20A- Growing Your Social Capital

1) Who they are and what their background is:

Troy Palermo is my Uncle and an architect for Disney. I chose to interview him because he a genius when it comes to using hardware tools and can fix almost anything around the house.

2) Which slot they are and how the person is filling the slot: 

Troy filled my domain expert in this industry. He fills this spot well because he would be my number one choice to go and learn how to use a certain tool and fix small inconveniencies around my house. He is definitely a technical expert when it comes to this stuff and would be great at explaining to kids how to use each tool and their purpose.

3) Description of how I found the person and contacted the person:

I have known this man, fortunately, my whole life. I can't remember the last time my family pulled up to his driveway and he is working in the garage trying to fix something. I thought he would be a perfect fit for this slot and we had a great phone conversation about my opportunity.

4) The nature of exchange with the person:

The nature of exchange was done by a phone call because of COVID-19 but I would of usually just drove over to see him since he lives so close to me. He is a very easy person to talk to and it was a fun phone call to have.

5) How including this person in my network enhance my ability to exploit my opportunity:

Troy helps my ability to exploit this opportunity because he is the technical brains around the whole concept. I would need someone like him that was very experienced in his area to help teach other teachers or students these amazing skills.

1) Who they are and what their background is:

I chose one of my old high school teachers whose name is Margaret Pietcavitch. She has been teaching marketing at our high school for over 15 years. 

2) Which slot they are and how the person is filling the slot:

Margaret would be filling the expert in the market slot. She fills this spot well because my senior year in high school she got the school board to allow her to teach a new elective for hospitality and tourism. She still teaches her other classes but thought that kids interested should be able to learn more about this program in high school. She would be a great contact because she knows how to go about adding new electives to the curriculum.

3) Description of how I found the person and contacted the person:

Luckily I have kept in contact with Margaret since I graduated High School and she was the first person to come to mind for thinking of someone for this slot.

4) The nature of exchange with the person:

I had her phone number still from high school because I was her student assistant for one year. I sent her a text and we chit-chatted back and forth for a while about how she started her new elective.

5) How including this person in my network enhance my ability to exploit my opportunity:

This is probably one of my best contacts to have when pursuing my opportunity because she knows the market so well. She was one of my favorite teachers and the staff and students loved her. She could help me with the process of starting up a new elective in the curriculum.

1) Who they are and what their background is:

Karen Dental was my former 4th-grade teacher who is now on the school board for all of Orange County public schools. 

2) Which slot they are and how the person is filling the slot:

Karen would fill the slot of an important supplier to my industry because she has the ability to help make decisions about school funding. She would be my main resource in getting information about the petition process and how much of a percentage we need to help raise funds for this opportunity.

3) Description of how I found the person and contacted the person:

Karen was a bit harder to contact but my mom used to work with her so she gave me her email address for me to contact her.

4) The nature of exchange with the person:

I emailed her first and since she is such a busy woman I got a response 3 to 5 business days later.  She was very kind and proud that I had this idea and contacted her for this assignment. 

5) How including this person in my network enhance my ability to exploit my opportunity:

Having Karen in my network could help me get the funds to actually implement this curriculum throughout Orange County Public High Schools. She is a huge member of the school board and has a say in what is used for education funding. 

Reflection: 

This assignment really helped me consider who would be the best networks to get in contact with for my opportunity. It took me a few minutes to consider who to ask but once I figured it out I was excited to get their information from them. I have not really had to network in the past for anything so this skill was brand new to me. I am grateful for this opportunity to enhance my contacts so I have the right connections for this to happen.