I am proud to be a first-generation college student. My parents worked hard to provide for our family, but a college education was not part of their path, and so it was not something they could guide me through or advise me on. Navigating college applications, financial aid, scholarships, campus life, and the unwritten expectations of academic culture came with a steep learning curve. One of the most important lessons from those years was that learning is not one-size-fits-all, and that building a diverse toolkit of strategies is foundational to success. What works in high school, or what works for a friend, may not work for you. The way each person absorbs information, processes uncertainty, and builds confidence looks completely different.

I decided my educational path did not stop with undergrad, and I went on to earn my PhD in Biology. Graduate school deepened that understanding. Once again, I had to adapt my approach and develop new strategies to be successful. I learned things no one explicitly told me I needed to know: how to select a research laboratory and mentor, how to build a productive working relationship, how to recover from a failed experiment without losing confidence, and how to communicate science to diverse audiences. These skills are not found in a textbook. They are built over time through trial and error, and through feedback I often had to seek out on my own. Graduate school challenged and developed me in ways I never anticipated, and I am grateful for all of it.

As I transitioned from academia to industry, those skills came into sharper focus as I learned to communicate their value outside of the lab. This transition required a clear understanding of who I was beyond my research identity, which after nine years of schooling was not always easy to find or recognize. I spent time in self-reflection, building self-awareness and recognizing how the skills I had developed were dynamic and transferable. Moving through each of these transitions, into undergrad, into graduate school, and eventually into industry, gave me a different lens on how people navigate change and uncertainty. Together, those experiences and lessons are at the heart of Next Step Academic Consulting.