I utilized every single resource that LSA Opportunity Hub has to offer. I got like a résumé, I hope I got a cover letter, mock interview help. I utilized the LSA Opportunity Hub literally every single step of the way in my college career. My name is Sharon Ma. I graduated in 2023 with an economics degree, and I'm originally from Queens, New York.
I grew up in a small apartment in Queens, New York. It was a two-bed, one-bath with a family total of nine people always fighting for the bathroom and, you know, making do with what we had, especially when you move over to like a new country with like, nothing but just like your backpack basically. Being like first-gen low-income, none of my family has ever been to college. I feel like the barrier for a lot of like first-gen students is that they don't have that information, right? Like, my parents don't work in the corporate professional world and so I can't exactly go to them like, how do I do, like, a résumé? Like, how do I write a cover letter or how do I interview?
How do I network? Or anything like that.
The moment I entered the university, I was just like I need to take advantage of, like every single thing it has to offer. I first learned about the Opportunity Hub, honestly, just like through a like a newsletter that I got in my inbox three weeks into my freshman semester. I wanted to take advantage of all of the resources and opportunities.
My sophomore year was my COVID year, and I kind of felt like I was like stuck. And I don't feel like I'm growing professionally right now. So I went to the weekly coaching tab on like the website, and I was just like, oh this is Kate Silbert person seems really cool. I signed up for one of her coaching sessions like one day just because like I felt stuck. A lot of like the weekly sessions was just like tailoring my résumé to different opportunities that popped by. Information that would like just help me in general for my professional development. Another resource from the LSA Opportunity Hub that I took advantage of is LSA Engage, and honestly, that's how I applied to so many things. There were lots of ups and downs, like obviously like there were rejections, but sometimes it takes one yes to kind of like change your life.
And thanks to LSA Engage, I actually landed an internship at Sage Corps. Basically what Sage Corps is, it's a organization that connects like students with like global startups. This org gave me such a great experience, like I had really early on this business development experience in an industry that I like really wanted to break into in the future. I had experience developing platforms, developing software and stuff, which is really awesome.
So I'm really grateful for that opportunity. Even though I completed my Sage Corps internship in the summer of my sophomore year, that internship that I had, that first organization that said yes to me, like in my sophomore year, that still played a really crucial part of like my recruiting cycle, like my recruiting process for my full time job. Now I am a associate product manager and I definitely think that the LSA Opportunity Hub has provided me the resources and opportunities that it really takes to be where I am today as a professional.
I mentioned before, like my parents didn’t come from the corporate world. In a way like LSA Opportunity Hub, where my parents, like when it came to like that professional development, and so I definitely owe a lot of where I am today to that.
