About Me

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Welcome

 Welcome to my digital portfolio! My name is Kirsten Jackson a recent graduate of Agnes Scott College, where I studied Political Science with a minor in Business Management.  I would consider myself as someone who is persistent, optimistic, accountable, a leader and a team player. My strengths are illustrated in detail throughout my portfolio. On campus, I held several leadership positions including Honor Court President, Resident Assistant, and Tower Council Ambassador. In addition to my leadership on campus, I am a servant leader and advocate in my community. For the last two years, I have served as the Atlanta Fellow for IGNITE National. IGNITE is a non-profit non-partisan organization that encourages young women to tap into their political ambition. IGNITE's Fellowship program is for civically engaged young women who are on the path to becoming the next generation of political leaders. Fellows are provided with resources, training, and networks to launch political careers. As a fellow, I am an ambassador for IGNITE’s mission and vision and play a valuable role in the groundwork in Atlanta. During this fellowship, I charted the organization at four colleges including my alma mater Agnes Scott College, Emory University, Spelman College and Georgia State University.  I organized and hosted Young Women Run: Atlanta.  Young Women Run is a conference series,  that offers leadership skill-building workshops, plenaries on current policy topics, roundtable lunch discussions with elected women, and keynote addresses from prominent female political leaders. More of my key highlights and task are illustrated through this website. I pride myself on being a leader, not just politically, but in any realm or work. I view leadership as being collaborative action rather than something that is done by an individual. Throughout the duration of my work experience, I have had to work on teams and collaborate with others to reach a goal or a deadline. I believe you can actively possess the qualities of a leader while working effectively on a team. In my free time, I enjoy traveling, being introduced to new cultures through food and visiting museums.

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My Strengths


Persistence
Persistence is a cornerstone to my success. I don’t believe that failure is there to make you stop achieving, I believe it’s there to make sure you continue to stay persistent. Failure is the greatest learning experience, I have gained so much strength from being persistence towards my goals. When I am passionate about something, I give my all no matter how many times I am told “no”. I don’t believe in giving up. One of my favorite quotes is from Benjamin Franklin and his views on failure.
“I didn’t fail the test, I just found 100 ways to do it wrong.”

Optimistic
My optimistic mindset contributes to why I am so persistent. I have a faith in myself and my abilities so there’s nothing I should be pessimistic about. I always tell myself no matter how hard things may get, there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel you just have to get to the end of the tunnel.

Leadership
Leadership is typically seen as a singular action. However, in the leadership roles I’ve  been in, I have deiced to take a collective approach. Leadership is not about the person but in perhaps about the people. My collective view on leadership has allowed me to thrive in roles and helped shape.

Working on a team
I am a team player, whatever is the best for the team I am willing to do. My ego is not too big to step back and work with other. Many of the roles I have to require me to work on a team and I have been able to do so successfully. 

Accountability
If I make a mistake, I believe in being honest and holding myself accountable. I like for those people who are around me to hold me accountable for the things I do and say and I like to hold those who are around me accountable.

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FAST Enterprises

What? 

During the Summer of 2018, I interned with FAST Enterprises.  FAST Enterprises is an industry leader in the development and installation of software for government agencies.FAST Enterprises is a software company that designs software for governmental agencies. I worked on the training team as their  training intern at their Atlanta office. I had an amazing experience.  This was my first behind the desk, 9-5 job so there was definitely an adjustment. However, the employees and the environment at FAST made my experience very hands-on and exciting. I participated in the Roadshow, where we go to different counties in GA and training them the new software. 

So What? 

This experience was great as I think it fully gave me an idea of what I would be experiencing once I graduated college. Getting that experience of corporate I think can help you navigate better when it’s time to graduate so you won’t be blinded sided about what’s out there. I made many connections with the people I worked with and I am very grateful for them. 

Now what? 

FAST Enterprises has shown interest in having me a part of their team full time. I am excited I have this opportunity at the start of my senior year with a company I really enjoy. They have given me a positive outlook on working in corporate. The work culture there is very different from what I expected, they truly value their employees and it shows in all of the perks they offer them.

Resume

Files coming soon.