To continue my #WerqueLikeABoss series, I’m highlighting millennials that slay their careers, while also inspiring and giving back to their communities. These millennial women are nothing short of amazing, simply because they aren’t afraid to use their passions to help them live their best lives. Throughout this series, you’ll learn about a diverse group of women who took the initiative to jumpstart their careers.
MEET TANISHA HOSPEDALE: TECH & EVENTS GOOGLER
1. Share your career journey. How did you land at Google? What do you currently do there?
So, this starts back in my freshman year of college at UPenn. I didnt know what I wanted to do but I knew that I didnt want to go the traditional banking/consulting route and I knew I wanted my job to be at Google. I heard that Google was going to be at a career fair in the fall and I decided I would shoot my shot. I walked up to the desk and handed my resume (with little to nothing of importance on it, since I was a freshman) to the Googler representative (who is now one of my mentors). We then started talking about how there are no internships for freshman but she just started a new program (now known as the BOLD Immersion Program) and would love for me to apply. And I did. From then, I worked extremely hard in order to obtain an internship every summer with Google and, when senior year came around, I was offered a full time position. I worked in the Small and Medium Business org for a while and now I switched over to People Operations team. I now am on the Tech Programs and Events team where I focus on planning events for diverse groups of people in tech (this year so far I planned a hackathon and a reception at the National Society of Black Engineers conference in Kansas City, assisted in planning an International Women’s Day summit in New York City, and co planned Google’s first ever Women of Color Summit in Washington, DC - just to give you a few examples of the work I do).
2. Give your best career advice for the millennial girl who is trying to navigate within corporate.
I think the best piece of advice I can give anyone is that, sometimes, you have to TAKE what you want. If I didnt go to that career fair, I probably wouldnt be where I am today. I was definitely the only freshman in the room but that didnt matter to me. What mattered was that I knew what I wanted. To piggyback off that, in order to take what you want, you must be focused. I knew Google was the goal, so I focused on that, solely. This may not work for everyone, but I knew that was what I wanted so that’s where I put majority of my effort.
3. Where do you hope to be professionally in 3 years?
In 3 years I hope to be finishing up my career at Google and working on starting my own business (I have no idea what that is yet haha). I feel like I can continue to grow professionally here at Google so I am not yet ready to let that go. But I also like to think in the moment (which can be a good thing sometimes and a bad thing other times), so this could change in a few months but, for now, I am happy where I am.