Today’s guest was Marta Aparicio,

Employment Case Manager for the Jobs Plus Initiative at the Providence Housing Authority.    Our Hope Life Skills class

host for Marta’s visit was Kevin Estrada.

Kevin Estrada welcomes Marta Aparicio on her return to Hope High School and the Hope Life Skills class.

Kevin introduces Marta to today’s Hope Life Skills class.  Well done, Kevin.

Mariana Guerrero Pimental welcomes Marta to our class following Kevin’s introduction.  Great job by Mariana!  Notice Mariana’s great eye contact, firm handshake and smile.  Laisha Mendez follows Mariana and awaits to do the same.

I opened today’s class saying “I believe some of you will become very successful adults. I could just as easily be saying ‘all of you will become very successful’ if I was confident that all of you will be committed to do the things Marta has done to become successful.

You all have the intelligence to be successful adults! 

Regardless what you’ve heard to the contrary or how you sometimes feel about yourself, I am positive you can be as successful as you aspire to be. 

The determining factor will be your commitment to the success you aspire to. 

You’ll quickly see Marta has been and continues to be committed to her lifetime success and the hard work, networking, pushing out of her comfort zone, risk taking, perseverance, and having trusted mentors who truly care about the success she wants in her life.”

Marta began the class sharing

her incredible personal story of success overcoming many challenges along the way.

Marta begins her story of success.

“I found ways to persevere during discouraging times.  My network and mentors have played a great role in my success.  Most of the successful people I’ve met have great networks and, within those networks, they have found influential, trusted mentors. “

 Marta offered a few suggestions to the class.

“Increase the amount of reading and writing you do. 

When you’re in college, the amount of reading and writing your professors will assign you will increase dramatically.  And even after college, you’ll need to learn new things if you want to stay successful.  Reading and writing will be just as important after college.  These are lifetime skills you need to have for lifetime success.  Secondly, take risks and

embrace change.  Meet new people. 

Get involved in new clubs and organizations to grow your network of smart, successful people who are different from you. 

Go after internships.

You learn so much about yourself, other people and different careers.  They help you find what you’re really interested in. They’ve really helped me a lot.   And, never give up! 

Reach out to your mentors

when you get confused or discouraged.  Think of my story.  If I can be successful, you can too.”

Marta also spoke about

each person’s brand and what you can do to make your brand memorable.  

“Often times it’s as simple as how you greet people.  Today, Walter and Marianella had memorable greetings. Their smiles, eye contact, firm handshakes and sincere greetings like ‘it’s nice to see you again’ or ‘thanks for coming today’ made an impression on me.  As a result, I remembered their brand more.  Keep this in mind when you network.” 

Today’s class ended with a time to network with Marta.

Nelson Castillo, Walter Jimenez, Ayo Onajide and Oladipupo Ojekunle exchange business cards during the networking time with Marta.