2022.. What a year!

What a year it has been! I have enjoyed seeing everyone’s end of year posts and it has influenced me to create one of my own. Since I haven’t posted in awhile, I might as well give you all an update on how the year was!

In May, I graduated with a Bachelors of Science degree in User Experience Design. Over the course of my time at Purdue, I developed great relationships and had a wonderful community around me. Being surrounded by hard working, ambitious students fueled me to pursue great heights, which is exactly what I did.?

Since November of 2021, I was dedicated to joining Orr Fellowship , a two year post graduate program that prioritizes continued learning, community engagement, and professional growth. The program has curriculum that touch on the previous pillars, all while partnering young professionals with high growth companies in Indianapolis. However, my entire friend group and community from Purdue pursued an entirely different path. Almost all of my friends went to Chicago, New York, Texas, or California and I was left here in Indy. Thats when reality hit me and I realized that I won’t be seeing my best friends much anymore.

I started reflecting on this and think how our parents probably went through the exact same experience. My dad used to tell me stories about his friends in college but they don’t see each other hardly at all anymore. Sad to think about I know, but he is still telling those stories until this day, and I know I will be doing the same about my friends and community that I was apart of at Purdue. I have realized life is so fast paced even though it may seem stagnant at times, but I will cherish those memories, be thankful for our time together, and continue to move forward and excel like I know my friends will; they are all rockstars.?

So where did this leave me? I was pretty upset for a couple months while I was pondering on the idea of separation from what was familiar to me. That was until Orr Fellowship really starting to pick up. Before I knew it, I was taking on leadership roles within Orr, making friendships, and relying heavily on the Orr Fellowships community, continued learning opportunities, and unending network to get acclimated as a newby in Indy.?

In the first couple months of Orr Fellowship, I was the Purdue School lead and had a team of 13 fellows working alongside me (greatest team ever). Our goal was to recruit proactive, engaged, and entrepreneurial-driven students from Purdue University and have them join Orr Fellowship to continue bringing young talent to Indianapolis. With guidance from Orr’s Head of Recruitment, Sean O'Dell , a great team dynamic, and previous leadership/professional connections amongst our team, we were able to recruit more than 70 students from Purdue. What an accomplishment! Shout out Susan Woods and Gregory D. Finch for being a great resource during recruitment season.

Alongside this work, I was apart of a consulting project that was headed by Alea Rashid and Nicholas Roethlein in a partnership with Fido, a non profit dog welfare program. Our mission was to provide Fido a framework to implement a high growth social media plan to get more digital exposure in the Indianapolis area. We had a wonderful team working on this project, and I know everyone on the team was just as passionate as me in wanting to help such a good cause. Once again, just one more opportunity to learn, make friendships, and make an impact in my first couple months as a young professional in Indy!

Okay, now for my actual job.. When I joined Orr Fellowship, I was partnered with OnBoard, a board management software company and started as an associate product owner, and boy has it been an experience! Not knowing a single thing about boards, let alone board management, I decided to join the Purdue Polytechnic Alumni Association with Tomás Turriff-Ortega to understand the problems OnBoard was solving for as well as keeping my roots at Purdues Polytechnic school. With this board role, training, and deep diving into the product, I was off and running to make a positive impact at OnBoard!

I have realized that the product owner role requires organization, prioritization, collaboration, and good communication skills. One year ago if you asked me if I would be good in this role, I would say heck no, just let me design some screens in Figma! But now I am embracing this role, focusing on growth, facilitating communication among different teams, being able to prioritize the most important work items, and my favorite; collaborating with the design team to create seamless experiences and innovative ideas to fuel the growth of OnBoard.?

I have developed relationships with individuals in all different departments of the business. I have learned that making solid relationships and being collaborative are the most important things about this job, as most of my days are having meetings,?getting action items to work on, and then taking my work to more meetings. Especially in the online world we live in now, it can be hard to develop friendships, but I have learned that being vulnerable, personable, and accountable have helped me develop strong relationships within my work environment. Shout to my designer Hannah Hostetter , Lead Engineer Connor MacGregor , great mentor Michael Fitzgerald , and everyone else that I work closely with at OnBoard for the warm welcome and helping me grow in the workplace!

With whatever is to come, I am grateful for my experience as a product owner, as I have sat in the center stage of how a feature goes from discovery to go to market. Whether that is doing the market research to identify areas of opportunity, working with the design team to make seamless workflows, communicating designs to the engineering team for proper implementation, or discussing GTM strategies with the marketing team, it is my job to encourage excellent collaboration among departments to ensure proper execution of our vision!

With all that I mentioned above, it definitely is a lot sometimes. I am actively learning how to take mental breaks when needed so I can stay locked in with important work. However, I will continue to thrive and take on opportunities within Orr Fellowship and at OnBoard to contribute to not only my own growth, but the growth and development of Indianapolis.. so I will post another update when the time is right!

Til next time, JP