I interned with the government, researched and talked to mentors to see if I found an answer - the key to my future - somewhere.
News flash! There is no one right answer, and the possibilities truly are endless! During my senior year of college, I checked out a number of jobs and applied to various roles. I received an offer at Tesla and accepted a role with the Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) team as a Performance Improvement Specialist. What did that even mean you might ask? I had no idea, but I sure was about to find out!
Curious about the role and excited to learn about the company, I moved to San Jose, California about one month after graduation where I embarked on a very steep learning curve. Tesla officially launched the production of Model 3 one month and six days after I joined the company. I had three bosses within my first six months. Things were moving fast - in "ludicrous" mode - and I came to realize that it was simply the norm. Reporting to one of the Vice Presidents in both support and project manager roles, I got to wear many hats. As I supported Tesla's EHS leadership, led global, Tesla-wide projects, worked on the assembly line in the factory and delivered cars, I grew as a contributor on the team.
"Accelerating the world's transition to sustainable energy."; that's Tesla's mission, and I saw the strength of it firsthand. The mission drove everything - people, priorities, and growth - especially on more challenging days, and somewhere along the way, Tesla's mission became a part of my goals. For the record, I don't think that I said the words "environment" or "sustainability" once during college.
