Unlocking Career Pathways with Self-Awareness

July 11th, Guest Speaker Maryanna Quigless

Maryanna is a Product Director at Meta Inc. where she leads product for Instagram Direct. Her team is focused on helping users to more easily connect over their interests in Instagram. Prior to leading up Instagram Direct she led a team of entrepreneurs as part of Meta's New Product Experimentation (NPE) organization where she launched 3 new products to support young change-makers. Her team is focused on building new products to support young change-makers. She previously was the Product Lead for the Meta's Ads Manager organization.  Maryanna is also co-founder of the Black Product Managers Network, a community of some of the strongest diverse product thinkers in the world.  

She earned an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where she was an Arjay Miller scholar, and a B.A. in Engineering from Dartmouth College, at which she completed an  exchange term at Spelman College. Maryanna lives in Oakland, CA with her wife, 3 year old son, and 1 year old daughter.  In her free time she loves Peloton, snowboarding, wine-study, and travel.

Module 1: Unlocking Career Pathways with Self-Awareness

In this engaging module we will explore the process of developing self-awareness to unlock various career pathways. Self-awareness is the foundation of personal and professional growth. It involves understanding your strengths, weaknesses, values, and passions. By gaining deeper insights into who you are, you can make more informed decisions about your career direction and leverage your unique qualities to achieve success.

Key topics to be covered in this module include:

  • Understanding Self-Awareness: What self-awareness is and why it is important.

  • Assessing Your Strengths and Weaknesses: Tools and techniques to identify your core competencies and areas for improvement.

  • Aligning Values and Career Goals: How to ensure your career path aligns with your personal values and long-term aspirations.

  • Leveraging Self-Awareness for Career Advancement: Practical steps to use self-awareness in career planning and development.

Assignments:

Please note that assignments are not collected or graded. We encourage you to complete each assignment to receive the most from this program.

  1. Review the Final Project Assignment

  2. Take Adobe’s My Creative Type Personality Test

  3. Email a previous professor or work colleague that you’ve worked with closely in the past year. Let them know that you are participating in a the Future Career Accelerator and working on identifying your strengths and development areas. Ask them what they believe your strengths and development areas are? Ask if they can kindly reply within 1 week. To maximize this assignment, email 3 - 5 professors or work colleagues. No matter their response, thank them for their feedback without providing explanations for their responses.

  4. Meet with your assigned small group to discuss results from the Adobe’s My Creative Type Personality Test and the below questions.

  5. (Optional) Start a weekly reflections journal or blog to improve writing and critical thinking skills.

Questions for Self-Reflection:

To make the most out of this module, we encourage you to reflect on the following questions:

  1. Strengths and Weaknesses:

    • What are my top three strengths, and how do they contribute to my career goals?

    • What are my three main weaknesses, and what steps can I take to improve them?

  2. Values and Motivations:

    • What are the core values that drive me in my personal and professional life?

    • How do these values influence my career choices and goals?

  3. Passions and Interests:

    • What activities or subjects am I most passionate about, and how can they be integrated into my career?

    • Are there any interests or hobbies that I have not yet explored professionally?

  4. Career Goals:

    • Where do I see myself in the next five years? What steps do I need to take to get there?

    • How do my current skills and experiences align with my long-term career objectives?

  5. Feedback and Improvement:

    • What constructive feedback have I received from peers, mentors, or supervisors, and how can I use it to improve?

    • In what areas do I seek further development or training to advance my career?