Student Program Board president and this week’s Campus Celebrity Melissa Jinks is more than down-to-earth.
A senior at UH, Melissa is double majoring in entrepreneurship and finance. She’ll be graduating in the spring—a year ahead of schedule.
Melissa is modest about her accomplishments, but that’s not to say she isn’t presidential.
“As president [of SPB], I oversee the entire board,” she said. “Aside from the seven programming chairs, I also have two vice presidents and they report to me on their progress. I structure how the board works, figure out internal development plans and create a report to present to the Student Fee Advisory Committee.”
And like a president, she holds SPB close to her heart.
“I’m going to miss SPB because I’ve been a part of it since day one of college,” she said. “They had an event going on the first day that I was on campus and I was like, ‘This is what I want to be a part of, I want to be president of this organization one day.’ I did everything I could from then on to make sure I got to that point.”
Melissa hopes to continue her education in Bauer’s MBA program, but her plan B is already in place.
“I’m really interested in fashion,” she said. “Entrepreneurship is my major, and so I do want to own my own companies one day and one of those companies does involve fashion.
“If I don’t go to grad school, I want to move to New York for maybe a year or two and get into the fashion industry there and then come back and start my businesses.”
Melissa may be at the top of her game and in the prime of her life, but she’s not boasting.
“Something I really value is humility,” she said. “With entrepreneurship and owning your own businesses, it’s hard to keep humble—especially if you’re doing really well. I hope to have led successful teams and done really well and profit in my businesses.
“But [I] also [want] to have that factor of humility and not boast about and take credit for everything I do. You can’t really do it all on your own.”