Capstone Report

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Andrea Arostegui

Professor Andrea Green

IDS4890 RVBB 1185

17 July 2018

Capstone Report

Seven years ago, I established a wedding photography business but always wanted to go

back to school and obtain my degree as a personal and professional goal. I began my first

summer semester taking this class and not understanding what its sole purpose was going to be

and how it was going to help me towards my degree. It even made me question myself and

wonder if going back to school was really the smart choice for me. But I must admit, of all my

three classes this semester, this class by far, was the one I learned from the most. It has

challenged me to think more into my near-future and what I want out of my career.

I have realized that in order to further myself professionally, I would love to pursue

Graduate School online through the University of Florida and obtain my master’s in Mass

Communications specializing in Web Design or Social Media. The wedding photography field

has become such an over-saturated market in the past few years that it has not only left me

feeling exhausted from competing with other photographers but also, inadequate to the demands

of couples and vendors. In return, this made me aware of the necessity of a possible career

change or restructuring of my business. This is where the Chaos Theory applies to my life.

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Forcefully, I took a seven-year break from school after a year of not performing well and

being academically dismissed while majoring in Atmospheric Science. Little did I know God

was going to use that time to develop me in a different way than I could have ever done myself.

For starters, a Meteorology course that placed me in front of a camera made me realize I

completely disliked being center of attention, as a matter of fact, the fear paralyzed me. Brooks

stated it perfectly in her book: “Individuals with growth mindsets focus on what can change and

view setbacks as launching pads for new ideas and decisions… [they] don’t allow failure or a

setback to end their pursuits.” (77). I took one advertising and photography class, learned how to

work a camera and fell in love. I have now realized that what I thought was a roadblock was

merely a building block to allow me to rise higher.

I submitted my application to FIU this summer for the online Public Relations program

and when it was denied, my advisor suggested I try the Interdisciplinary Studies major. Never

having heard of it, I looked up information on the major and a week before Summer B term

started I was accepted and choosing my classes. I kept holding myself back because I thought I

was too old; being 30 years old and an undergraduate student felt embarrassing but then I

realized something similar to what Katharine Brooks said:

“He worried that he would be forty-eight by the time he finished. Her reply “How old

will you be in eight years if you don’t pursue the degree?” So, you have a choice. You’re

going to be whatever age you’re going to be. The only real question is whether you want

to be that age having achieved your dream” (134).

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Age is nothing but a number and it will not hold me back from achieving what my purpose in

this world is supposed to be. I am beyond excited the advisor suggested this major and that I

chose this degree.

Majoring in Interdisciplinary Studies is allowing me to broaden my horizons. “Getting

the most out of your academic experiences isn’t just about attending classes, writing papers, and

taking exams. It’s about delving into fields of study that will expand your mind and help you

develop new connections.” (Brooks, 88). This semester I decided to choose a World Religions

class to fulfill my Global Learning curriculum not knowing that perhaps at some point in my life

I will have to photograph a wedding of another religion or culture that I am not currently familiar

with. This religious studies class has allowed me to become aware of other customs and knowing

exactly what to expect when photographing such an important moment in the lives of people

with other traditions or beliefs. If I had looked into a different class I would not be expanding my

mind and even the connections that could benefit my wedding photography business in the long

run. With age and experience comes a lot of wisdom and you realize that your setbacks are really

only steps to get you somewhere further in life in a way that you had never looked at before. It

teaches you to change your mindset.

As a student in her thirties, I also feel I am at an advantage from other students when

bringing experiences to an employer or prospective client. I believe your life experiences shape

you up in many ways and help build your confidence. As you mature and grow older, you

discover new skills and abilities you didn’t know you had in contrast with being in school in

your early twenties. For example, I now know I am capable of handling the pressure and

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demands of a client and their wedding day and that is something that is visible throughout my

portfolio and website. I know an employer would definitely take this into consideration when

interviewing me because that is something I would look for in an employee of my own. By

connecting with people and creating a network for myself through social media and blogging, I

am also growing a community of followers and clientele. This would make me an asset for any

business within the creative industry or for the future growth of my own company.

Establishing a creative business has been tough but nonetheless, it has definitely helped

me in learning new skills and discovering my own abilities. According to Ryan Craig, in the

article, The Skills Gap is Actually an Awareness Gap:

“College graduates’ skills are not visible to employers because while they’re leaving

colleges and universities with transcripts and resumes, employers aren’t able to see the

skills they’ve developed through coursework and co-curricular activities”.

When you are starting a new business, you may not have the capital you need to market the way

you want or envision; this is how I found myself designing my own branding and marketing

supplies as well as my own website. Other vendors began to notice my work and inquired on

who had designed my branding for me. To their surprise, I had taken a break from photographing

weddings during the slow summer months and designed it exactly the way I always envisioned

my brand and my website to be. This is where I discovered a new-found passion in web

designing. The Chaos Theory of having myself start out as a wedding photographer and now

possibly start a career or expand my business into the web design or social media marketing

industry has allowed me to realize that I would love to help other wedding vendors obtain the

online presence and branding they need to grow their own small businesses.

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In the past few years we have seen the tremendous amount of businesses that have grown

due to their online presence. This has been a struggling point for me because I am too afraid to

open up and be bold online. I’m a firm believer that you don’t know who is watching you online

and who you are influencing and that even the people you think are not paying attention, are.

One of the things this class has made me reflect on is that when I was genuinely being myself on

Social Media networks I was connecting with a lot more prospective brides and vendors that

were relating with who I was, what I was doing, and the struggles I was going through. That is

why I agree with what Ahava Leibtag, a Web Content Strategist, Ann Handley wrote about in

Everybody Writes, said: “Your unique voice comes from knowing who you are, and who you are

not.” (131). Authenticity is exactly what your customers and followers want to see. Susan Cain

said it best: “Whatever you feel inside has a way of expressing itself. If you feel kind and open,

people will know it.” and I believe they will relate to you or connect with you.

Thanks to Social Media especially through Instagram and Instastories I have been in

constant contact with new photographers, videographers, and wedding planners that have

become close friends and whom I share common goals with. Reading one of the assigned articles

in this class I realized that the reason I became friends with them is because we all were not

afraid to pick each other’s brains and help one another. One of my goals now is to keep in touch

with my Weak and Dormant Ties, which would include my past clients and vendors. They are

people I have established some sort of friendship or relationship with but because of our busy

lives and schedules we cannot keep in touch with each other as much as we would like. One of

the things I have noticed is that when I send them a simple automated e-mail through my CRM

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(Customer Relationship Management) software for their birthdays or anniversaries they are

always so welcoming and excited to hear from us. This definitely shows me that keeping in

touch with them always benefits the both of us. They come back for photographs during their

important milestones; bringing in work and income for me, and I give them something they value

in return: memories that they can look back on in the future.

My Weak Ties on the other hand would be those “role-model” vendors I look up to that I

have always been too intimidated to contact or establish a relationship with because I feel

“unqualified”. As Adam Grant said in the article, Finding the Hidden Value in your Network, I

may be “overlooking the strength of [my] weak ties”, and I don’t know what kind of doors they

can open in my life and my career. Luckily through Social Media we have built a Miami chapter

of the Rising Tide Society, a group of creatives which believes in a Community over

Competition mindset and hold a monthly meeting in different locations giving opportunities for

vendors to mingle and share ideas and network with one another. One of my goals for my career

and ever since taking this class, is to attend these meeting a lot more than I am currently doing. I

am also more conscious of the fact that when I go to these meetings I tend to mingle with the

same people I already know instead of opening up to the idea of being bold and network with my

Dormant and Weaker ties more. Maybe, if I opened up to the possibility of working with people

outside of my comfort zone I would be creating new and interesting content to share with people

through my social media accounts.

My online presence is something I am definitely well aware of that I have to work on to

create a lasting impression and a brand for myself. Through blogging more on my website, as

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Neil Gailman said in his podcast, by “telling the stories that only I can tell” (Hadley, 129) more

clients will be able to relate and connect with me as I stand out from the crowd. Every time I

share insights of my life such as, what foods and recipes I am cooking, where I’m traveling,

home improvement projects and personal stories like my constant struggle with anxiety, I receive

more response than when I just share photographs of a wedding. Somehow my daily activities

always bring a conversation to my social media networks, especially Instagram. I need to follow

Joseph Barber’s advice from the article Don’t Network How I Garden:

“As with the plants in your garden, the people in your network need nurturing to thrive…

the challenge is how to keep the conversation going so that the professional relationship

becomes beneficial in terms of helping you achieve some of your career goals.”.

By being true to myself, being bold, and putting into practice all the things that I have read from

the past articles and books from this class, I am not only challenging myself to succeed in my

career; but I am also networking with people that I probably never thought I could connect with

and bringing something to their table that only I can offer: my stories and my creative abilities.

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Works Cited

Barber, Joseph. “Don’t Network How I Garden”. Inside Higher Ed.

< https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2017/06/26/advice-how-nurture-your-career-

network-essay?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=4473387a18-

DNU20170626&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-4473387a18-

199907921&mc_cid=4473387a18&mc_eid=47032549c4> (accessed 15 July 2018).

Brooks, Katharine. You Majored in What?

New York, NY.: First Plume Printing, April 2010.

Cain, Susan. “7 Ways to Use the Power of Powerless Communication”.

< https://www.quietrev.com/7-ways-to-use-powerless-communication/> (accessed 16,

2018).

Craig, Ryan. “The Skills Gap is Actually an Awareness Gap – and it’s Easier to Fix”. Forbes.

< https://www.forbes.com/sites/ryancraig/2017/03/17/the-skills-gap-is-actually-an-

awareness-gap-and-its-easier-to-fix/#2fbb64973ff4> (accessed 16 July 2018)

Grant, Adam. “Finding the Hidden Value in your Network”.

< https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20130617112202-69244073-finding-the-hidden-value-

in-your-network> (accessed 15 July 2018).

Handley, Ann. Everybody Writes: Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content.

Hoboken, NJ.: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2014.