The Voice - Student Newspaper

Successful alumnus inspires students

On Aug. 29, Glendale Community College (GCC) held its first speaker series presentation in the Student Union, where alumni Brandon Mendoza, ESPN associate producer, shared his experiences on the road to living his dream. Mendoza discussed the importance of persistence, internships, contacts, as well as setting and accomplishing realistic career goals.

He introduced himself then quickly proclaimed, "I am by no means a model of what it takes to get to a dream job, I am just one example."

A graduate of Brophy College Preparatory, GCC and Arizona State University, Mendoza was well on his was to success. In his presentation he explained two lessons to consider when going after a career choice. One lesson being that there so many roads "that can lead you to your dreams and goals" and you don't have to restrict yourself to a single path. There is no one way to achieve your goals; you just have to seize the opportunities that arise. The second lesson is that "internships are crucial to achieving your goals."

Internships offer real world experiences, excellent contacts, and they present great networks. "The most important thing to remember is that networking is a prime opportunity to showcase your skills and expand your contacts."

Mendoza has been working out of the Bristol, Conn., ESPN location as the associate producer of the "bottom-line." He has aspirations of relocating to the upcoming location in Los Angeles, California. Before working at his dream job with ESPN, he was a freelance sports writer for a magazine based out of Arizona called Latino Future. Prior to that, He spent two years working on projects with Great Scott Productions as well as floor directing for the sports talk show "We've Got Your Game." Brandon was clear to express the importance of making contacts with every person you meet. In the end it's a personal choice to keep a contact, but note that "contacts are with you as long as you want them to be."

Brandon shared an event that he experienced early in his career when he had the pleasure of hearing a speech made by Lou Holtz, a college football coach for more than 40 years. Holtz is most famous for coaching at Notre Dame. Mendoza shared how Holtz would inspire football players to "play like champions" and move people to desire the most out of their lives. If there was anything to take away from this experience it was that "you're either moving forward or getting left behind. Which do you want be?"

In his closing statements, Brandon wanted to leave his spectators with a few inspirational words by quoting a rather famous quote by Confucius: "find a job you love and you'll never work a day in your life." You should consider success not as money or a title but literally because you love your job, if you love your job then it'll all fall into place.

Mendoza's parting words were, "I set a goal and I went for it. Everyone can live their dreams, they just have to go out and grab it."