If you were looking for your next #girlboss to look up to, we found her.
Her name is Emily Miethner, and on November 6 she did a talk at Hofstra about how to get to where you want to be and achieve your dreams that you thought could never become reality.
Here, we are sharing all of her best tips and how she got to be the boss she is today.
Emily earned a Bachelor’s degree at Hofstra in Fine Arts and Design, but one of her favorite professors always said she “wasn’t a great designer, but was a fantastic organizer,” and that’s exactly what she’s doing now.
After multiple internships and attempting a wide array of career paths, Emily Miethner founded FindSpark, “an online and offline community dedicated to setting up every young professional for career success and connecting employers to top, diverse early career talent,” (findspark.com). If you sign up for findspark.com, you’ll get weekly emails of job openings, internship listings, and career-finding advice. More recently, Emily founded MCG Social, a branch company of FindSpark that assists large companies in connecting with millennials on social platforms.
Oh, and did we mention she’s an adjunct professor at School of Visual Arts and Fashion Institute of Technology? Without a Master’s degree? Yeah.
All this to say, Emily is a #boss and here is a compilation of her best advice for owning and tackling your future.
1. “Create a strong network very early on.”
It’s all about those connections. One of Emily’s best skills is communicating with people and making sincere connections, and that’s a skill we could all work a little harder on today.
2. “Be specific about what you want.”
Our HC Hofstra Secretary, Madeline Merinuk, said in front of the entire group that her dream is to work on the editorial team at Cosmopolitan, and Emily looked right at her and said, “I know people at Cosmo. Let’s talk after.” Enough said.
3. “Take the time in every day to reach out to people.”
You know that one friend that whenever you hear “Shake it Off” you always just think of her, but you never actually text her? Start texting her.
4. [On cellphones] “You have to be really proactive in getting yourself off the device… create opportunities where your phone is not on your body and see how that changes things.”
Even Emily, whose entire job relies heavily on social media, believes in the power of putting the phone down. A face-to-face connection will always win.
5. Have a positive attitude all the time.
College is hard. We know that, you know that, Emily knows that. Maintaining a constant smile can be exhausting, but it’s also crucial in marketing yourself as approachable and optimistic. No one likes a Debby Downer.
6. “People are always watching.”
Emily’s example of this was wearing pajamas to class. Yes, it’s college, and there isn’t any specific dress code here at Hofstra, but if you want your professors, peers, and professional networks to respect you, maybe opt for jeans and a pullover next time. First impressions are everything.
At Hofstra, Emily Miethner was that girl. Involved in everything, never letting anything stand in her way. She even organized a networking dinner for the fine arts department (Not All Artists Are Starving: A Night of Networking), all while being an active member of many clubs and maintaining her GPA. She may not have joined a professional fraternity or studied abroad, but Emily said she took every opportunity that Hofstra had to offer her and ran with it. And that is the best way to achieve your dreams: take every opportunity that comes your way.
You can follow FindSpark on Instagram and Twitter @findspark and find Emily Miethner at www.emilymiethner.com. Subscribe to FindSpark at www.findspark.com