It is sad and surreal to admit that an innovative, proactive, challenging and exciting chapter of my life is over. But New York gave me a lot; confidence, experience, savvy and a great network of friends. I learnt to network, to take initiative, new leadership styles, how to motivate a team and enjoyed being a professional in what is an extremely fast paced industry.
My project management skills have gone from zero to 65% (better) and I am excited to say that I have signed up for a course in existing project management software that starts in February 2011. I am glad to say that my time Stateside has also inspired me to think of strengthening my hard skills. That means that yes...I am going to be learning Spanish / Portuguese and to take a webdesign course. These appear to be aspects of my professional life that seem to be weak...My hard skill weaknesses are the blatant lack of fluency in two European languages (I just speak English and Swahili), lack of Java / html, and knowledge of Project Management Software (I have used a few free ones). So, I am happy to share my plans to improve my capacity and to develop as an individual.
It would be inaccurate to say that I am not aware of what I have learnt and my soft skills (and transferable strengths). I am a strong communicator, organised, technologically savvy, great at multitasking, work well under pressure and as a member of a team. This has been an asset to me while I interned as Journalist at South-South News, as a member of the MDG Awards Committee and assisted my in my role as Director of Communications for the International Youth Council. My learnt the importance of delegation, teamwork and individual initiative. It is also funny to realise that this year has made me less mature, has allowed me to connect with a diverse range of individuals and have had fun trying everything at least once.
I have done a lot, experienced more, enjoyed myself exploring, made amazing friends and met wonderful people. There is so much that I want to share but I believe my time would be better spent looking towards the future rather than dwelling on my wonderful year in NYC.
So, 2011....what will you hold?
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