Laura Foti is a Newhouse alum who came to speak to our COM class to share bits and pieces of her journey through life up to where she is today. Currently she works for Deloitte as a business technology analyst. She mentioned what she most enjoys about her job is that she gets to think about how technology can solves problems for notable Fortune 500 companies. Foti talked extensively about her close relationship with her father, and how his disability and ability to overcome it has shaped both of their lives. She mentioned how her love for story telling originated from her father. He would draw random pictures at a restaurant and they would go back and forth talking at length about the doodle drawn on a napkin.
Her father’s love for storytelling and stories in general would ultimately manifest itself in Foti and compose her academic foundation as she applied and ultimately was accepted into Newhouse. But, before she would entertain the idea of coming to school, she set out to do something adventurous and what her parents dubbed, “crazy.” Foti lived in Argentina in a gap-year before she attended Syracuse. In that time, she became fluent in Spanish and wrote for local newspapers, documenting her experience as if it were her own public journal. She still looks extremely fondly upon her time and experiences she had in Argentina that year before college. Once she finally returned to the states and got to Syracuse, she got herself involved with The Daily Orange, CitrusTV Noticias and the PR Firm, Hill Communications.
All of the background she provided us with eventually allowed her to preach some general advice to the class. She emphasized to us: “Get out there and tell your story.” Moreover, tell people who you are and where you want to be, and do it in an effective/appealing manner. Foti said that your ability to do this will enable to find people who relate to you and who can help you get to where you aspire to be. She made a point to share with us what her grandfather shared with her regarding her post-college job search: “Do something that makes you uncomfortable,” he said. Foti followed that up by saying that she still believes she hasn’t fully grasped what she likes/doesn’t like, and that there’s still so much out there for her to try. Briefly, she elaborated on the importance of networking and choosing the persona you want to present to people. “Create your own opportunities,” Foti said.
Whilst the advice she gave was very simple, I also found it very valuable. The concept of having complete control over the impression you make upon someone who could dictate your future with a job opportunity or whatever it may be, is a very intuiting opportunity that must be taken advantage of. Ultimately I found her entire talk to be enlightening and I’ll certainly be taking her advice with my life and opportunities going forward.