile picture. So two questions. I guess I’ll just do one question. What was it that made you in high school, right? It sounds like it’s high school or probably shortly after high school, create a LinkedIn profile because now I know that social media, around your time, it’s more prevalent. And I mean, even me, I was in the workforce for a while before I even created a profile. So is it something that, you know, it wasn’t even your mentor that told you, so how did you find out about LinkedIn? And what made you say, well, let me create a profile and you know, what gave you the curiosity to occasionally just go through and see like, well, let me see what people were posting.

Paola: I guess just after high school graduation, I kind of wanted to see what opportunities were out there. And like a lot of things that are, a lot of job postings, a lot of that stuff is found on LinkedIn. And you can’t really access it or apply if you don’t have a LinkedIn account. So I made one, but I was like, I don’t really want to put all my info in there just yet. So I kind of just had it laying around and I would just kind of occasionally go into it.

Manuel: So it was more just to kind of look at the different jobs, see the postings, of course, without a full account, like you can see probably the title, but that’s it.

Paola: Yeah.

Manuel: Oh, okay.

Paola: Yeah, so there’s like that little splash page, like, oh, sign up for a LinkedIn account now. And I was like, okay, fine. I fell for it, so.

Manuel: As you’re seeing these posts you go through and I’m sure you put in your application, you got submitted. And what are some of the things, outside of preparing you for the certification exam, is that really all that Tech Impact does? And the reason I ask is I’ve seen posts from other people in my network that go and speak. So I don’t know if they’re bringing speakers, if that’s part of the certification process, if that’s kind of how those people get involved. I’m just curious.

Paola: Yeah, so yeah, You bring up a good point. I forgot to mention it, but they have really, really delicious lunch and learns. So these lunch and learns, I believe, when I was a student there, they had it every Wednesday. So it was from, I forgot what time our schedule was, but it was from like nine to three. It was like full time. Yeah, so they had these lunch and learns on Wednesdays and they’d bring in speakers, they’d bring in like tech professionals that have been in the field, or they’d bring in companies to talk about just their companies, to talk about their journey in tech, all that awesome stuff. So yeah, they’d bring all these awesome people in and they’d talk to us, they’d give us their business cards, kind of explain to us what they do in their company and all that sort of stuff.

Manuel: And as they’re coming in and talking to you, is it, are you starting to connect with them on LinkedIn? Are you starting to slowly kind of build your network within here? And it sounds like, and correct me if I’m wrong, but are you doing Tech Impact at the same time you’re going to school? So you’re working around your college schedule around Tech Impact and you’re still doing, you’re studying there, right?

Paola: Yeah, so yeah, you are correct. Yeah, I was at CSN, it was my first semester at CSN, I was doing Tech Impact as well. I was doing 16 credits at CSN, I was doing Tech Impact full time. And it was really, really chaotic. I remember I also had a part-time job like at that as well. So like after Tech Impact, I’d immediately drive over to work and I’d get to work. Even if it was just like a part-time job, it was like a really packed schedule. I was like, oh, I got classes online, I got Tech Impact, I got work. It was kind of stressful, so.

Manuel: It’s stressful and then also I’m sure that you’re slowly starting to learn like time management skills, right? Not only are you going from different parts of the Valley, right, now you’re able to kind of drive and be in person and do all these things. You’re building a network, but then you’ve also got to do assignments for college. You’re probably studying for your certification exams. At some point past, I’m assuming past Tech Impact, that minimized a little bit for you, right, from the stress. What made you kind of continue to go through that and just, people are different. Some people might have said, man, this is too much and something’s got to give. Either I quit my job, I reduced my school workload, maybe I drop out of Tech Impact. So what kind of kept you going?

Paola: Probably my family, just kind of thinking about them. What I love about Tech Impact, Art at least, at the first day of class, he gave us a sticky note and he told us to write our reason why. So he just kind of gave us a sticky note and we had to give a reason why we were completing the program. So I think kind of jotting down why I did it, my family, I jot down, the reason why I’m doing this in my family. That sticky note wasn’t only applicable to Tech Impact, but it was applicable to what I was doing at CSN, what I was doing at work. So my family overall has been my greatest reason why. And they’ve been the greatest support system for me. So that’s kind of why.

Manuel: That’s amazing. And it’s something that I think a lot of times we don’t think about, right, is, hey, I want to go do this because it’s going to be better because of whatever, but having a reason why I’m sure there’s times this is probably just, this sticky is something you kept at Tech Impact. Is it on your laptop? Like something you’re seeing often, right?

Paola: Yeah, in our notebooks. So we would bring like a notebook and then we just kind of put it there. And it was just, you know, you would see it every time you open up your notebook or every time you took notes.

Manuel: And I like the fact that he did that because it’s something, I’ve always heard it in the past, like, hey, write down your goals, instead of just thinking about them, right? I have a friend of mine and she’s big on this and I’ve noticed the difference of when I start writing goals down, start writing like, hey, I’m going to achieve this by this date and here’s why, right? Like putting the why, it’s not just like, I’m going to get this certification. You’re like, okay, well, that’s cool, but when times get tough, like I’m going to get this certification because blank by such date, right? Just the more details you put on there. So do you think, is that something you’re still doing now? Or was it like a one time, hey, I just used a sticky note and that’s it?

Paola: I think it’s still applicable for me. Like we’re talking about time management and all that sort of stuff. I have like a whiteboard that I write down like every single thing that I’m going to do for every single day, like this whiteboard. And so occasionally from time to time, like I’ll write down my why. So obviously I have to clean my board every time, but like I never forget to put the reason why, you know, like, oh, my family or my siblings, whatever, like all that sort of stuff. Yeah, I try my best to kind of put it there for me to see because I think it’s really powerful, you know, writing down what, like your reason why. I feel like it kind of encourages you, you know, constantly being able to see it and being like, oh, you know, that’s my why. You know, that’s why I do it, so.

Manuel: And you mentioned your siblings. Are you the oldest? And the reason I bring that up is me being the oldest, I always remember like, you’re right, right? Like your family kind of goes through and pushes you to kind of continue and do more. And to me, it was like, it wasn’t actually ever told to me, but I just felt like I have that responsibility. Like I have to be the one to kind of set that example and continue to do, you know, studying in school and go through. Is that a similar for you?

Paola: Yeah, definitely. So being an older sibling has definitely, definitely has its challenges, but it definitely, it’s really rewarding because like you said, like, you’re someone that these younger people, these younger minds look up to. So yeah, being an older sibling, I am the older sibling in my family and yeah, my younger siblings, well, they’re a little bit of a handful, a little bit of a handful. They’re just, I don’t know, they’re silly little creatures, a little silly people that I love so much. And yeah, I work hard because I’m like, you know what, I want to be a role model for them. They might not be going into tech. They might never want to, you know, do anything that I’m doing, but being a role model and showing them like, you know, hard work does get you places. I feel like that’s kind of what I’m trying to try. I’m trying my best to kind of instill into them.

Manuel: So you mentioned, found out about Tech Impact. You’re building your network. At some point you decide to put up a profile picture. You know, and the only reason is because when we connected, there was already one there. You’re putting a biography and I looked at a lot of the things that you were kind of posting, right? You’re posting pictures of like, hey, I’m at this event. Hey, I’m doing this thing. Hey, you know, I know that you volunteered. I’m assuming it was the same robotics club. Like, hey, I’m going to go back and do this. So is that something that you worked with Chelsea with your mentor to kind of go through and say, hey, these are the types of things that you should be doing. Is it just, you’re seeing everybody else do it? Kind of what led you to do that? And you know, what drives you to continue doing that day after day?

Paola: Once again,Tech Impact, they had like during our lunch and learns, we also had like a LinkedIn session. So they kind of talked to us about, you know, how important a LinkedIn presence is, you know, how important it is to kind of put yourself out there. So yeah, I do remember that they did take like our head shots. So they’re like, okay guys, like we’re going to take head shots. Y’all can put them on your LinkedIn. So yeah, they took, they took head shots. They, they kind of explained to us like, you know, the importance of LinkedIn. They also did some like resume workshops as well with us. So they did, not only were they preparing us like technically, yeah, but they were also preparing us, you know, with the little soft skills, you know, getting ready for your online presence and resumes and all that sort of stuff. So I feel like through Tech Impact, through their LinkedIn, you know, they’re showing us how to use a LinkedIn. I was able to get like, you know, a lot out of my LinkedIn. And plus my, my, my awesome mentor, Chelsea, she’s always uploading on LinkedIn. So I’m like, you know what? Yeah, she’s like, she’s always doing like all these cool things and it’s just, I don’t know. I love what she does. And so I kind of look up to her and, you know, I also kind of get out of my little like turtle shell and I kind of, oh, you know, hey guys, I’m here at this event. Hey guys, I’m doing this, you know? So I tag her all the time too, because she’s just, I don’t know, she’s awesome. She’s everywhere, but I love her. She’s so awesome.

Manuel: And you’re right. And I think it’s something that, I guess I want to find a little bit more about what made you kind of get out of that turtle shell, right? Is, so I, I’ll tell you that for me personally, like I am, I’m outgoing when it comes to like social setting, social gatherings. Like I love to go and talk to people and do all that, but now when it comes to social media or when it comes to even internally like promoting and talking about what I’m doing, it’s a struggle sometimes. Like I do it, but it’s very uncomfortable. It doesn’t feel natural to me. So are you asking Chelsea, are you, you know, are there other people that you’re kind of bouncing ideas off of like, Hey, you know, should we do this? Or like, are you getting that encouragement? Or is it really just you on your own kind of hyping yourself up and you’re like, okay, okay, I’m going to do this, I’m going to do this. Like what’s your process to kind of push yourself past that boundary?

Paola: So I guess just seeing that other people, you know, if I’m at this event and everyone’s just kind of posting about this, this cool, awesome event, I’m like, you know, if everyone’s doing it, I can also join as well. Like, you know, I got that little, I don’t know, if other people see, if other people do it, I’m kind of more inclined to do it. But there are times obviously where I go to an event and, you know, it’s not really, you know, lots of people aren’t really posting about it. I feel like things have changed a lot because for me, like a year ago, I probably wouldn’t be posting about it, but I feel like now I’ve just, I’ve just kind of been trying my best to kind of share what I’m doing, you know, like, oh, I don’t, I don’t know how to explain it too well, but it’s just, you know, I just, yeah, I get inspiration from other people and I just got a post. I’m like, hmm.

Manuel: And I’m kind of glad you’re doing that, right? Because you’re getting inspiration from other people and I’m sure you doing the same is inspiring other people, like, in your network, other people that might not be as apt to do it, right? And I think you kind of coming on here and, you know, you’re being excited to kind of talk and share your journey, but at the same time, like understanding and sharing with like, hey, I struggle with like, this is different for me, but here’s why I’m doing it, right? Hey, other people are doing it, but when they’re not doing it, like it’s easy to do it when everybody’s doing it, but when they’re not, like it’s a little bit tough.

Paola: Yeah, it’s like, oh, like hard people, you know, like what if people don’t know what I’m doing, you know? Like, like, oh, I don’t know, like sometimes I’m like, oh, like what if I post about this and like, no one really cares, you know? Like sometimes I kind of put myself, I don’t know, I tried to think about it, I’m like, oh, like what if no one’s like, you know, I kind of get a little like,

Manuel: Self-conscious.

Paola: Yeah, self-conscious. Like I’m gonna be completely honest with you here. Like, yeah, there are times where I’m just kind of like, should I post this? Should I not? Because I don’t know, I feel like some people, I just feel like people, what if no one like interacts with this, like, you know, it’ll make me feel a little bad.

Manuel: Right, and I understand.

Paola: Silly, I sound silly, but like, I don’t know, I don’t know, that’s a, social media is its own weird thing.

Manuel: No, and I don’t think it’s silly because it is a thing that a lot of times we’re looking for that, I don’t wanna say validation, but just like, hey, I’m posting about, like, I think this is cool. And then when nobody else does, you’re just kind of like, oh, well, maybe it’s not. Like, maybe I shouldn’t have done that. And one of the things that I’ve, to kind of get around this is I’ve been trying to go, I’m like, okay, I think this is cool. How can I show this so that I think that other people will find value or other people will wanna do it? Now, I’ll tell you, there’s times I’ve posted stuff and I don’t know if it gets any views, right?

Paola: whomp whomp

Manuel: Then I’m like, eh. But getting past that, it’s a challenge, but I noticed that the more you do that and the more that you’re okay with people not interacting with it, it gets easier. And then when the opposite happens, now I’ve had those ones where, like, there’s a lot of engagement and you’re just like, oh, this is awesome. And then, like, you get that high. It’s hard managing, like, the highs and the lows, right? So I completely understand. So you’re posting a lot of this and you’re starting to get involved in a lot of other groups and it sounds like opportunities are starting to open up to you. And is this, again, do you feel that a lot of that’s the effort that you’re putting in, in posting, just networking? So I mentioned that in a social gathering, I can talk to people. Now, in a social media standpoint, like, it’s different. So how has that impacted you posting these and going to these events?

Paola: So definitely posting and keeping up on LinkedIn has definitely opened me up to, like, a lot of opportunities. Like, without, like, social media, without LinkedIn, I wouldn’t have gone to the SIM event where we met. I wouldn’t have been here, you know? So all those opportunities, all those networking events have definitely opened up a lot for me. You know, it’s kind of crazy, like, the power of, you know, just being on LinkedIn or being on social media. You know, it’s crazy to see the power that it has. And I would definitely, like, recommend people to kind of hop on, even if it’s just, like, no profile picture type of situation. Like, I’d recommend people just to kind of go through, you know, take a look at the opportunities that are around because there’s a bunch of stuff out there. And I feel a lot of people don’t know about it. So I feel like going on social media, LinkedIn, connecting with other people, going to networking events definitely opens you up to a lot, so.

Manuel: Those networking events, what are some of the, like, benefits or what are some of the things that you kind of look to get out of that, especially, you know, because you’re not in the, you’re still studying, but do you feel like doing this apart from meeting people? Is it helping you get an understanding of what you want to do? So I know you mentioned digital forensics and cybersecurity, the more you meet people and the more you see what other people are doing, does it spark that curiosity of like, well, that person’s doing that. Like, that sounds really cool. And maybe I want to investigate that a little bit. Is that happening with you?

Paola: Definitely, yeah. So seeing what other people have to do, you know, going to, seeing the different events that they go to and all that awesome stuff, you know, I’m like, oh, you know, that looks pretty cool. Maybe I should try attending that event next time or maybe I should try doing this. So it’s definitely, you know, looking at other people’s profiles definitely gives me like inspiration and kind of gives me that push, that little nudge to, you know, go outside of the box and, you know, explore new things.

Manuel: And within your own, I don’t know if it’s within your cohort, within other Tech Impact people, are you also kind of sharing ideas and opportunities amongst each other? And the reason I ask is, you know, once I started working, you start to make friends and you have connections and you kind of start to either bounce ideas off of each other, like, hey, you know, I saw this cool thing or hey, I’m going to go to this event. Do you want to go? And sometimes it’s a lunch and learn like, hey, we haven’t hung out in a while. Like this vendors, you know, they’re throwing a lunch together. Like, let’s go sit and then have lunch together. So are those types of activities happening either through school or through Tech Impact, through, you know, the different things that you’re doing?

Paola: Recently, we’ve, we started like a student chapter of SIM Las Vegas here. So we’re the Aspiring Leaders group. That’s what, that’s the name of our group for right now. And yeah, so it’s a lot of, a lot of students from Tech Impact that have graduated already. We’re kind of opening up our group. We’re still kind of starting. We’re kind of getting still established, but yeah, it’s a lot of students from Tech Impact, from CSN, UNLV, we’re trying to make up that little group. And yeah, we are sharing resources, you know, if I’m going to like a networking event, I’ll email it to all of them. I’ll put it, I’ll put it like on a Google calendar that I share with them. Like, hey guys, I’m going to be at this event, you know, y’all should join. And the same goes with them. Like if they know of anything cool, we try to kind of share it within, you know, our little group and kind of, you know, tell them, hey, like, you know, you should definitely tag along.

Manuel: Are there people that are part of that that maybe aren’t as open to networking events, because even I would say in all stages of their career, right? There’s people that are just like, nope, nope, I don’t want to do that. They just want to clock in and clock out and go home. Are you running into that? And, you know, are you able to kind of convince those people to kind of tag along?

Paola: Strangely, no, I feel like most of them are willing to kind of tag along. I haven’t really encountered someone that’s been like, no, I won’t go. You know, usually it’s because of, you know, family or they’re a little busy that they’re not able to go, but I’ve never experienced, or I’ve never had that experience where I’ll have someone be like, nope, I’m networking events aren’t for me. No, I’ve never had that.

Manuel: You mentioned that the junior chapter, what was it?

Paola: Yeah, so we’re called the, SIM Las Vegas Aspiring Leaders group.

Manuel: The aspiring leaders group. And is that something, how did that come about? Because it sounds like brand new. So just kind of tell me, you know, how that came about and, you know, what, I’m assuming since it’s through SIM. So for those that don’t know, SIM is the Society of Information Managers. Just, was it their idea? Just kind of how did that transpire?

Paola: So like I said, Chelsea, she’s awesome. My mentor, she invited me to a lot of SIM events. And so through there, I met Lori. And shout out to Lori as well. Shout out to everyone. But yeah, Lori, she was talking about how they wanted to start like, she’s like, hey, would anyone be interested in starting like a student chapter of this? And so we were just kind of meeting and we were doing like online meets and we were trying to get more people to kind of join or people, we just kind of wanted to grasp how, they wanted to grasp how many people would be interested in doing so. So a handful of us kind of, we kind of signed up. And so we’ve been meeting since like November. So we meet like twice a month. And so we kind of just talk about like the things that we wanna do. Kind of, we share resources amongst ourselves. We’re kind of student led. So yeah, student early career professional led. So we’re still trying to kind of develop, our plan, what we wanna do as a group. We’re thinking of, yeah, so right now we have like a mentorship proposal that we’re making that we want to kind of bring out there. So we’re trying to get like this mentorship program to start within the students and the early career professionals and like professionals that have been in IT for a while. So we’re trying to get that started right now and it should be really exciting. Because you know, mentors are awesome and I feel like everyone should have a mentor to be honest. And a lot of people don’t really have the opportunity to get like a mentor per se. They don’t really know where to start. So I’m really excited to put that, that we’re getting that mentorship proposal out there.

Manuel: That idea, I like that, right? Because it sounds like SIM is starting to grow. Because originally, I remember SIM, it was really just for like executives, right? It was leadership for executives. Then they’ve slowly opened it up to like any network or any tech professional. And now the fact that they’re starting early on, like I think they’re starting to see a lot of value and starting early, right? Instead of waiting till later on in your career, like how do we develop these people ahead of time? The other thing that you mentioned at one point, kind of touched on a little bit was soft skills. You know, like, hey, resumes, LinkedIn, things of that nature. Do they also work on communication and public speaking? The reason I ask is twofold. One, if I remember correctly, I think you had posted something where you actually had gone and actually had talked at an event. And then the other one is, I think we don’t put enough emphasis is that once you get in the job role, communication is key. Like being able to talk to your coworkers, your manager, as you move up and being able to go through, like that’s a skill that I don’t think we emphasize enough. So I’m just curious where you started to pick up those skills and kind of what led you to being in talking at that event.

Paola: For communication skills, I’m barely starting out right now. Yeah, the speaking opportunity that I had was just this weekend. So that was really exciting. Obviously I was very nervous. Like I’m kind of nervous right now too. Like, you know, I’m not really used to kind of speaking about my experience like on this type of platforms. I’m kind of used to talking to people just one-on-one, like, hey, like, you know, I did this. I kind of just shared links, like text them a message, all that sort of stuff. So these platforms, like, you know, being able to speak in front of a crowd or being able to speak on a podcast, you know, it’s definitely different, but it’s just, I’m still developing these skills. Like, I hope that in the future, like if I, once I’m like older and once I’m like in a higher role, like I’ll be able to, you know, communicate a lot better. You know, I’m still like, my parents, I showed them the video of me speaking like, hey, yeah. It’s like, “esta bien”? Like, you know, but like next time, you know, you can still hear like, you know, you’re a little, you do sound a little bit nervous in that. And like, you know, just try to relax. You know, they’re giving me all these tips because like, to this day, like I’m not gonna be, I’m gonna be completely honest. I’m gonna be completely honest with you. Like my skills, I’m still kind of working on them. So yeah, it’s, I feel like, yeah, through the aspiring leaders group that we’re starting, through these opportunities, I’m definitely kind of, you know, developing those skills, so.

Manuel: Yeah, I think it’s tough though, because your family is gonna give you those types of, that type of feedback because they know you, right? They’ve talked to you enough times to where they’ll know and they can, ooh, you’re nervous, or hey, you did this thing that you do, but most people won’t notice that, right? Like, you know, they just, I mean, it’s gotta be pretty obvious for somebody to be like, oh my gosh, like, if you just stood there and were like, yes, hey, guess what? She’s nervous, she forgot, she’s had stage fright, but most of the time, and you know, I’ve taken a lot of different speaking courses, and it’s something that, I’ll tell you, I’ve been in this for a while. Podcast thing is relatively new to me, but even now, you still get those like, oh my gosh, you know, am I doing this right? Are people gonna notice the fact that I was, you know, like talking too fast, or, you know, maybe I wasn’t, you know, my thoughts weren’t 100% clear in what I was doing, but I’ll tell you, most people, they’re not paying attention.

Paola: Yeah.

Manuel: I mean, not in a bad way, but that speaking opportunity, how did that come about? Like, what was it for, if you can share, and then just kind of how did that come about? Was it through, again, the activities you’re doing in LinkedIn, is it through your network?

Paola: The opportunity that I had on this weekend, during this weekend, is speaking to a crowd of like, young women about my experience in technology. So, much like right now, I was very nervous, I was, I was, like, I know, like I’m confident in what I’ve done, but like, the way that I’m, I just get a little nervous, you know, like I was telling you just a moment ago, like I’m used to like one-on-one conversations, but speaking to like this huge crowd of people, it was kind of intimidating. During this opportunity, like I said, I was telling them about like, you know, the computer that my dad brought, kind of what I did during high school, all that cool awesome stuff, I kind of just talked to them a little bit about that. And well, the opportunity was presented to me because, well, I kind of, we were just kind of, I kind of asked. I looked for it, I’m gonna be completely frank with you. Yeah, but the one person that was responsible for organizing, he’s part of the NCWIT, the National Center for Women in Information Technology. Yeah, so he’s responsible for kind of organizing the events that happen here in Nevada, Las Vegas to be specific. And yeah, when I was in high school, I applied for those awards. So I was part of like those high school girls that would go to the award ceremony that they had. So being able to speak to them, I told them, I was like, guys, I was once where you guys were, like I was once in that same, like that same audience that you guys are in and like being able to kind of come up here and kind of talk to you guys. It’s really, it’s like a full circle moment for me and kind of crazy, like, you could be next. Like I was like, yeah, like NCWIT, they present all these awesome opportunities and these awesome networking opportunities and being able to meet all these cool, awesome people. I didn’t really say it, but in my head, I was like, oh, this is like a full circle moment. And I hope like that these young girls, these young minds also have the opportunity to kind of talk in the future once they’re like, established in their careers.

Manuel: I think you’re 100% right, right? Like that is impactful to go through and say, hey, I was in your position, right? I was there and now I’m here. Sometimes it’s hard to see that or for the people to understand that, but it’s another reason that I kind of wanted to bring you on is just the more I can bring different people from different perspectives and different periods in the careers, right? Like you mentioned, if I brought in, let’s say Chelsea, Chelsea’s been in for a while, right now you’re aspiring to like a lot of what Chelsea is doing because she’s farther ahead than you and, but you’re close, you’re getting to that point. Seeing somebody who’s probably in high school, like them seeing Chelsea, that seems just so far away and so distant, but I think the more that you put yourself out there and do that, it does have an impact, right? That’s part of why I do this and I tried looking for these types of resources that I could just, my idea was I was just gonna send it to other people like, oh, you’re interested in this? Hey, check this out. But if we don’t do it, if we don’t take that initiative, so I’m glad that you did. And after that role of going through and speaking as nerve wracking as it was, what did you take away from the experience and would you look for more opportunities like that or even different ones that maybe speak to people at your age bracket or maybe even above?

Paola: Can you repeat that one more time, the first part?

Manuel: Going through that experience of speaking and kind of reaching out and finding that opportunity, is that something that you think you’ll do more of? And if so, what other types of opportunities like to be able to speak to the same people, like people that are younger than you, would you do it at people that are your same age and do you think that you would eventually even speak to people who are older and already in the industry?

Paola: I definitely look forward to more opportunities. Definitely, I should probably work more on my communication skills in the middle of while I’m looking for more of these opportunities. But yeah, I’d love to share with people my age, I’d love to share with people younger, especially. I was telling you a while ago, but I feel like we should always look forward two steps, but we should always look back two steps. Being able to help those that were in, wherever you were two years ago, what advice would you give to that person? I feel like not only should we look forward, but we should also look back. If there’s something that helped me that I wish more people knew about, I would definitely look and speak to people that are younger than me and kind of be like, “Hey, there’s this opportunity, there’s this, there’s this.” Kind of share the opportunities that I didn’t know about two years ago with the people that might really, that might benefit them.

Manuel: Why do you think that that’s important? And the reason I bring that up is, as much as we think that I have that same mindset, right? Like, “Hey, if I know of something, I’ll share it with somebody else, and if it can help you, great.” Not everybody is like that, and not every situation calls to that. And again, nothing bad or good against it, it’s just, that’s how it is. So what is it that makes you think that that’s important to do that?

Paola: So it’s kind of jumping back full circle to our whole conversation. Being the oldest sibling, having parents, having hardworking parents that maybe don’t come from a tech background, I feel it’s really important to kind of share those resources with those that are younger, those that are still kind of studying high school, still people that are a little younger than me kind of explaining to them all these, kind of providing all these resources. Maybe they come from a similar background to me, maybe they don’t have parents that are in tech, or maybe they don’t really have an older sibling, an older cousin to kind of walk them through what college looks like, or the different opportunities that are outside of college. Telling them about the opportunities that helped me, I feel like it’s really important, because the future is literally within all these young people. So I feel it’s definitely important to kind of share these resources with them, and talk to them, being completely honest with them, and kind of giving them your experience so they know what to look forward to.

Manuel: And that’s great, because I’ve had situations where, again, everybody’s different, like I’ve had people where I’ve gone to ask them for stuff, and they’re like, well, figure it out. I’ve learned I can go and figure it out, because I haven’t always had that person to go through and explain it to me, or sometimes they feel like, well, I had to figure it out the hard way, you should too. And I’ve had those other people who are like, okay, well, just because I struggled doesn’t mean you have to. Me sharing information with you doesn’t take away from me. Is that kind of the mindset that you have around that? Because, again, everybody’s different, so I’m just curious what you think.

Paola: Yeah, definitely. I mean, if you can help someone out, I think you should. So just kind of leaving it at that. I’ve had lots of people help me, and to kind of stop that chain would be, I don’t know, not, like, there’s like no point. If you can like, help someone out and continue that little chain of kindness, I definitely encourage people to do so.

Manuel: You’ve done a lot on LinkedIn, you’ve attended a lot of networking events, you’re doing, you’re building a network, you’re going to school. Where are you currently now in that journey, and what are you looking forward to, but what are you aspiring to do, you know, at this point in time?

Paola: My aspirations, after I finished my associates at CSN, which should hopefully be in like 20 days, or 20 something, I don’t know, like 23 days from now, I wanna go for my bachelor’s degree, and I wanna be a teacher, a cybersecurity teacher. So, yeah, that’s kind of what I wanna, that’s kind of what I look toward doing. So hopefully, like, in the future, if I do become a teacher, like I’d love to share this with my students and be like, hey, you know, I was exactly in your shoes. And yeah, just kind of, that’s kind of what I wanna do. I wanna educate other people, how to stay safe on the internet, how to stay safe, how to be, I don’t know, have good cyber hygiene, all that sort of stuff. So I’ve kind of viewed myself getting my bachelor’s and then maybe a master’s in education so I can teach others.

Manuel: That’s interesting because most times that people get into the tech field, it’s because they’re like, I want to, I wanna be very successful, and success is different for everybody, right? Again, I’m not saying that one way or another, but I wanna make decent money, I want to kind of travel the world, I wanna do all kinds of things, but the fact that you wanna go through and take that knowledge, take everything that you’re learning and eventually educate others, which is not common. I didn’t think about that until later on in my career. What sparked that interest? And I’m very curious and I’m excited, right? I think there are more people that need to kind of go in and teach, and like you mentioned, how to keep yourself online, right? There’s a wide spectrum of knowledge out there, so what sparked that interest?

Paola: I’ve had really awesome teachers that have kind of helped me become the person that I am, so I wanna become a teacher in the future so I can help others as well. Teachers have a huge impact in the lives of a person, and I know having an impact on people, it comes in different forms, but I’d like to make my impact through helping and teaching students.

Manuel: Is that something you’re looking to do probably right after? Are you also kind of still interning, and are you dead set on it? I mean, you don’t have to tell me, but again, I’m just curious. It’s very interesting to me, right? And I’m very intrigued, and I think it’s awesome, right? To be quite honest with you, it’s just like, I think it’s awesome that you kind of wanna get back and kind of give back. Something that I didn’t do until later on, because I don’t know that I ever would’ve thought about it had I not taken a job at CSN, so I used to kind of work there and support their IT organization, and that’s when the idea of teaching tech really, that’s when it became an idea for me. So I’m just, I wanna know more.

Paola: My teacher, the one that taught me at SECTA, so Southeast Career Technical Academy, yeah, he’s like an awesome teacher, and I remember talking to him. I went to visit him after graduation, and I was telling him about how I wanna be a teacher, and he’s like, “Hey, you should definitely, “if I ever retire, when I retire,” which is in a few years, “you should definitely look into coming back and teaching.” And I was like, “Yeah,” and he’s like, “Yeah, but in order to become a teacher, “you definitely need the experience. “If you’re gonna be a workforce or a CTE, “a career and technical education teacher, “you definitely need the background.” And I’ve kind of been thinking about it too. I don’t wanna walk into my classroom and just have the theory. I wanna also have the experience as well. So definitely, I’m kind of wanting to go into, definitely looking into starting a role in cybersecurity, so I can get all the skills that I need to, one day teach the future generation of cyber.

Manuel: I know you mentioned that you’re looking to go and get your bachelor’s afterwards. Are you still actively looking for internships during that? Are you looking for part-time work? Is your goal to probably work full-time, go to school part-time?

Paola: Yeah, definitely. Probably go to school full-time, working part-time. I know it’s definitely difficult. Cyber security requires, most roles are full-time. And usually internships are during the summer. Summertime’s almost here, so it’s a little late to get those internships for cyber during the summer. Yeah, I’ve definitely looked into roles I’ve applied, put in my application to some internships, but it is a little difficult right now for students that are in cybersecurity. For the most part, people will, I think it’s kind of true. It all really depends on the person. But from what I’ve been seeing, a lot of people say that usually the way to get to cybersecurity is going to IT first, doing a role in IT, being there for a few years, working help desk, and then kind of working your way up, you know, network admin and then cybersecurity. So definitely my route might look a little different or my route might look like that. So definitely kind of having to start from IT, kind of climbing into networking and then cyber. I don’t know, it all really depends. Every role, every person is different, but that’s, from what I’ve heard, that’s usually the route.

Manuel: I would agree. I mean, just on guests that I’ve interviewed and people that I know that have gone into it, the ones that are successful, that do well in the role, they do have that wide range of experience because it does help to have that foundation of just like basic IT and technology, like, hey, this is how these things work so that when you’re getting cyber attacks, you understand like, okay, I’m getting attacked and they’re leveraging a man in the middle attack. Okay, well, how does that really work? And if you’re a networking person and you have those fundamentals, it definitely, it helps. So I know we’ve touched on a wide range of things. We’ve kind of bounced around. Are there things that we’ve missed along the way? Anything that we maybe didn’t touch on that you think is important that, you know, again, I wanna make sure that we didn’t kind of speed through something.

Paola: I just kind of wanna emphasize again, like the importance of like, you know, support, you know, having family, having friends to support you is definitely huge. Without, this is going to sound so cringe, so cheesy, but without my family, like, I wouldn’t be where I am right now, you know, having my mom, my dad, they’re hard, they’re like super hardworking people and getting their work ethic, their grit has definitely, you know, impacted me. And yeah, the support of my parents, the support from my friends as well, you know, thank you to all my friends for like, you know, being understanding of my schedule kind of, you know, at times when I’m busy, you know, oh, I’m busy doing this, you know, they’re understanding. So definitely support from them. Support from my mentors, definitely important as well. So kind of wanna emphasize that if I haven’t already and the importance of support, especially early on in your career, it’s definitely hard. It’s definitely tricky. It’s definitely a challenging roller coaster and it’s kind of starting off in your career, but hopefully it’s rewarding. And hopefully in the future, when I look back at this, I’m like, oh, you know, I was like this small when I was doing that and now I’m doing bigger things. So hopefully I can do that.

Manuel: I get it. I guess how it can sound cheesy, but it sounds cheesy and it sounds like everybody does it because it’s important. Like I would say similar to you, like my family was a big part of what I, you know, they impacted me, even though at the time, you know, I fought with them and you know, you have those struggles of like, hey, I’m not gonna do that or I wanna do this my way or, you know, you don’t know what you’re talking about. At some point you go back and you realize you’re like, oh, oh, that there was a reason that they did that. And, you know, I’ve talked to other people and they haven’t had that support system. Like they’ve actually had probably the exact opposite where they’re sabotaging them as a career, like going through and, you know, I’ve heard stories of people that are getting ready to go to college. And then, you know, the parents, because they’re under 18, have to sign stuff and won’t so that they can’t accept scholarships and things of that nature. So it’s not cheesy. It’s a reality, right? Unfortunately, but I’m excited that you kind of came on. I’m glad that you, you know, again, continue to step out of your comfort zone. And, you know, I know this is, you know, there’s a lot of nerves. There’s a lot of excitement or, you know, nervousness going through, but, you know, I really enjoyed hearing your perspective on things, the things that you’re doing now that they’re teaching, now that I don’t know that outside of Tech Impact, a lot of people getting into the workforce would know about LinkedIn, would know about those types of, you know, resources. So, you know, I’m glad that they did that for you and, you know, and look to your point, right? Look where it brought you. I mean, it’s a little podcast, but I mean, it’s something.

Paola: Yeah

Manuel: So thank you for coming and sharing your experiences. And, you know, I’m hoping that, you know, this will give you some exposure as you’re starting to kind of enter your career and continue to expand your network. And, you know, it works for you in the future. And I’m excited that hopefully in a couple of years, I want to bring you back and understand and say, okay, what else are you doing? You know, what have you learned? And, you know, I’m excited to see, you know, what you end up doing.

Paola: Thank you.

Manuel: No problem. Anything else you want to say before we call it up?

Paola: Yeah, just if you’re someone that’s kind of looking for opportunities, you know, like don’t give up. There’s a lot out there and it can be difficult to kind of filter through things and find resources, but everything kind of happens for a reason. And I feel like, you know, stumbling on that Tech Impact post, you know, kind of everything just kind of lines up. And I’d say just keep on searching, keep on looking because there’s always going to be opportunities. There’s always opportunities for those that kind of look for them and those that want to work hard and kind of, you know, achieve big things. So if you’re someone that feels kind of stuck or, you know, glued, I’d definitely say look for opportunities because they’re out there.

Manuel: I’m glad you shared that. And definitely so, you know, the only way that you’re going to find those opportunities, the only way that you’re going to kind of put yourself in those situations is you have to go out and look for them and, you know, and make yourself uncomfortable and go to these different networking events and things of that nature. So again, thank you again, Paola, for coming on and sharing your experiences. And for everyone else, I appreciate you listening in. And for those that are newer, you know, definitely, hopefully a lot of the resources and the ideas that Paola has shared is hopefully a value to you. And for those of you that maybe have been in the industry for a while, again, looking and hopefully this brings you encouragement to find, you know, the types of people that are looking to get into the field who have the, you know, the grit and the perseverance to continue on. And, you know, I will do a shout out for Paola too. Like if you’re looking for an intern for the summer, and someone who you think would be a good fit, you know, definitely I will make sure that her LinkedIn profile is posted as part of the show notes so that you can reach out to her. So with that, thank you again, everybody, for watching and listening and continue to plug in and download the knowledge. Thank you.