Welcome to “3 Questions with …”, a new feature on the Career Center blog. We’re asking alumni of all graduation years and career interests to share a bit of their experiences and advice.
Alyssa Gelbard, Founder & CEO of Point Road Group
1. In just a few sentences, please tell us about your current job/graduate program/vocational endeavor.
I’m the Founder and CEO of Point Road Group, a global personal branding firm. We help companies make better brand impressions through their people. We strengthen personal brands of employees so they’re more effective in their roles. This contributes to increased employee engagement, job satisfaction and business growth. We work with companies as well as individual executives across industries and job functions. My background is in strategic marketing and branding, and before starting a professional services firm, I worked in the sports/entertainment, technology consulting and biomedical research industries. My previous experiences inform our client approach and how I manage a growing business and team.
2. How did your time at Tufts influence your career journey?
Tufts taught me to always be open to new things, people and experiences — and that just because something doesn’t exist or isn’t well-defined, doesn’t mean it’s impossible to do or achieve. While at Tufts, I developed deep friendships with peers from all over the world, studied subjects I had no real prior knowledge of and gained countless experiences that impacted who I am today – and my career journey. As a student, I crafted a unique internship because what I was interested in didn’t exist in the program. In every job I held, I shaped the role according to my strengths and always took initiative to expand my knowledge and learn completely new things – all of which added to my unique value and expertise. And I’m still learning every day while running my own company!
3. What advice would you offer to a student who wants to pursue a career path like yours?
Take initiative. It’s one of the most appreciated and rewarded traits, and it will enable you to progress more quickly throughout your career. Feed curiosity. If you’re interested in learning something, ask and get involved. It will not only add value to your development, but it will also enable you to add value to your job/organization. Keep an open mind. Great opportunities may await in companies or industries you never thought you’d see yourself in. You never know who you’ll meet, what you can learn, what opportunity will arise and what you’ll be interested in. And remember, what you do when starting your career may very well be different from what you do later. But the things you learn along the way will always be valuable building blocks for the future.
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