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Read alumni stories about life & work after Wake Forest.
“It’s easy to feel freedom after college, but it’s important to remember that our preparation today determines tomorrow’s achievements. Focus on building good habits like waking up early, putting in extra study time, investing wisely, and making healthy choices.”
Dana Manning Bartholomew (’19), Sr Consultant of
Public Health for Guidehouse Consulting Firm in Tampa, Florida
Are you feeling uncertain about your job and if it’s truly the right fit? Are you wondering if you should look for something new?
According to a recent Gallup poll, over half of Americans are disengaged at work. Remote, hybrid work, and in some cases going back to the office full time have impacted everyone’s job satisfaction. While all professionals have ups and downs, how can you know if it’s just a passing phase or time to move on?
If you think you might want a new job but you’re unsure how to evaluate that possibility and if it’s the right choice, join us for this webinar on February 4 from 12-12:45pm ET on Zoom.
We will discuss:
🟢The importance of finding a job that fits.
🟢How to know if you’re on the right long-term career path.
🟢The telling signs that it’s time to go.
Register at the link below or in our stories!
https://wakenetwork.wfu.edu/events/alumni-webinar-how-to-know-if-its-time-to-go-02-04-2025-0011533
🎩NEW DEACON SPOTLIGHT🎩
We recently caught up with Celia Quillian (BA 2014, Theater and Communication) Founder of Smart Work AI; Author of “AI for Life;” Associate Director of AI and Growth at Greenlight Financial Technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Her work at Greenlight focuses on AI enablement and delivering strategic initiatives tied to artificial intelligence across the organization.
Currently, Celia is preparing for the release of her first book, AI for Life, an accessible guide for anyone looking to use AI in their daily lives, careers, and beyond, and the culmination of her work with her educational TikTok and Instagram channel, @smartworkai!
Here are a few fun facts about Celia:
📖 Celia’s First book “AI for Life” is being published by Simon and Schuster in January 2025!🎉
🎥 She has been on the “Today Show,” and her segment ran twice!
🎭 At Wake Forest, Celia acted in over 15 productions on the various stages.
We’ll leave you with some wisdom from Celia:
💡💡💡💡💡💡
“Artificial intelligence is going to transform how people work. It’s going to empower more people to become builders, creative problem solvers, and innovators. If you want to work in tech—a traditionally fast-paced and highly innovative field—one of the best things you can do is prove you can build something on your own.”
Read more of our Q&A with Celia at the 🔗 below or in our stories.
https://alumni.opcd.wfu.edu/deacon-spotlight/deacon-spotlight-celia-quillian/
Whether you’re new around here or simply didn’t know this tool existed, we want to introduce you to our LEARN Alumni Career Development Model!
This is a one-of-a-kind resource we’ve developed just for our @wfualumni (no other college or university has something like this for their alumni 👊🎩).
The LEARN Wake Forest Alumni Career Development Model™ is your self-directed, personal learning framework to develop professionally and take the next step in your career. No matter where you are – new employee, mid-level manager, seasoned professional, or somewhere in between – the LEARN Model is adaptable to you.
Years of research and professional career development experience has guided the development of this Model and its five steps: 1️⃣ Learn, 2️⃣ Evaluate, 3️⃣ Act, 4️⃣ Reflect, 5️⃣ Navigate. We always like (and recommend) to begin at the beginning with Learn. But the good news is that you can start exactly where you are. LEARN is a cyclical Model that will repeat itself over the course of your career. 🔄
Identify where you currently are in the Model and begin there by clicking into that particular LEARN step to get started.
Visit the link in our bio or Stories to explore this resource and start owning the next steps in your career path.
https://alumni.opcd.wfu.edu/learn-model/
One of the best ways to invest in your personal and professional relationships is to stay in touch! And what better time to reconnect with the people in your network than at the start of a new year.
By sending a personal update message to people in your network, you can keep building upon your connections and solicit support and assistance for your future goals.
Check out these tips for the How, When, and Who around doing this well. Then, use our sample LinkedIn Post and Email Message as a guide to send your own message update to your connections.
Read the full blog post at the link in our bio or stories:
https://alumni.opcd.wfu.edu/2025/01/new-year-new-opportunity-to-reconnect-with-your-network/
🎩NEW DEACON SPOTLIGHT🎩
Get to know Anne Shoemaker (BS 2000 Business, Minor in French) who works as Principal at Anne Shoemaker & Associates in Greensboro, NC. She is currently working on supporting and elevating women into positions of corporate influence. Anne spends a lot of time speaking with supplier diversity professionals at corporations that have set ambitious revenue and gender equity goals.
Here are a few fun facts about Anne:
❄️ Anne spent two winters living just south of the Arctic Circle in Lulea, Sweden with her husband, fellow Wake alum, Josh Shoemaker (‘01). They had the full experience: eyelashes freezing in the -30 Celsius temperature, white-knuckling the steering wheel while driving on ice roads on the archipelago, and eating from a real, Swedish smorgasbord…She says pickled herring is an acquired taste.
👟 She once qualified for the Boston Marathon and says she has forever since felt the need to buy nice running shoes – despite her main exercise these days coming from walking (to her desk, couch, and bed).
🥔 Anne does not consider herself a good cook. She says she cannot bake a potato (not even in the microwave).
We’ll leave you with some wisdom from Anne:
💡💡💡💡💡💡
“Understand the compound effect of small, daily decisions. Foregoing your workout one or two days a week is not a big deal, here and there. However, going weeks and weeks at a time without eating properly or carving out time for friends and family will have a detrimental effect on all areas of your life and career.”
Read more of our Q&A with Anne at the link in our profile or bio.
https://alumni.opcd.wfu.edu/deacon-spotlight/deacon-spotlight-anne-shoemaker/
Our first Coffee Chat with Alumni for 2025 is coming up in February! ☕️ Deadline to sign-up and be included in our pairings for alumni conversations is Friday, January 31st. 📆
Whether this is your first time participating or you’ve signed up for every coffee chat this past spring, this is an awesome (and easy) way to expand your network. 👥👥👥👥👥👥
*This is an alumni-only event (students – connect with @wfuopcd for student networking opps!)*
[Side note: This is NOT a live, time-specific event! And yes, you have to register for each month in which you want to participate!]
If you’re new around here, this is how it works:
1️⃣ You register.
2️⃣ We pair you up with another 🎩 Wake alum and introduce the two of you via email.
3️⃣ The two of you find a mutually convenient time for a conversation (phone, Zoom, in-person, whatever makes sense for y’all!)
💥And just like that, you’ve grown your network, one conversation at a time!💥
It’s super simple. Sign-up at the 🔗 in our profile or storie to give it a try!
https://wakenetwork.wfu.edu/events/online-coffee-chat-with-alumni-02-04-2025-0011489
Did you know that in addition to our work managing the Alumni Personal & Career Development Center our team also runs the WFU Mentoring Resource Center? We often find that our work in these two spaces overlaps, particularly because they both prioritize building meaningful relationships and connections! 💛
This January, we’re celebrating 🎉National Mentoring Month🎉 by highlighting the theme of investing in and building your social capital. We hope you’ll check out this month’s latest new expert advice posts on our website (link in bio or stories) where we provide tools, resources, and support to help you invest in both old and new connections in your personal and professional life.
We all need people – those safe support structures – who we can turn to for advice, information, and resources, and with whom we can reciprocate those efforts. Ultimately, social capital is all about building meaningful relationships that you need now and in the future.
Consider this a gentle nudge to be intentional about building relationships this month.
➡️ Ask a new colleague to grab coffee.
➡️ Have lunch with an old friend.
➡️ Write a LinkedIn post updating your connections about your professional aspirations for the coming year.
Happy National Mentoring Month, Deacs! 🎩
https://alumni.opcd.wfu.edu/get-expert-advice/
Happy New Year, Deacs! 🥂🎩
We’re officially back in the office and ready to kick off 2025!
Here’s what we have coming up for @wfualumni over the next few months:
📝 Tune-Up Tuesday Resume Reviews in January
☕️ New Monthly Coffee Chats with Alumni
💻 Online Introductory Mentoring Skills Certificate Course
🟢 Webinar: How to Know When It’s Time To Go
🗣️ 3 Alumni Discussion Groups on Taking a Work Break, Re-entering Work, and Finding Part-Time Flex Work
….and more!
Thanks for following along with us in this space. Let’s make it a great year!
Thank you @wfualumni and friends for following along with us in this space. Whether you’ve read our posts here on IG, signed up for a program or two, or have utilized any of our resources over the past year, we’re grateful for the opportunity to support our alumni in their lives after Wake!
2024 has been a busy but fun year! Because of that, our team is signing off here to enjoy some much-deserved rest and a social media break over the coming weeks.
We hope that you, too, are able to take time to relax, rest, and enjoy a slower pace this holiday season. We’ll see you in 2025! ❤️