We are very excited to have a guest post this week, written by Lyndsey Moya. When she isn’t with her family, taking her adorable 3 year old daughter, Zoey, to ballet practice or making a trip through the Starbucks drive-thru for her famous Grande Skinny Vanilla Latte, Lyndsey serves as the Career Center Manager at Saint John’s.
Success is not easy
Success isn’t easy. You have to hustle. This, in a nutshell, is what my dad instilled in me and my brothers at an early age.
He valued and modeled the idea of working hard for what you want. Sounds easy enough, right? As I got older I realized it is much easier said than done. You actually have to work–fancy that. I was taught the meaning of the word “hustle” at an early age.
I remember hearing it often—while playing soccer, “Come on, Lyndsey! Hustle!”—while running in cheer practice, “Come on, ladies! Hustle!” I quickly learned that to hustle was to put in the effort to get to where you want to be, no matter how hard it gets. It goes far beyond sports – you have to put in the work if you want to live the life you dream.
Finding Saint John’s
Needless to say, soccer was not my forte and cheerleading was not going to pay the bills. So, my “hustling” paid off when I received my Master’s degree in Career Counseling. I landed at Saint John’s and have had the privilege of working here for over a year now. My official title is Career Center Manager, but my duties go far beyond that.
I get to work directly with the women at Saint John’s on a daily basis. We work on employability from the time they enter our door, until the day they graduate from our program. I work individually with each of these women on addressing barriers to employment, including: building their professional portfolio: cover letter, resume, references, letters of recommendation; professionalism; interview skills; and job searching. I have the privilege of seeing some of the hardest workers, who are diligently putting in the time to succeed.
August graduates put in the work
I could go on boasting about my job, but enough about me. The women of Saint John’s are where the real hustle happens. As a result of that “hustle”, at next month’s Guest Chef Dinner we will proudly honor six women who have successfully completed our program. They have completed their training hours at Plates Café and Catering, earned employment and have achieved a consistent 24+ hours per week of on-the-job employment training.
A few of these ladies have already transitioned into their own apartment. I have had the incredible honor of working alongside Porsche I., Michelle N., Andrea P., Jackie T., Veronica B., and Judy S. All of these ladies are extremely dedicated, strong and beautiful women who have all worked harder for themselves than anyone else has worked for them. That’s the key.
Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks (among many other things), once said, “Work like there is someone working twenty-four hours a day to take it all away from you.” I can say with great pride that this is exactly what these ladies have done – true models for everyone at Saint John’s.
I used to strive to be the one who inspired people around me, and wanted for someone to look at me and say “because of you, I didn’t give up”. This has now shifted and evolved into something more meaningful to me, something much bigger. The women I work with inspire ME every day. They inspire everyone around them to have the mental toughness, the ambition, the drive and the common sense to “just hustle”.
If you would like to help us celebrate these six incredible ladies, please join us for our upcoming Guest Chef Dinner on August 6th. You can reserve your seat and purchase tickets on-line at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/august-guest-chef-dinner-tickets-17277242698.
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