Recently, I had the opportunity to speak to Loudoun South Young Men's Service League. I was asked to share a bit about myself and how I ended up in my position. The prompts were did you know this is what you wanted to do in high school or college? Did you take certain classes that led you here? This prompt led me to think about my journey to my current position. They also needed a biography so I tied it to my presentation. Below is my biography followed by my response to the prompt.
Jenny Bragiel grew up in a small town in Michigan with a population of less than 1,000 people. Her school lacked resources. Students were required to share old and out of date textbooks, she remembers having a history book that discussed the building of the World Trade Center as a future innovation yet to be completed. These towers were completed in 1973 and she had watched their collapse on September 11, two years prior to the class. She was the first of her family to graduate college and the first in her family to get a Master’s degree. She is now an international presenter and the communications specialist for the Loudoun County Combined Fire and Rescue System.
Thank you for having me today. My introduction may be different from those you have heard in the past. I wanted to highlight that your situation is what you make of it. Growing up in a small town we often joked that no one ever leaves. I did not have the best teachers; I didn’t have the best and newest books. Often my books were 30 years old and falling apart. But I pushed myself to learn more. I had some teachers that became frustrated with me and others became inspired by me and encouraged me in my development. My dad always pushed me to be the best and to overcome any challenge in my way. You define your own success in life, and my advice to you is shoot for the moon in all things that you do because if you miss you will still end up among the stars.
My own tale is an example of this. When I was growing up I had no clue what a communications specialist or a Public Information Officer was, and MySpace and Facebook had just been invented, so social media manager was a profession that didn’t exist yet. I loved history and cold war politics, so I decided I wanted to work for the State Department or the CIA. This very dream broke boundaries, remember I lived in a small town where nobody left. Coming to DC seemed like an impossibility. I refused to accept this. I worked hard and studied harder. I attended two extremely difficult and prestigious colleges with my goal in mind. During my graduation at GWU one of my professors gave a speech about how versatile a degree is. He talked about how he thought when he graduated he would be doing something with computers for his career and ended up in a completely different career with international relations. My degrees were in the international relations field, but they taught me key skills like how to research, how to write, and perhaps most importantly how to think outside the box. These are versatile skills. As you know I don’t work for the CIA or the State Department, and that is ok because I have an amazing job that challenges and inspires me. Following college, I worked in different roles that allowed me to try new and different things. As I continued to work I found out what I enjoyed doing and what I didn’t enjoy doing, so I pursued positions that let me do more of what I enjoyed and less of what I didn’t enjoy. Until I finally found the positio
n that seems like it was tailor made for me. In my role I manage our website and social media accounts. I also am developing and creating our internal website, and interactive magazines and games. I make videos, ads and graphics. My job is to improve internal and external communications. This includes building and developing brand awareness of LC-CFRS.
Something a lot of people don’t realize is the Fire Department is a complete organization. We have accountants, marketing specialist, grant managers, program managers, IT, and so many more positions beyond being a firefighter, EMT or paramedic. I have worked for associations which are another organization that nobody grows up thinking I want to work for an association. There are so many opportunities and career options out there that you may have never thought about, but the choices you make now will impact how many of those opportunities are open to you. The things you are learning now and, in the future, will help open those doors. It is up to you to learn it though, goofing off in class, not putting the work in on your homework, relying on your parents to make sure your work is done, cheating off other students are all bad habits that will make your life harder. It will make college harder, it will make finding and keeping a job harder. You need to take responsibility for your future and ensure your own success through hard work and persistence. This is true no matter your circumstances. Start building good habits now that will help you find success in the future.
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