Section II: Pursuing Your Passion
Discuss your professional “passion." Then, discuss two professional goals related to the pursuit of that passion you would like to accomplish in the next five years.
Photo Citation: Gary Tsai, 2026
My professional “passion” has always been a difficult question. I have never had a specific dream job I have been working towards; rather just seeing what is available in the industries of sport and entertainment. While I believe you do not need to have a dream job in order to have something to work towards, I do think narrowing some goals down within the next five years will be helpful.
Overall, I know I want to continue to bring joy to others and create lasting connections between people and what they are seeing on the field, on the stage, or in the venue. In the sport and entertainment industry, we are lucky enough to be able to help people connect with their favorite thing – whether that be a sport, player, show, etc. Although we may become lost in the day-to-day of the positions we hold, it is incredibly important to me to never lose sight of this overarching goal.
Within the next five years, I would like to focus on narrowing things down professionally. While I do not think I will have a dream job within the next five years, one of my goals is to be able to figure out solid next steps in my career. My experience right now is primarily in the theatre and live entertainment spaces, and being able to combine these experiences to future next steps and goals within my career is a major goal of mine.
Another goal of mine within this is to continue finding the joy in the places I work. Some of my best memories at places I have worked have been finding joy in the little things with colleagues who became my friends; and I want to continue to find that in my current position and in future positions. This relates to my passion because being able to find joy in the work will help being joy to audiences.
Identify a specific professional position you would potentially pursue upon graduation. Discuss why you want this position. Be sure to connect your reasons for pursuing this position to your passion.
The position I have identified is a Tour Coordinator with Feld Entertainment. This role is responsible for all travel, international visa needs, hotel accommodations, and public relations responsibilities for the show unit. I would potentially pursue this position soon after completing my degree, as it is commonly seen as the next step in Feld Entertainment’s touring staff career ladder. Please see the job description below.
This position would be of interest to me because of the advancement in my career it would provide. As previously mentioned, this would be the next direct step up in my career following being a Tour Office Coordinator. Allowing myself to grow within an organization and team I am already familiar with would be beneficial for my career. This will also help me narrow my interests down within the next five years, as I will be exposed to more opportunities with the sport and entertainment industry.
Another reason this position would be for personal growth. I would not be fully comfortable in this position right from the start – especially with the public relations portion of the role. However, I strongly believe that leaving professional comfort zones is how we grow and change as people. Moving into this role will help me gain more skills both personally and professionally.
As for connecting this role with my passion, it will still allow me to provide joy to those coming to see a Feld Entertainment show. With the Disney on Ice property specifically, sometimes, our audiences will not be able to travel to the Disney Parks. This means we are the closest they will be to seeing their favorite characters. Being a small part of bringing the joy to these audiences is a wonderful experience, and this position will allow me to continue that.
Photo Citation: Melissa Gallagher Nolan, 2026
Discuss your strongest personal character trait/attribute. Include a specific example from a professional experience that demonstrates this trait and/or attribute.
My strongest personal character attribute would be my resilience. Whenever things have changed within my personal or professional career, I have tried my absolute best to adapt to the situation. Every day has the opportunity to be a new day and a new chance to try again, and that is something I take seriously. Taking in information about a situation is another strong part of this; being able to bounce back when given updated information has helped me strengthen this skill throughout my experiences.
A major example from professional experience would be the start of my time as a Tour Office Coordinator. I joined in the middle of a season with a group of performers who were not happy in the positions they were in – and therefore, not happy with me from the beginning. The next season, two of my performers created major struggles for myself, the other two performers, other staff members, and the show unit as a whole. And finally, going into my third season, we changed the entire preshow offering from the Character Experience to the Magical Pass. All of these things were incredibly difficult to navigate.
Through resilience, however, I was able to persevere and make the best out of all of the above situations. Sometimes, the outcomes were not what I preferred and the solution was quite simply making it through the next day, engagement, or tour season. Even so, making it through these situations and continuing in the same role is a strong highlight my trait of resilience and the ability to persevere.
In a future position, this skill will translate well into trying new things and bouncing back after failure. Being able to use this skill in a future position will help in the job market and making sure tasks are completed.
Photo Citation: Madison Pratt, 2024
Discuss professional areas in which you can improve. Include a specific example from a professional experience where you needed improvement. Then, please discuss steps you have taken and/or continue to take to address the area.
An area of professional improvement I have is time management. While deadlines are met and work is completed well, I have noticed a tendency to wait until the last minute to achieve things. This is consistently to the determent of my personal life and my mental health. I am making improvements in this area – no matter how slow going they may seem to myself!
The first thing I am doing to improve this is to create to-do lists. While I have been doing this consistently, none of them have ever seemed to have a major improvement. I have created a to do list that breaks my tasks down by day of the week instead of the week as a whole. This allows me to view my week as a whole and break down larger tasks to complete bits and pieces throughout the days; instead of all at once. My goal for the immediate future is to continue tweaking this version of the to-do list to continue making this useful for me.
For more important tasks – such as academic midterms and finals that are only open during a certain amount of time – I have started scheduling reminders in my phone. I have also done this for professional-related tasks that myself or my colleagues need to remember during certain times; as in right before our all-staff weekly meeting. This has been incredibly helpful for me in remembering these things, and something I will continue doing.
Another skill I need to improve upon is asking for help when needed, also known as self-advocation. It is incredibly hard for me to ask for help; instead, tending to figure things out myself and hoping for the best. This especially tends to be at the determent to my mental health.
Something I am doing to improve this skill is looking to others I admire and watching how they ask for help when needed. Observing and copying this when needed has helped me improve this skill. Another way I am improving this skill is by remembering that someone saying no is not personal – it is just a reflection of where that person is at the time. Remembering this fact has also helped me improve this skill.