About the author:  My name is Nydia and I am a graduate of Pennsylvania State University. I am from outside of Washington, DC and I grew up playing a number of sports. I found my love and passion for volleyball entering high school and continued to play on the club team at Penn State University. I enjoy being involved and taking on leadership roles in anything that sparks my interest whether that be school, organizations or sports. I interned for Williams in the summer of 2013 in their Northeast Project Manager group and I have started my first year in the rotational program as a Project Developer.

After interning with Williams, I knew right away I wanted to participate in the rotation program. My reasons varied from not being ready to settle down in one place to wanting to grow professionally. I thought it would be exciting to explore the country while doing something completely different in a new location. I wanted to be challenged professionally and personally. Although I am only six months into my first rotation, I’ve already learned so much.

I immediately figured out that this wasn’t going to be easy (seems to be a recurring theme). Transitioning from college to “the real world” was like pushing myself off a cliff and hoping I grow some wings. In college, there are thousands of people around you, including your roommates. Post college life, I live alone in a city where I know limited people, so it gets lonely at times. The same goes for work. I am in a new environment where I don’t know many people and am still learning the business. These were some road blocks I faced in the beginning that made it difficult for me to get involved. So needless to say I was a little bored at work and at home… at first….

Instead of letting this get me down, I began to assert myself and embrace this new style of living. I did something completely new and ran the Ragnar DC which is a 200 mile race from Cumberland, Maryland to Washington, DC. I couldn’t believe that over 36 hours I ran 13.8 miles! Previously, the furthest I’d run was 2.25 miles. Also, I joined a local gym in an effort to get off the couch, and one of my peers and I took a cooking class. No more ramen noodles.

Professionally, I took on additional challenging work, and attended a business acumen training that taught me how to dissect and understand a company’s finances. Although this transition in my life is new, exciting and a bit scary, it’s forcing me to grow and learn more about myself and our company. I am sure in the future that falling off the cliff won’t seem so scary.

Posted on: November 26th, 2014 |