After achieving a master’s in Communications and Public Relations in 2020 Adriana embarked on a life changing opportunity working as a Field Advisor for New Hampshire as part of President Joe Biden’s election campaign and now as a White House Liaison at NEH. Adriana shares how her journey to the White House is credited to her time at Greenwich and the professors who supported her:
Two of my favourite professors that have really impacted me are Mark Phillimore and Dr Mazia Yassim.
Sharing how her professors provided a great teaching environment: ‘All the professors were very collaborative, they were very supportive. I had many questions and they always answered everything because the system is a bit different to me as I am the first one in my family to get my masters.”
She also shared how the skills she learnt from her course are invaluable every day in her new role at the White House:‘I think one of the skills that I learned and that I still use is communication and public speaking. In my course, as a master’s student, the classes were not huge. We were a relatively small class and so that gave us a lot of opportunity for each one of us to talk during the discussions. And so that really gave me a lot of confidence in my speaking skills, listening skills, communication skills, one-way two-way communication. I've used that in the presidential campaign, and I use it in my current role, I am so excited that I was able to polish that skill advantage. My current role as the White House Liaison for the National Endowment for the Humanities does have to do a lot with communication. So basically, when I go to the White House, I represent the agency. And then when I go to the agency, I represent the White House. So I knew I always wanted something in the comms department. I wasn't really sure of what opportunities I could have had, but this came up perfectly. And it's something that I'm very passionate about, which is museums and authors, poets etc.’
Adriana found that Greenwich provided many great opportunities not only from a learning aspect but also for social and enrichment activities. Whilst at Greenwich she lived in McMillan student village and loved the diversity she found while studying at the university: ‘Something I really liked was the diversity. I went to the University of Virginia for my undergrad and it wasn't very diverse. And so, when I got to Greenwich, I met people from all over the world, even people from the States, people from Europe, people from Asia and so that gave me a really nice perspective, especially because I love to eat food. I loved talking to people about their customs and about the different types of cuisine they like.
Greenwich is in a great place, because right as you exit out the station, there is lots of restaurants. Also, the campus is beautiful, I fell in love just looking at pictures of it. Something that really was astonishing is the architecture, I felt like I was going to school in a living museum.’
Finally, Adriana said for students graduating and starting their career, keeping up with your contacts can be the key to opening doors: ‘So if I can give one recommendation, I think it's always keep in touch. Let's say you are an international student, don't completely lose your connections with your networks, keep networking, networking is key. And I can say that from many, many years of experience. So for work like my current role, I got a lot of the opportunities because of connections, people you meet, they open doors, they'll know things. Even coming as an international student, something that I kept was my connections back in the states and that's what I think really opened doors as well.’
Thank you to Adriana and everyone at Greenwich wishes you the very best of luck with your career.
