Alumni Stories

Alumni Stories with Siso Dhladhla

LCC Connect — Fri, 10 Dec 2021 00:00:00 -0500

You're listening to LCC alumni stories, a show dedicated to highlighting the amazing alumni of Lansing Community College. I'm Steve Robinson, President of LCC. And on each episode I have the awesome privilege of getting to know one of our many inspiring alum's and hearing about their experiences at, and since leaving LCC, LCC alumni community is expansive and far-reaching. They're incredibly diverse group of people representative of all walks of life, working in hundreds of industries across the country. Lcc alumni stories shines a bright light on alumni who make a positive contribution to their community. And showcases those who have overcome obstacles and barriers to achieve academic and personal success. These are their dynamic stories. My guest today is Siso Dhladhla and he is a fairly recent alum of LCC from 2014. Siso is a marketing and design specialist at downtown Lansing incorporated Siso it's so great to have you as one of the first guests on alumni stories. Yes, I'm excited to be here two, is actually my favorite number, so it's good. Good. Siso two is a good number and you know, we met talking outside on the LCC campus. Tell me a little bit about your time here and what you studied. So I was studying photographic imaging. I did not finish my certification or but I still greatly appreciated my time on campus. I move back from Chicago and about 2013, and I was working, doing creative projects on my own, but I really wanted to increase my knowledge and understanding of photography. I had positive recommendations from one of my favorite photographers at the time, shadow to Aaron Bell, also known as o' boogie, really, really great photography o' boogie, what kinda stuff does this photographer? He does a lot of portraiture lifestyle. And it just was really fascinating to me. But when I learned about his understanding of optics and how he could technically break down a camera to complement his natural ability to take a good photo. I really, I really wanted to be part of the program. His schooling actually got him a job in an eye clinic because he had an understanding of how the eye worked in that's directed to his understanding of optics based from the class. So that's fantastic. We can probably put a link to that work in the show notes for the podcast. So you picked up some, I'm guessing, great and valuable skills when you are here in photography and imaging, what kind of things that you learn that you've been able to apply outside of LCC? Well, really it wasn't until I took that class or those classes that I was able to begin shooting in manual mode. And just a disclaimer of photos. A photo, you can take a great photo on any mode, on any piece of technology. Doesn't matter. matter. That being said, there is a certain sense of accomplishment that comes from being able to. Break down the camera before the shoot, and then get the image that you see in your mind by dialing the knobs on your own. It's just there's this technical proficiency and and understanding and accomplishment that comes from that. So before I started taking those classes, I wasn't thinking about ISO, wasn't thinking about aperture, wasn't thinking about any of the many dials on the camera. I was just trusting it to make decisions for me. So it was very empowering. Well, I know exactly what you're talking about to me. It's like knowing how to drive a manual transmission and a car, right? Exactly. And you know it without going off on a long tangent, I had another podcast that's called teachable moment. And one of the episodes was one of our photography faculty at my previous college explaining how manual mode works, right? You really do need to know the ins and outs of how those images get made. So that's cool. So you learn that in our program and that happens a lot of students pick up transferable important skills and they move them out. And what did you do with that ability to really break down a camera and build an image with all those technical specs? Well, there's two things. One, just as a real life example of the transferable knowledge, the job that I had before. An interview question that they gave me was explain something to me. And what I explained to them was my photography process through the understanding that I gained from the classes. It was really high level what I broke down the separate parts and why I choose to shoot in manual. And that along with the rest of the interview really was helpful. The other thing that I really gained, or how I currently use the knowledge is really more so confidence, right? I am in an entrepreneurial space, right? I learned about entrepreneurship about six years ago and it really has changed how I think about things. And I work now to, instead of focus on problems, I work to focus on finding solutions. Now, being entrepreneurial with this photography, there was a certain point in time where I didn't feel confident enough to say go for the jobs that I wanted to or strike up conversations in order to complete projects that I wanted to because I knew internally, if we go until a certain limit, I will I can only swim until this far. Okay. So i understand taking these classes though I did gain technical knowledge. I also gained just an internal Confidence. What I really like to share about my experience with these classes though, is how, regardless of how beneficial and valuable they were. Because I didn't finish, I was the first one to put a certain stigma on myself as if I didn't do enough or adding come far enough or I didn't finish or complete. Ok. Now my introduction to the entrepreneurial world really brought forth the reality that what you really need is practical and applicable knowledge, right? If you have a degree, you have a certificate, if you have letters after your name, that's fantastic and advantageous, leverage that, but you don't need a certificate in order to be proficient in whatever area you want to be in, you need experience, you need time, you need practice. So at that point in my life, I could see that I was transitioning from. Thinking about the certification that I needed to have in order to please people externally, aha, versus feeling confident in moving in the direction that I want to, regardless of what letters are or are not after my name. Now when I went to school at Full Sail University for a long time, I carried around an insecurity of simply having an associate's degree. Right. And when you go to look for jobs, they ask for your credentials. And if you don't have a bachelor's, it seems as if they'll look on you negatively, which is ironic anyway, because even if you have a bachelor's but you don't have experience, you're still in the same boat, right? So when I talk about entrepreneurship, especially to younger individuals, which is an area that we resonated as we talked getting this information to younger people, I want them to know all the options they have available to them. You can have a degree, you can have a certificate, you can have applicable knowledge. It many ways to skin a cat. Well, and I love so many things about what you said. But one thing that I would love a lot of people to know is that there are a lot of community college experiences that students have and they pick up real-world experience and before getting a certificate or a degree, they move out into success. So we actually, we have programs where students, the employment market is so hot that when they get the predicate skills at the beginning of a program, they can go off and get a great job, right? So I think you make an excellent point because it gets to how we count success. Certainly some, some kind of spark or fire happened here at LCC with you and that has translated into success for you, is awesome. So your role with downtown Lansing Incorporated is pretty exciting because it sounds like you're leveraging some of those experiences and the knowledge that you picked up to really tell the, the region story to tell. the downtown story, what is that story and how are you telling it? Well, that is a question that I can't help but answer without a biased perspective. That's okay. Because we're in essence talking about where I grew or where grew me, everything that I am now. The things that people compliment me for, the expectations people have for me. I learned in the 517, I am a mass of experiences in the school system, different parts of the city, as well as being taught by someone who's from a different culture. I think what I hope everyone would think for themselves, but I'm an interesting mixture of elements and I cannot separate myself from where I am from. And I don't necessarily need to live here to love here. But because so many of the things that I love and I learned and I do are here. I like being here and I can't help but talking emphatically about here. Yeah, because here is where I picked up the things and I'm extremely emphatic about, so I'm biased. I understand, especially in these times, working at downtown Lansing, Inc. We're promoting and advancing businesses. Businesses tough right now, but you have to ask and how things are. I'm going to say again also thinking entrepreneurially will be fine. There are good things going on right now. Right? There is a lot of difficulty. There are empty buildings in holes in other areas of our city, right? But I look at those as opportunities to fill them with things that are amazing. What you took a word out of my mouth because when I was listening to you talk, I thought about opportunities, right? There's a challenge right now. But obviously this will you call it a bias. You almost might call it a grounding. Grounding from the 517 from greater Lansing brought you back from Chicago. A pretty cool place, right? But here you are. What, what, how do you explain that? What's special about Lansing that would bring you back from the Windy City See now this is what I was really getting excited to talk about because you and I can do a couple of things here. Family values or what brought me back to Lansing. Awesome. At that point in time, my family was experiencing some health issues and I was the most capable to come and assist. Okay. Now there's familial ties that are specific to different cultures. And I mean, you can't see it if you're listening only, but I've got my American and South African flag shirt on. It's a very cool shirt. I thought I had time to perfectly, I thought that today was national heritage day, but I found out actually that it was yesterday. But this was a day that was originally Shaka Zulu day, right? And my big brother's name is Chaka. So anything that's about celebrating Africa, I'm definitely therefore, and we talked a little bit about some of the things you've done in the past life regarding that section section of culture? Yeah. Really my family responsibilities brought me back and came back to care for family members in a really important part of your your identity and heritage? Absolutely. And even your last name is a Zulu last name, yes. Yes. So you come back to care for family and you're still here and really grounded in the area. Well, realistically speaking, like you were saying though, what would tie some what would bring someone from Chicago? I was there maybe a month ago. I love it. Never stopped loving. Uh-huh. It's a place that I like to be. Yeah. Right. I 100% of me didn't want to come back. Okay. That's I mean, that's just honest. Yeah. So part of also coming to LCC and working on this photographic Imaging degree, while I'm in a place where I might not a 100% and to be, let me try to do things to better myself. Let me try to find areas where I can have my delights while we deal with the situation at hand. So well, that's fantastic. And so when I want to think about because I'm coming back to Lansing longer gap than you are, right? I was gone for a long time. It strikes me that that Lansing has a visual element now that it didn't have when I was here before, right? You're a visual person. You know, when I think of the downtown art and the murals, there, there's some shout outs to places like Chicago. And in what we've got going on, you are leveraging social media to tell the 517 story. Talk to me about that. So speaking of art speaking of social media we're at the end of the year-long anniversary for below the stacks mural Festival, which by the way had to Chicago artists come from Chicago and place murals in the city. But man, I was given the opportunity, I still can't believe that I was given the opportunity, but I ran the social media for that account. And there is a mural on Washington and Washtenaw on and our our current executive director. Cathleen Edgerly would see me from time to time doing my social media thing in front of that wall, being as tapped in as she is in the community, she's genuinely consuming the content from her personal page, but also from downtown Lansing ink social media page, promoting it and sharing it because at that point in time there was no marketing or design specialist, which is ironically enough, the original role that she played at downtown Lansing ink when she worked there are really so she saw we interacted virtually first. And when the Mural festival ended, it just so happened that I was hosting a pitch competition and I asked if she would be part of the judging panel. So there were instances where we were interacting with each other. And long story short, I believe that really kind of formed or carve the path that led to what I'm doing right now, which is just again, like the mural festival. Leveraging social media to talk genuinely about things that get my juices going. Lansing is one of those places downtown is one of those places. I'm not just doing this for my job. I'm talking about my neighborhood. I'm not just sharing the business's story. I'm sharing the business page to my friend who I want business to work well, so It's just it's an avenue for me to be genuine and communicating about what I'm passionate about and where I'm passionate about. That's fantastic. And another great example about how what might seem like a classroom or kind of training experience at a community college could translate into something that's social. And here you are, you know, maybe doing visual storytelling with social media. When I was listening to a talk, it sounds like you're building your resume out in social, right? Right. Right. I just want, I just want to flip the script on you. I know that this is the first session in the first two episodes, but this isn't the first time we'd done this as we were talking, you got a little bit of history yourself behind the microphone with podcasting. And the reason that stuck out to me because my big brother got his degree in audio engineering. And also I've got I'm working through a podcast idea myself right now. So what is it that you do and in a previous life behind the microphone? Oh, well, thank you. Siso so as a student at Michigan State, I had a a radio program, WDBM. I had a bunch of teachers and friends at MSU from the African diaspora countries all over the continent. And I just fell in love with African pop music. So I started a program on Sunday mornings where we read news stories off the AP wire about the continent of Africa. Had guests on kind of highlighting the countries where they had come from. And mostly just plan great pop music. It's been a long time. But I've done podcasting professionally as a college leader, mostly to help tell people stories. That's one of the reasons I've loved our conversation. You know, so you you took classes at LCC that translated into success for you, that that is why we're here and those stories are worth telling. So I've done a podcast that I call teachable moment where folks take one idea and And use it to have great dialogue. There's this Alumni Stories podcast. I've got one about the public perception of community colleges. As you do your podcast, I would love to help. I've got a slide deck for that helps amateurs gets started with podcasts and that's all I am. I'm an amateur. This podcast is going to be a little glitzy here because we've got really talented digital media people at LCC. They're going to put a nice polish on it. But thank you for asking. It's, I think it's a great way to leverage social to, to tell stories and people love to put in their ear buds and then listen to people talk will one of the reasons I want to bring that up is because when I heard that originally in dear to you, to me more for a couple of reasons. Number one, anybody that's listening to good music, I know that we can get along and we can vibe and there's a certain way that we can get together, but I always have. And I think that this is my perception in reverse of being, you know, like they call it third culture individual grown in a place differ from your parents. Anybody that's able to dibble and dabble from different worlds without skipping a beat. It says something about the considerations they make about and the way that they walk through the world. So the fact that you can identify with the music in a genre and a language that's not yours. This is the way that my mind works, but that directly correlates to your ability to be in the position you're in now where you're basically trying to make a place for a lot of different kinds of people. And you have to be able to listen to these different kinds of music and eat these, different kinds of foods for the sake of being able to have community with these kinds of people. And, and that's further stamped by, you're using the podcast medium. Really what you're doing on your podcast is literally what you're doing for your job, which is trying to find the best way to instruct in push people forward. So I just thought that was really cool. We'll Siso thanks for that. And if you study the history of teaching, great teaching as dialogic, right? It's about dialog and it's about things like culture and language and the things that we produce because we're human. So I agree with you, and it was really cool to connect with you. Yea. That's it. Thank you. Siso it has been so great to talk to you and I know we're gonna be working with downtown Lansing much more. Thanks for telling your LCC story, and I can't wait to see you out in the community. Thank you so much for having me. It was a true pleasure. Yeah. This episode of LCC alumni stories was recorded and engineered by Steve Robinson in the Michigan room at LCC is downtown campus and produced virtually by Brock Elsesser from LCC is digital media, audio and cinema program. The soundtrack is licensed to the college through De Wolf music. Thanks for listening, tune into future episodes and learn more about what our alumni have been up to. If you're an LCC alum and want to share your story, send me an email at Steve_Robinson@lcc.edu Until next time, keep learning. This has been LCC DMAC Lansing Community College, digital media, audio and cinema.

Alumni Stories with Graham Couch

LCC Connect — Fri, 10 Dec 2021 00:00:00 -0500

You're listening to LCC alumni stories, a show dedicated to highlighting the amazing alumni of Lansing Community College. I'm Steve Robinson, President of LCC. And on each episode I have the awesome privilege of getting to know one of our many inspiring alum's and hearing about their experiences at, and since leaving LCC, LCC alumni community is expansive and far-reaching. They're an incredibly diverse group of people representative of all walks of life, working in hundreds of industries across the country. Lcc alumni stories shines a bright light on alumni who make a positive contribution to their community and showcases those who have overcome obstacles and barriers to achieve academic and personal success. These are their dynamic stories. My guest today is Graham Couch, a sports columnist at the Lansing State Journal. Graham, It is great to talk to you. It's great to be here. Thanks for having me. We'll look. I have been looking forward to having you on the show and I, I just have to start off by thanking you for writing kind of intro to the community piece for me in the journal when you are obviously taken a little break from sports. Thank you for writing that great piece about me. I got a lot of good feedback on it while you were an easy subject. So that's, that's really the key to those stories, right? Oh, how was it, how was I easy? Because if I asked a question, you gave a great answer. Oh, that's that's flattering. Thanks. Well, we're talking today on the podcast because you are an LCC alum. Tell me about your time here at LCC. What did you study? What were you working on? Yeah, it was 90, 97 through 99, a couple of years here. And I grew up in Lansing with The Lansing Sexton high school and was not, I wouldn't say I was an incredibly serious student until late in my high school career. Okay. And became one here really and very much so. And came here with the idea that I would transfer would do two years in transfer and that's what I did. I went to Columbia College, Chicago. But I came in looking for and got a very, I think, Rich, diverse experience with all sorts of philosophy course is public speaking courses, course freshman comp and all the stuff in left. But I left here with my academic confidence, which was a big thing. And because I hadn't always had that, some of which had been my fault. But took part in the student newspaper. The lookout, took part in the radio station, did play by play for the men's and women's basketball teams, which is which was a lot of fun. I still have those tapes someday. I'll go back and use guy, You're check tapes from doing like play-by-play here with the stars. Because I thought this was the key. I thought I was gonna go to play by play. And like this was this was the path I was going to need these I guess your portfolio? Yes. That's right. That's what I was thinking. And yet, the lookout was an amazing experience too, and really lead to a lot of, you know, I don't know if I I don't know if we'd be sitting here. We may have come across the same path eventually, but my initial plan was not to do, was not to get back into journalists might done in high school a little bit until I transferred. And I was working in the testing lab, the placement testing lab. And so I Little flyer that they needed a sports editor. Okay. And I had been reading a book at the time by Dan Patrick and Keith Oberman who were doing sports centers big show on ESPN. And they had, you know, one of the things they had this chapter on how to be a sports caster. And there were really adamant, not waste, don't waste time like you've at least be on your be on your student newspaper staff or be on the air if you want to be on the air. And so I just went and didn't wind up doing that because I had the testing lab lab job full-time. But wind up covering the teams and writing 5-6 stories, uh, an issue and that led to the radio deal. And so it was it was a really, a really good experience, I should say. I I mean, I kind of grew up around here. My mother still teaches here. I'll fantastic. What did she teach? Developmental ed. So phenomenal. That's my that's my discipline. I wrote my dissertation about that. Yeah. So I grew up. I mean, there are very early memories like when she was teaching night classes, getting in my pajamas, and coming down here with my dad and sister to pick her up from our class and things on a cool thing, what you said so much in there that really resonates with me and a couple of pieces I want to pick out. One is I gotta follow up on what you said that there was your experience here at LCC, the kind of sparked an academic seriousness and you tell me how that happened. I mean, it sounds like in high school, you are semi-serious, came here and something clicked. What was it? Yeah. I mean, really good teachers. Number one, you were in classes where you felt like an adult, right, That was different, you were treated that way and that started to happen late in high school. I wouldn't say my senior year was a difficult curriculum, but it was one where it was classes I valued and felt like I was getting value and that helped. I also knew that my parents were a little skeptical about my seriousness okay. As a student and wanted their trust in me as I went throughout throughout college. And and it was but yeah, I think a lot of it was finding courses and teachers that engaged me really well. And understanding too that I needed to, needed to do that. But I, you know, I had and this is one of the reasons I'm so passionate and adamant about the community college experience. I mean, I really think the two years here were as rich is educational experience. I had, you know, anywhere along the way and set me up, not, not just confidence wise, but the sort of, the sort of class and classes and curiosity I had for subjects like that. Well, and that is the other thing that you said that I wanted to pull out is that it sounds like you've curated for yourself an incredible amount of experiences where you could do and try these things in sports journalism and in the play by play and all that stuff. And as you probably know, some of those experiences are harder to get at a bigger institution and they were here for you and you made it happen? Totally. I mean, one of the things I always tell people is you can get anywhere from anywhere. Right? And and that's not to put down the anywhere that you are. But when I was at Columbia College Chicago, I would be working that internship that were some of the interns were from Adele at Northwestern. And I took great pride and just kicking there, but things like that was enjoying. That's a heavy duty program, right? It was less than yet and I loved to be more valuable than them and to see that and the people I worked for and and, you know, but One of the things you need to get as you go along and figure out what it is you want to do is you need to have opportunities. You need to have experiences, right? And here, I mean, it was just there were there, were there, and it was a great laboratory for, I mean, I look back at some of those articles I wrote and I cringe. And I thought they were fabulous at the time. And I'm sure the radio broadcast feel the same way, but it helped me discover what I wanted to do and have enough. Frankly, I mean, when I went to Columbia College, I was immediately an assistant sports editor on the staff getting paid because I walked in with clips. I was immediately on the radio station there because I had tapes. And so the experience it wasn't just the the the experiences. I had some teeth behind what I had done. Yeah. You had some real deliverables and some things that then and you got those at LCC. I love that. Now. You're a great writer. I mean, I really like reading your, your writing and I don't read a lot of sports journalism, I gotta confess. And some of that is because of the pros and the writing style. You've got this engaging way of really, really digging in to sports. And obviously, you're very passion about, passionate about the sports here in town, particularly Michigan State. How did that happen for you when you obviously came back to town and how did you get on, on this beat in this pathway of covering Spartan sports so closely? Yeah, I mean, I grew up in Michigan State fan, but I also don't think you can do the job if you are Michigan State fan, it's one of those things where you've gotta be removed. And I was for a long enough time, this was bucket list job for me growing up. It's the newspaper I sat on the floor next to my parents heating register eating brown sugared oatmeal before school. Sports pages open. And, and the staring at the standings and reading articles and, and, and so there was a part of me that always wanted to come back, but I frankly didn't know. And I turn the job down initially, really and part because I didn't, it's sort of the, the Seinfeld reference because stands at the combining of two worlds. Yeah, I, my worlds collide. Yeah, yeah, I know I like this world being, and I wrote my intro column about that because I like this world being different. I wouldn't, I worked in Free Port, Illinois for 2.5 years and then about seven years in Kalamazoo and loved it. And wasn't sure that I wanted my third grade teacher to be reading my opinions and things like that, you know, didn't yeah, I can understand. Didn't know that I wanted that. But I was annoyed. I built in some ways for the job because I had sort of institutional knowledge, historical knowledge, and I'd been away long enough. I covered Western Michigan football. I had not paid attention MSU football for enough years. I had covered things that were much more important at the time I was covering, which I think it's important for people. And so that fandom dissipated, which is, is really important because what you can't be when you cover somebody. As ticked off at them for losing. Well, that's fascinating to me because I think I told you growing up, I didn't consume a lot of sports. But that makes sense to me is that you needed some distance from your identity as a Spartan fan to come back and cover that beat so closely. And are you able to, is that still a tension for you or you feel like you can be brutally honest with, with Spartan sports where you're coming from. I know it, it's I'm definitely removed and in part of it is you you're, you're so close that you see everything and you see the war to see things. You don't really star struck, right? Cuz you've gotta be able to ask the hard questions of these people that in your previous life you would have been like wanting selfies with them, right. So that was very easy with Mark Dantonio because he started while I was away. He started long after I no longer really been paying attention like a fan. And so he was the coach and it was easy to Tom is it was a little different for me, right? I would imagine because he's got the job when I was 15 years old. Sort of hate fandom, right? And, and so it wasn't that bad. But I remember early on the first time he called really upset about something I wrote. And I mean, the thing about Izzo, that I appreciate is you always know where you stand and he doesn't hold a grudge, but he will let you know that day what he thinks about some interesting and Dantonio is very much the opposite, like he seems that way. If he was upset, it would just simmer. And so he always seems like the classic like fifties dad. Yeah. Right. Yeah, that's kinda what it looked like. So the first time that I really got into it was took me a minute to say, you know what this is. Okay. You've got to stick up for yourself and, and, and, you know, because frankly that's something Izzo wants from the people he's challenging. He didn't want to run you over. He wants if he's gonna respect to he wants to your opinion and he wants you to stand up for yourself, stand your ground, even if even if he doesn't agree with you, fantastic, well, you know, and that's gotta be a challenge, right? Is to be able to, to, to stand behind what you wrote. And I bet every time, I guess, again, this is something that is relatively new to me since I'm married into a really rabid sports family. No matter what you write, there's this base of people who are incredibly passionate about it, write it built into sports as this is this huge competitive drive and also the fan orientation. So you must get some heavy blow back. Sometimes there will be days that for the same column, I'll have people that think I was way too easy on him and way too hard on. You get the emails are are entertaining, sometimes bad. And, you know, one of the things though that I try to be, I think if you're fair to people and the people you're writing about. And you can tell yourself and you can sleep at night, you know that you are, even if you're critical, then you can respond to those people and explain your point. And usually when you respond to somebody, it's disarming, right, and even if somebody's even on Twitter at, usually I don't, I try not to mute people unless they're really awful I don't block people. And if, if they're really upset any and you engage them for a little bit, the respect you, even if they disagree with you and you become sort of an adult in the room a little bit. Well, it's funny you're talking about essentially diplomacy, right? Who would have thought they'd be in a sports columnist would involve that kind of relationship management and diplomacy. So look, you said something really interesting to me. So you through through a path that involved LCC, landed your bucket list job. What would you say to aspiring sports journalists to might be starting at a community college? I think you gave some advice, but you know what, for, for other folks who maybe want to do something similar to what you've done, what would you tell them? That would be my advice. Look at the opportunities around you and take advantage of them. And it might be the the, the lookout in the lookout led to while I was still here, I did some stringing and answered phones for high-school games at Lansing State Journal. You know, that was a connection. I admit that I actually didn't stay there that longs that didn't wind up being important back then. But there, wherever you are at the community college, you're at, they're generally going to be opportunities are generally a school newspaper. There's generally, there might be a radio station or some sort of online podcast you can take advantage of, right? And take advantage of those. Get, figure out what you do want to do and what you don't want to do as much as you can. And the other thing is I would say this, you also have all the time in the world. Don't be in a rush to get their interesting. You know, one of the things that was, has been interesting on my path is there are people who get to where they are really fast while they want to be and get two big jobs in their, in their mid-twenties. And that's great. And there are people that wind up loving weather at covering high school sports, their whole lives. Mid-sized dailies. But you've gotta take the jobs that interests you that help you develop. Because what's important is that you actually are good enough to do the job well, because that, that will change your career. If you get an opportunity you're not ready for. I'm not saying don't take it. Because sometimes opportunities are too good to pass up and you gotta find a way to swim. But take advantage of every opportunity, figure out what it is you like and don't like and and and just remember that you've got a lot of time. Yeah. And one other thing I heard you say is and to produce good work, right? That's what you said is to, is to get the good work, whether it's, you know, the actual writing or in your case, before the tapes and all that, produce good stuff, uses a laboratory. I mean, I really think this is, this is what it is. You will think at the time that I might, this is going to be something that's going to give me that first job or whatever this is. But most stories won't. Most stories wind up. I have, you know, bins in my basement, in my parents basement of articles that at one point I thought were like the next great pieces. And but I had a teacher actually at Columbia College gave me really good advice. He was the deputy temple at, at, at the Chicago Tribune and I was in a Feature Writing class with him at night and he just he was working for The Daily Herald, which is a big suburban paper covered in high school games. And he would say, You know, you're writing these games that are fine, but you gotta take more chances. The worst they can do is change it. And that's how you develop interest. And, uh, and so I would say when you're, you know, you're going to swing and you're going to swing and miss quite often. But even when I'm helping to hire somebody or recommend somebody, or you want people who, whose, whose writing has interesting and sometimes they do swing and miss. But those are usually the people that developed quickly. That's great advice. Well Graham, Look at this. I have really enjoyed talking to you and I want to thank you for continuing to let people know that LCC is part of how you got to where you are. That was one of the first things I noticed about you when when we talk that first time. So thanks for telling your LCC story. And it's, it's been really cool talking to you. Thanks for having me. And it was, it was absolutely essential to getting where I am great. This episode of LCC alumni stories was recorded and engineered by Steve Robinson and the Michigan room at LCC is downtown campus and produce virtually by Brock Elsesser from LCC is digital media, audio and cinema program. The soundtrack is license to the college through de Wolf music. Thanks for listening, tune into future episodes and learn more about what our alumni have been up to. If you're an LCC alum and want to share your story, send me an email at Steve_Robinson@LCC.edu. Until next time, keep learning. This has been LCC DMAC Lansing Community College, digital media, audio and cinema.

Alumni Stories with Beth Kuiper

LCC Connect — Fri, 10 Dec 2021 00:00:00 -0500

You're listening to LCC alumni stories, a show dedicated to highlighting the amazing alumni of Lansing Community College. I'm Steve Robinson, President of LCC. And on each episode I have the awesome privilege of getting to know one of our many inspiring, alums and hearing about their experiences at and since leaving LCC. Lcc alumni community is expansive and far-reaching. They're an incredibly diverse group of people, representative and all walks of life working in hundreds of industries across the country. Lcc alumni stories shines a bright light on alumni who make a positive contribution to their community and showcases those who have overcome obstacles and barriers to achieve academic and personal success. These are their dynamic stories. My guest today is Beth Kuiper. She earned an Associate of Applied Science in 2012 with certificates in kitchen and bath design and fashion and merchandising. Beth currently works as the community and Program Outreach Coordinator for downtown Lansing incorporated. Welcome to the show. You're my very first guess, beth, on this podcast. So I'm really happy to have you on and have you an opportunity to learn more about you and your experiences at LCC and what you've been up to since. So it's great to see you. Great to see you as well. I gotta say I woke up this morning at 03:00 AM, just excited to be here and be the first one silent for a long walk. And I thought about all the great things that I could talk about because LCC was very important in my life. So one thing I want to talk to you about is you have taken on a pretty cool new role at LCC and you're gonna be helping us out. Talk to me about your role in this new advisory committee. So I was asked about six weeks ago, two months ago by Cathy Zell at the foundation to join the Academic Advisory Committee. And I was just tickled because it was something that I've always want to do is give back however I can. So what we're looking at is that LCC is got their 40th year anniversary? Yes. I mean, do it with a foundation has a 40th anniversary excuse. No, that's okay. That's right. It's an important birthday. Yeah, absolutely. So we are looking at ways to celebrate and go out there and spread the word and just help lift up others by celebrating these 40 years. Then I'm really looking forward to it. So I'm looking forward to the beginning parts like we've already started, just like the ideas, the concepts. I'm looking forward to any kind of fundraising and the event planning, but I'm really looking forward to the return that we're going to give to people. So if I can open up my house in my kitchen to students in need and help cook meals. Or if I can drive people, whatever I can do to help them satisfy their goals like I was able to. And LCC was the one that helped me. They helped with childcare. They helped me with any kind of tran transportation if I needed that. So I just look at how can I take what was given to me and give it to the next person that is so exciting to me. And you're gonna see a lot of me in that work because I plan to be very, very active with our LCC Foundation. Great. Look forward to it. So you studied kitchen and bath and tell me a little bit about what you what brought you to LCC and what it was that was so positive about your experience here. So LCC was important in my life, like I said. So as soon as I graduated from high school and we've gotta rewind quite awhile. So we're going back to 1998. I decided to start taking business classes because that's what I wanted to originally go into me and when I kinda have fallen into that role again, but we'll get to that later. So I start with business classes and I slowly transitioned over to interior design classes. And this was still at the LCC downtown campus. Okay. So I started with these classes. I fell in love. I end up moving over to Grand Rapids and going to Kendall, where I did not finish, but I took many studio courses as well as I went to GRC C, which is the Grand Rapids Community College. Well, I wasn't able to finish and I started my family. So I think anyone who is a parent with young kids. And then I decided to go back and finish my degree. LCC just made sense. So I came back to LCC and at this time, the interior design program had moved to the West Campus. And I almost look at it because I had already had experience in the field. I had worked on the residential side and sales as well as like any kind of furniture design as well too. So it's almost like if you took a cereal box and on the back it's got like the little maze. Instead of starting where you're supposed to start. I kinda started at the end, I feel like and I went Yeah. So it was nice. So when I went to take these classes, I totally understood exactly everything that they were talking about. And I was able to apply myself in a sense that this also gave me the opportunity to volunteer and also focus on my school. And n-k it, excuse me, NK BA, student chapter president. And I just try to rock and I also, oh, and I also work to, wow what you know what, there's so many cool students stories like yours, but let me just hear more about that. So you're a student leader, you're president of a student club. And I'm guessing that k and b, kitchen and bath, is that part of what was that organism what was your student leadership experience like? Yes. So it's the NKBA and since for the National kitchen and bath association. Ok. And so our Lena Dudley Hines was the director. What awesome lady. I mean, I cannot give her enough props. She really is the one who elevated me up to this position that I'm in now, I would've never had the experiences or the opportunities if it wasn't for her all at LCC. However, as a student chapter leader and President, it was that represented some challenges, but it was so rewarding. So we work together, the faculty and I, to give these experiences to students that they wouldn't have been able to do. And because of this chapter, it wasn't so much about like fundraising or or just meeting together. It was experiences at was going like one time we went down to Canton, we interviewed with other people down in Detroit. So we got this real-world experience which I was lucky enough to already have however many students didn't it to home and they were able to talk to professionals. So when you go in as a professional, talk to other professionals, it's almost like you're in competition. Whereas if you're a student, you're not competing with them, you're just getting knowledge, okay, what? That's one thing that some people don't realize about the great experiences at community colleges is that these great student clubs and student leadership experience. So you're able to bring your professional experience to bear in the student club. That's really cool. And you started off on the downtown campus, went to GRC C and then came back, correct? Yeah. I have to interject. My my late father is an alum of G RCC? Know that college really well, it's a really great place. But you finished than the right place whether with LCC. So tell me after after graduating, you continue with your business? Yes. So what I did is so I was working at the same time that I was going to college, but I was working at a reupholstery shop in down town Owosso. And that's when I was able to get into the main street program because Owasso was originally a DBA and they had just been end to the main street program, which was through Misha at that time, which is now through the MET C. Okay. So that's I said on the design committee, I started getting involved in that sense. Chaired, multiple art walks. I worked on a bike rack Subcommittee, a pocket park. And then when I graduated and finished my degree with LCC, that's when I moved to East Lansing. That's when I started and I hit my professional degree. So I went into kitchen and bath design, which is very challenging but fun at the same time, it's almost like playing Tetris. Interesting. So when you say Tetris, you mean like moving things around, making sure everything fits? Correct. Okay. Yeah. With enough wiggle room and leeway, so doors and dishwashers and whatnot can open. So it's a very complex very complex designs as what you have to deal with. In addition to that, there was also kitsch or excuse me, closets that I worked. Okay. Right. Well, having survived a couple of kitchen remodels, I I know what you're talking about. And it plays such an important part in any home, right? That that room, those rooms, the closet in the kitchen, all this experience. So you talked about has to be so useful in your rule role with downtown Lansing. So what brought you to downtown Lansing incorporated? What's your role like and what's exciting on the horizon right now? Yeah, that's funny that you ask because it's like it's been such a row that has had somebody twists and turns. And LCC has helped with all those from the business classes to the design classes, to the connections that I've made. So when I went into kitchen and bath, I then transitioned over to commercial design and that's when I had the flexibility, my schedule ticket back into the main street program, which I've always been very passionate about. So I joined the design committee once again, but this time for downtown Lansing. And then within a year, year and a half, I was chairing that committee. And then Kathleen Edgerly Mindy Belledu was the executive director at that time. Okay. I joined and then Kathleen Edgerly came in in September of last year 2019. She then hired C So as our marketing and design specialist. And then I was hired shortly after in November. Well, and to start here on the Downtown Campus of Lansing, Community College has to be important for your role because we're LCC is such an important part of downtown. So what what what are your major goals or initiatives that you have gone on at downtown Lansing incorporated. And how do they relate to your experience as an LCC alum? So we've got a lot of great things going on for downtown Lansing, and we did. And of course everybody knows the world kinda went put on the brakes. Like around March COVID yeah. Right around March 16th, I think it was. So, no, we totally pivoted and we reallocate it, our whole like resources and everything that we had been working on. It's like if you took all these ashes, you threw them up in the air and everything just finally fell. It's like it took us about four or five weeks to figure out the best way to help our downtown Residence visitors and small business owners. So what we're doing now is we're looking at reactivation we had just recently applied for and granted the match on main Grant, which is a $50 thousand grant through the immediacy. We were one of 11 throughout the state that was awarded this. And what we were able to do was give ten downtown businesses that had kind of slipped through the cracks for other grant opportunities. We gave them $5 thousand each and they could use that on lease. They could use that on anything that had to do with social media, anything to like help promote anything other than pretty much working capital. Just because we had to turn around and show those to the immediacy. So all those receipts and that's when things kinda get lost. Some we looked at those big, how can we help out with those big chunks? And that's what we focused on. And that's what we're still going to focus on. So during the winter now we're looking at what do we do now that we're going to be step inside, right? So those are our next steps and we are really weren't joining forces. We are we've got four different committees, so we've got design, outreach, promotions, and economic sustainability are vitality, okay? And so I really focus on the design and public spaces. So that's where really gain a lot of knowledge found my background on design and then also the economic vitality. And once again, that was from a lot of classes LCC for business. Well, that's so exciting and it's really important to me to have one of our alum's so active in making the downtown area so vibrant. And I say that as a brand new resident and I'm really happy to be living downtown. And I guess that's the last question I'd want you to think about. And I want to tell you this first. So when I speak to graduates, I always tell people, continue to tell your community college story. You told me yours when we met. I mean, what what is it that makes you proud to be an LCC grad? So, you know, that's kinda hard. There's a lot of things, like I said, a graduate in 2012, so lot of twists and turns in the last eight years. However, I think it was having that hope that I could provide for my family. So when I when I graduated eight years ago, I had an 11-year-old, an eight year old, and a seven year old, which is a lot of young kid. Yeah, definitely. And I wasn't able to provide for them on my own at that time. Okay. So LCC gave me this opportunity to earn a great wage and to really elevate myself past any point that I I wouldn't have been able to do on my own or even working. And just not saying that real-world experience doesn't matter because it absolutely does. But to have that education in addition to that's what really skyrocketed me. And I was able to meet so many great people because LCC as a connector, that answer just makes me so happy because that's why we're here. And the fact that your experience here, you turned that into a great opportunity for your family in a way to give back to downtown into this region. I'm really proud of you and it's really cool to talk to you about. Thank you so much for being on the show is great to learn a little bit about your LCC alumni story. This episode of LCC alumni stories was recorded and engineered by Steve Robinson in the Michigan room at LCC is downtown campus and produce virtually by Brock Elsesser from LCC is digital media, audio and cinema program. The soundtrack is licensed to the college through DeWolf music. Thanks for listening, tune into future episodes and learn more about what our alumni have been up to. If your an LCC alum and want to share your story, send me an email at Steve_Robinson@LCC.edu. Until next time, keep learning. This has been LCC DMAC Lansing Community College, digital media, audio and cinema.