Prompt:

There will not be a “typical” day as an American Voices Project research fellow. You might
attend a community meeting, conduct an interview, or spend your afternoon knocking on doors.
You’ll need to be flexible, determined, and resilient. Please provide a statement that includes
answers to the following:
a. How do you embody these characteristics?
b. How have your past experiences prepared you for the fellowship?
Please limit your answer to 250 words.

Client’s ideas/first draft:

How show them how i embody flexibility determination and resillience:

Working as junior staff scientist provides

Hearing a mentor tell you you’re not advocating for yourself is hard. “Hannah in this industry you
need to be a hard advocate for youself” my team lead told me. It was a meeting between me
and my team lead sitting to discuss my new supervisor transition after my first boss out of my
first job post grad switched firms after 5 months.

All the projects tasks and prospective leads were out the window as my key advocate at my new
job left and took work with with them. Its difficult to navigate a career path culture and wade
through connections to land work in consulting. Jills words hit home/raw//shocked me/hurrt me/
jolted me/ and broke me down I questioned my ability and level of effort in meeting expectations
for the team. By posing this blunt statement jill gave me the choice to wallow and continue on a
path of mediocrity (this is horrible and dramatic and not the point) and rak-and-file junior staffer
or prove her WRONG find more work more projects I’m passionate in joining. As a result i found
internal resillience in focusing on my work, sought out projects im passionate about in urban
development (too much detail) and split my time (i really have no implications and need more
good stuff cmon u got this)

Its a 900 page document full of stakeholder negotiations, hundreds of conversations captured
across . comes down to a team of 10 people over the course of one year. Being thrown into an
environmental relicensing project on the biggest dam in California comes with both emotional
and physical challenges. Each day is a test of diving into a new environmental resource,
navigating research documents, writing secitons. One day could be socio one day could be land
use around the dam etc etc. This past year has been filled with a steep learning curve and
knowing the skill in project managing over long term proposals. Creating metrics, internal
deadlines and being thrown into fieldwork.

This comes through the consulting lifestyle. I work for 4 people on one of the largest dam
restoration projects to happen in america there are limited junior staffers prepping senior
planners for meetings, gathering data for study reports on everything ranging from whitewater
surveys to socioeconomic data research on communities aroudn the project area. This comes
through participating in meetings with stakeholders from all corners of public and private
service. Navigating conversations with the Forest Service, Pacific Coast Trail association and
department of water resources. In California, especially working in water resources you
understand the crux of what it means to engage in stakeholder discussion, to tease out what
parties want in a discussion versus what they are asking for. No day on our teams project efforts
are the same. Understanding levels of need from not only your superiours but the entire task
force on a project pushing and pulling you from different angles. Feast or famine of consulting
leaves you with this sense of urgency and understanding the value of time. Engaging with
specialitsts across the spectrum of public service and environmental resources gives you the
breadth of understanding, the ability to know who to funnel questions to and how to navigate the
channels of persionality that come with long term and expensive projects that everyone has a
stake in more or less. You understand that a project is greater than the sum of its parts, that
compromise and

It started as a small project, the human right to water released from the sprawling and unwieldy
national project that has been the United States.

Think about RESILLIENCE, about things that have made that effort, in my personal life (i.e.
living with someone foreign/
Understanding that whiteness

Consulting, be ready to say yes, interdisciplinary major with numerous things dove into in the
past at davis

My edit:

The transition from college (interdisciplinary major) at UC Davis into the workspace has proven
challenging at times, and working as a junior staff scientist often seems like an uphill battle. It
all appeared to come to a head a few months ago, when a mentor told me that I wasn’t being a
hard-enough advocate for myself. I started to question my ability and level of effort in meeting
expectations for the team. But instead of wallowing, I chose to double down, focusing on
seeking out projects I’m passionate about. One example of this included involving myself into an
environmental relicensing project on the biggest dam in California. This past year has thus been
filled with a steep learning curve, with junior staffers prepping senior planners for meetings,
gathering data for study reports, and being thrown into fieldwork in the LA desert. Engaging with
specialists across the spectrum of public service and environmental resources also lends itself
to knowing how to navigate the channels of personality that come with high-stakes projects. You
understand that a project is greater than the sum of its parts, that compromise amongst both
your team and clients is necessary for success. I am the first to admit that it is mentally
challenging when doubt creeps in, whether about a potential project, my time with the company,
or even beyond, but I remain hopeful and excited about the journeys I have yet embark on.