Giuliana Schroeder, Communications and Marketing Manager at Pro Peninsula, Downtown San Diego

Here are three questions from the interview with my mentor that really stood out to me:

What are the benefits/negative aspects of traveling and moving so often while growing up?
I think that the benefits mostly involve being able to adapt better to change getting to know different people. Through doing this through my childhood and growing up I had found that life, businesses and relationships all revolve around creating connections with people, so I think this allowed me to create a lot of different connections in a lot of different networks and places that have given me a lot of confidence and a lot of options, especially if I am put in a position where I need to move around or change jobs. The setbacks that you don’t have that sense of creating roots somewhere, I’ve always felt like I’m from many places, and I’ve moved a lot so I feel like I don’t have as many people that I can really identify with because no one was changing locations as often as me.


What is your favorite part of working at Pro Peninsula?
I love a lot of things about it. When I was first looking for a job in the environmental field I always wanted to somehow mix the idea that I was giving back to Mexico , that I was able to use both languages, that I was able to use art in my work as well as education, and the events I get to plan are very fun. I like a lot of parts of my job but if I had to choose, probably the big answer would be what we stand for. To help the community and create a long term goal in environmental conservation.


How do you think that all the traveling you’ve done has really benefitted you over the years?
Having to do with being able to adapt easily to change, being able to mature and be more independent. I moved to Italy for a year when I graduated high school by myself and found an apartment by myself, so I think that I learned not having someone to turn to and having to figure it out on my own, that gave me a lot of independence, which is something that people in my family cannot necessarily relate to. I think that’s what I benefitted from the most.