What is your job/position?
Part-time Career Coach with my own LLC (www.launchedbylinda.com) of 12 years, worked full-time at 5 universities over 10 years as secretary then career counselor and academic advisor, quit 2 years ago to be full-time stay-at-home mom while maintaining my career coaching business.
Describe the path that took you from your American Studies degree to your current career or life situation.
Knew I wanted to advise college students and tried 2 master's degrees (Higher Education Administration & American Studies) for 2 semesters each at George Washington University before finally graduating from Psychological Counseling at Columbia University. All graduate studies were part-time while supporting myself as a full-time secretary to get tuition remission. Worked at Columbia in my dream job as a career counselor for a year before moving back to work at BYU as an academic advisor. Hated that specific role and went back to career counselor at BYU for 2 years, then 1.5 years at Trinity University in San Antonio, TX, before quitting to be a stay-at-home mom. Started my career coaching business right after 2011 graduation and have evolved it since.
What are the specific competencies you cultivated as an American Studies student that you now use in your professional life and that set you apart from your colleagues?
Thinking across disciplines and considering many factors for all major decisions. Always seeking to understand the history and context of current events. Reading between the lines of what's explicitly written. Trying to understand how people from different backgrounds live and what motivates them. Trying to predict the economic consequences of policies. I think these skills set me apart because I think very critically and holistically; nothing is ever one-sided.
What are some of the surprising ways in which your American Studies degree has helped you in your professional or personal life?
Helping me be more empathetic to different values and ways of life. Making my stay-at-home mom life more interesting because I'm still intrigued by aspects of American history that I can indulge in through books, podcasts, and TV shows. Helping me be more well-rounded and confident in conversations with diverse groups of people. Helping me understand current events with more context. Understanding the history/context of major movements better like #BlackLivesMatter.
What do you wish you had known as an American Studies student? What advice would you share with current students?
Most people in this major want to work in politics or in DC somehow, but that's not the only path. Pick the areas in the major you're most interested in and get really knowledgeable in them while developing excellent analysis, research, and writing skills. Seek out faculty mentors. Do as much of the reading as you possibly can (ideally all of it!) and don't take shortcuts. Try to find experiential learning opportunities but if you can't or can't afford them, find other equally exciting opportunities during college to expand your skills and knowledge about yourself and others.