The Seamless Fashion Club founding members, from left to right: Kassia Agboka, Mia Mendoza, Oluwadabira Omotoso, Afua Frempong.
Sometimes opportunity doesn’t knock; instead, it shows up with your parents and a moving truck.
When Mia Mendoza’s family announced they were relocating to Kelowna, she was midway through her journalism and digital media undergraduate degree in Calgary.
“I was like, ‘did you remember I’m in school?’” she says, laughing. But the move pushed her to look at universities in B.C., and that’s when UBC Okanagan came into focus.
Mia (far right) and her family on moving day.
“I knew of UBC, of course, but I hadn’t looked too closely at UBC Okanagan,” she explains. As she explored her options, UBCO’s media studies program felt like the right fit.
“It just kind of hit me that although it was different from what I was studying in Calgary, I needed to welcome new opportunities.”
Since Mendoza moved nine months before her classes started, she spent half a year working full time as a Salon Coordinator and Content Specialist at THESalon in downtown Kelowna.
That experience, combined with her passions for journalism, marketing and social media, helped her land an on-campus work study position before her first day of school.
“I worked with AVP Student Communications and helped with the UBCO Students Instagram channel,” she says. “The role was the perfect mix of everything I loved because I was able to help build community on campus and with the city through creativity and a sharing of resources.”
That position soon became Mendoza’s gateway to the campus community. “UBC Okanagan has such a vibrant student community,” she says.
Covering student-led initiatives sparked an idea, and soon she and three friends founded the Seamless Fashion Club, UBCO’s first fashion club. “We wanted a place where everyone was welcome. It’s a safe space for education, fun and creativity.”
But Mendoza didn’t stop there gaining experience outside of the classroom and trying new things. She joined the Co-op Program, where she landed a position doing outreach and employer engagement for the program itself.
Mendoza was responsible for building relationships with potential employers to generate more co-op roles for students; this was accomplished through analysis of job market trends for early careers, attending various networking events around the Okanagan, and building the program’s alumni network.
“I’m passionate about working in student employment because I know it’s rough out there for us,” she says. “There’s nothing that can replace real work experience.”
For new students, especially those unsure about where to begin, Mendoza offers simple advice:
“Talk to people. Reach out. You have no idea how those connections can help you in the future. People here really want to see you succeed.”
And her biggest encouragement to fellow undergraduate students?
“Step out of your comfort zone and try something new, because proving to yourself that you can do it is one of the best feelings ever.”
