Evin White

What is the most useful piece of career advice you got as a student, and who gave it to you?

I wasn't confident about my work and my skills and I wasn't sure if I'd ever find a job and be good at it. My portfolio professor told me "some will, some won't, so what! Some people will like your work and some people won't but so what!" The important thing is that I do my best and never give up. Even if that means 100 people turning me down before I get 1 person offering me a job...and that's all you need, is just 1 yes.

What is the biggest challenge you had to overcome to get to where you are now professionally? How did you overcome it?

The biggest challenge I had to overcome was procrastination. I knew that if I wanted to really make a mark on my career, I had to do things I didn't want to. And that was sacrificing a lot of free time to work on my personal and professional development. I created a vision board with all of my goals and hung it up where i could see it everyday. I would use that as fuel to open a book or my laptop and work on myself.

When you were a student, did you do anything outside of school to build skills or get knowledge that has helped your career?

YES absolutely! The best way to gain knowledge is to get experience. Find a way to dive right in. I had to sacrifice weekends to work on my development outside of school. It's one of the best things you can do, but make sure you're getting information and training from credible sources.

What is the one piece of career advice you wish someone gave you when you were younger?

As plain and simple as it may sound, I wish someone had told me "you're not too young to make good money." I wish I had grasped that concept earlier because at a young age I thought to myself, "I'm young, I have time to hang out now and I can focus on my career later." I took time for granted because I didn't really see young entrepreneurs or younger adults making good money like you see so much now. No one told me that it was possible. I assumed that as I get older, the money will just keep getting better. I learned that the money will come but it's not just given to you because your older now. You really have to work for it and if I had started taking my career more seriously sooner, then by the time I was ready to be an adult, I may have been further along with experience; making great money and not just starting off entry level.