
From a young age I always loved being around people. This extended from the arts, for example, theatre and music to everyday life. My goal was if I could make one person smile today then I know its been a good day. This has come with its challenges since but its a mentality I try to keep with me in adulthood.
Over the timespan of 8 years i attended and then worked at a religieuse summer choir camp at my local church. I started as a camper when i was 8 then I became a councillor at age of 14. I helped out as a councillor till the age of 18 when I left for college in England. Working there helped me develop my people skills and communication skills in a positive environment.
When I was at boarding school in England I was given the opportunity to help out at a local special needs primary school called Acorns. Here I learned how to handle difficult situations and child with particular needs.
This has helped me with my job today because I am now able to recognize when children are overstimulated in their environments and how to control the situation as well as help maintain a professional composer.
I currently work for Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament. This is a live show with food served with it. I get to play the role of the queen and perform both in the show and interact with the guests on a weekly basis. This job has helped me expand both my theater abilities and my people skills. I have done three different types of shows here. We have our regular night show, our camp matinee that we perform in the summer, and our educational matinee that we perform during the school year. We adjust the show to suit the age groups we have visiting. Our two manitess are designed for schools and young children to see. We are able to help teach the young students about the harm bullying can do while maintaining a code of honor and kindness. Our evening show is targeted to a larger audience and focuses more on the horses, crowd engagement, and the sword fighting/jousts. I also get to work with live animals, which adds a level of unpredictability to the job. Here are some examples of what I have done and learned while with Medieval Times.
I have been working as a stable hand for over two years. I work in the back of the house with the horses and other performers for our shows. Recently, I was promoted to coach for stables. I now help train new people, show them how to look after the horses, run a show shift, and a dark day shift. Our shifts are split into two sections: a morning shift from 7 am to 3 pm or later, depending, and an afternoon shift from 1:30 pm to 9 pm. Afternoon show shifts end at 11 p.m. This side of the job has taught me how to handle people from different backgrounds and ways of thinking and helped me navigate a male-dominated work environment. Here are some examples of my work experience.
I was the hostess at an Italian restaurant in my hometown. I was the first face you saw when you walk in, so I had to look put together and smart. No matter what a customer says, I always kept a cool head and talked with a polite voice. I also handle the phones for bookings and take-out orders. I was able to accurately remember details in orders and remember specific requests of frequent customers. This helped me create a warmer environment. I was able to help out other staff members, too, if we were handling a rush hour shift.
I was a group leader/counselor for three summers. I was in charge of a group of twenty 6-year-olds for one summer, and then I worked with the 13-15-year-olds. At camp, my main job was to make sure they had fun, learned life skills such as swimming, and helped them grow themselves. This included joining in all of the activities, from swimming to rock climbing to soccer and arts and crafts. Here is a list of some of the areas I worked on with the campers and fellow counselors.
I started as a shop assistant at a little shoe shop in my hometown, but I quickly started to earn more responsibility. I worked on our social media (Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest) and all of the campaigns and emails that were sent out to customers. I started to learn about customer relations and how to build it in a secure manner. I learned how to use social media as a tool to help generate interest in our products. Below are a few skills I learned while working for a shoe company.
In high school I studied theatre for four years. I was 9 school plays while I was there. This lead to me earning an award for the theatre program at school in my senior year of high school. This created a push for me to do better and try as hard as I could in all areas of my life.
For my stable hand job I was promoted to coach. I was told that i had the skill set they were looking for when handling new staff members in the back. I try to make sure everyone is included when on shift and that if someone is feeling a little out of place that I'm a safe person to talk too. How I try to accomplish this is by telling them about how when I first started I did get things wrong but I took accountability for it and used it as a learning point in my career. This has helped me with my people skills and how to handle moments of discourse between staff.