Confidence in the Classroom

During Social Impact week at AMA last month, I had the privilege to sit in on a speaker session featuring Mariam Ghobrial. Mariam is currently Manager of Charitable Programs and Operations for Philadelphia Union. Hearing her story was nothing short of inspiring, but one thing stuck with me the most. As she took us through her career journey, Mariam highlighted that often in her career she has had to pivot without fully knowing if it is the right move or not, which I personally resonated with.

I had the opportunity to ask Mariam one personal question at the end of her session. I asked

her, “With all of the pivots that you have had to make in your career, how do you deal with imposter syndrome? If you ever deal with it at all.” The confident woman's answer truly shocked me.

“I have dealt with it all the time,” she answered, “Not just in my past, but also the current state of my career, I have just learned how to manage it better as time goes on.” Those words have stuck with me since. In the marketing industry specifically, where confidence is key, feelings of self-doubt or worry can become crippling. Having Marian remind me that feeling uneasy about the next steps you are going to take is completely normal, it is all about how you rise to the challenge that truly counts.

Today, I try my best to apply those words to my life and encourage others to do the same as

well. Confidence is not something that begins when you start your corporate career, or even a self-run business. Being confident requires constant repetition in choosing to believe in yourself. I encourage anyone reading this today to stop and ask yourself is there anything you believe you can't do? Is there something that you have been putting off out of fear that you can’t smoothly make that transition? That is okay, and the first step to recognizing how you can improve as a person.

I remember a personal pivot that I made in my life. During my senior year of high school, I was determined to go to college and study technical theater. I love stage management and the atmosphere that is created when putting together a show, so at the time it just made sense. However, as time went on, I began to question if that was what I really wanted to do. As I was learning to create playbills and brochures for our school performances, it slowly clicked for me that marketing was a better avenue to pursue as a career.

In all honesty, a lot of self-doubt came with me making the decision to choose marketing as my major. For so long I thought that technical theater was what I wanted to pursue, and changing that left a big hanging question over my head of “Will I succeed or fail?” If I had heard Mariam’s words at that point in my life, I would have realized that time was all I needed to become successful in the marketing field. Today, I am privileged to have joined multiple organizations and built a life for myself that I am genuinely proud of. To all of the unsure students out there, confidence in the classroom will take you much further than doubt ever could.

Amaya Blount

Sophomore, Marketing Major

Fox School of Business, Temple University

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