By Camille Ogden, BA '06, Duck Career Network Program Coordinator
Spark up:
Tribecca lights up a room. Even the crowded EMU fishbowl, soggy with students escaping the rain, is made a bit brighter by Tribecca. Her excitement for the UO, her experience as a Duck, and her upcoming graduation is infectious. The reason Tribecca has agreed to be interviewed for a career profile is because people “…just spark up when you say you’re a graduating Duck. You know they genuinely want to help you.” Now she wants to give back. Just weeks away from her own graduation, Tribecca has taken the time to share her story with the hope current students or alumni may find tidbits of advice or sparks of encouragement.
Smart start:
Like many students, Tribecca was fortunate to have mentors and people “invested” in her future. Starting with her parents’ emphasis on “the importance of going to school”. This commitment to education cultivated by her family, also encouraged Tribecca, a first generation Vietnamese student, to rely on the advice of her counselors and mentors during her entire educational career. The first “big influence” for Tribecca was her high school counselor, who suggested she apply for the Diversity Excellence Scholarship offered at the University of Oregon. As a highly successful academic student, also involved in extracurricular activities and student government, Tribecca was automatically accepted to the UO (back when “that was a thing”). Listening to her counselor ensured a smart start to Tribecca’s college career because she was awarded the Diversity Excellence Scholarship, which came with full tuition remission (i.e. “huge savings!”). Even though she was accepted at other institutions, the scholarship funding from the UO was an offer she couldn’t refuse and Tribecca became a Duck. Though many of her high school friends were planning a Eugene migration, Tribecca’s involvement in Greek life and the DES “network” of other students awarded the Diversity Excellence Scholarship offered “good exposure to meet many new and different people” and pushed her to “grow outside of her comfort zone.”
Stickin’ with it:
As an undergraduate, Tribecca was more breezing than slogging her way through business classes, until Professor Wilson’s accounting class. A girl used to earning A’s her first C was just shy of devastating. Instead of getting discouraged or stressed-out, Tribecca dug in. Her tenacity was recognized and rewarded by her professors and she eventually became a teaching assistant for Joel Sneed’s accounting course. The encouragement from Professor Wilson and Senior Instructor Joel Sneed, as well as the experience as a teaching assistant, “meant a lot because there was trust…” and Tribecca realized her professors, “believed in—saw something” special in her. By “stickin’ with it,” Tribecca discovered a new reservoir of resolve that made her success as a student shine.
Perhaps, the biggest take-away from her time at the UO was discovered in these moments of perseverance where a positive perspective was critical. In these instances she leaned on the advice of a mentor, “… don’t focus on negative qualities. Focus on what you’re good at and what makes you happy, for that is where you will excel.” Advice for all, reaching far beyond the classroom walls of Lillis.
Square Peg, Spontaneous Conversations:
If one can fail a personality test, Tribecca did for the personality of a “typical accountant” – according to a business class career quiz. Though the “introverted” number-cruncher is a caricature of accountants, Tribecca couldn’t help but laugh as she recounted her “opposite” character traits such as “extrovert and communicator.” In reality, Tribecca is anything but a square peg trying to fit into the round hole of “successful accountant traits.” Her outgoing personality lends itself to creative collaboration and intuitive client service skills. Some of these soft skills come naturally to her but she also attributes her experience as a sales associate for Nordstrom. (The “employee discount helped too!”). Her interaction with customers quickly developed her client relationship approach and she says, her “customers offered great advice,” sometimes highly impactful advice. For example, one customer, a real life CPA, became a mentor and “offered her real world accounting experience” before her classes began. “People from the UO are really passionate—it’s the random or spontaneous encounters with Ducks that begin with, ‘Oh, I’m from the UO too,’ that may go somewhere… you just never know where the conversation will lead.” For this outgoing, aspiring accountant, it was a chance encounter with a Nordstrom shopper (donning a UO themed credit card) that spurred a spontaneous conversation, which would help her decide on accounting and ultimately, shape her future career.
San Francisco Bound
A summer internship has turned into a dream job opportunity for Tribecca. Right after she celebrates commencement for her Master’s degree in accounting, Tribecca will migrate south, again. This time landing in sunny California, where a position at Frank, Rimerman + Co is awaiting her return. With experience, education, ingenuity, a touch of spunk, and a lot of charm, Tribecca will jump right into her career with a full portfolio of extremely successful individual clients and high profile businesses of the Silicon Valley.
Good luck in San Francisco, Tribecca! Thank you for being an advocate, ambassador, champion, and cheerleader of the UO!
Go Ducks!