Tag Archives: student

Stranger 100/100 – Imani

Posted on June 21, 2018 | Leave a comment

100 Strangers - ImaniStranger 100/100 – Imani

“Give back to the community… go out and help other people.”

Meet Imani.

What advice would you give to your younger self? “Don’t drink so much… stay away from that. Really just focus more instead of going out so often, partying, and just be a little more determined. I’m a pretty determined person, hard worker, but just being consistent and not becoming complacent and stagnant… I would definitely give myself that advice.”

What are you focusing on now? “On my career. Honestly, my freshman year of school… I just came back…”

From where? “ECU… it was a party school. I removed myself from the party life, the situation, and I came back home. I started working for a consulting firm, and it’s been up from there.”

Tell me about your career… “So, I’m in school for criminal justice minoring in business marketing. I’m actually married, and my husband and I we’re opening up an enterprise together with four different companies umbrellaed underneath. I’m also getting into trading stocks. I’m doing a day-trading academy right now.”

It’s an interesting time to be trading since the markets have been up for so long… “It is, but it’s a perfect time to strengthen my strategies and the different markets that I’m trading in. Maybe in the futures market it’s not that great of a time to trade, but, if you’re doing day-trading, it’s different.”

What is your biggest challenge right now? “My biggest challenge would definitely be the separation between my husband and I. So, it’s been a difficult time.”

What is the biggest misconception people have about you? “A lot of people don’t like to talk to me because they think that I’m stuck up at first… or that I’m just a partier. I have that connotation because I worked at clubs and bars for so long, but that’s definitely not me at all.”

If you could put a billboard up in Charlotte, what would it say? “It’s just a very selfish society that we live in nowadays, and I would definitely say to give back to the community and to go out and help other people.”

Technical Notes: We were in the shade of a building, and I used a small reflector to even the light on Imani’s face.

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Stranger 89/100 – David

Posted on May 25, 2018 | Leave a comment

Stranger-89-David.jpgStranger 89/100 – David

“Hanging out… celebrating that I’m done with finals.”

Meet David.

What advice would you give to your younger self? “Get involved more with community activities or groups… building connections.”

What is your biggest challenge right now? “Figuring out what I want to do with my life after I graduate.”

Got any ideas? “Stay in school until I figure it out… just keep going. I’m in Political Science right now. If I can actually find some internships or anything that will be helpful, but, if not, then I’m probably going to start studying Psychology.”

If you could put a billboard up in Charlotte, what would it say? “Just a blank billboard.”

How would your friends describe you? “Sarcastic probably.”

What would you do with a million dollars? “I’d probably travel… see the world. Meet new people.”

Any particular place? “Everywhere. I kind of want to see China because it has everything… it’s so vast.”

What music are you listening to? “Everything right now. Hip-hop, metal, rock, classic rock, even some classical music.”

A well balanced diet… “Oh, yeah. I love music… just all around. Not country… I’m not very into country.”

Technical Notes: It was a bright sunny day. I used a reflector to add light to even out David’s face, but I think I added too much light creating a flatter look than I wanted.

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Stranger 85/100 – May

Posted on May 17, 2018 | Leave a comment

100 Strangers - MayStranger 85/100 – May

Our next stranger is a sophomore in college and had just finished finals.

Meet May.

What advice would you give to your younger self? “Be more outgoing and not care so much about what other people think.”

What made you realize that? “I met a lot of nice people. I made more friends.”

What are your biggest challenges right now? “Well, I’m a college student so just like focusing on school and also having a social life.”

Where do you want to be in ten years? “I’m trying to be an actuary. I’m trying to get a job.”

What would be the ideal job? “One that pays well. {laughs}”

If you could put a billboard up in Charlotte, what would it say? “Live life to the fullest.”

Do you feel like you do that? “I think so. I try.”

How would your friends describe you? “Probably cheerful. They always say I smile a lot.”

I can vouch for that… “{laughs}”

What would you do if you had a million dollars? “Probably buy my parents a house or something. Maybe go on vacation. Definitely travel a lot… everywhere.”

Technical Notes: It was a bright day, but we found a nice shady spot in the city to take this portrait. I used a reflector to add some light to May’s face.

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Stranger 76/100 – Melysa

Posted on April 18, 2018 | Leave a comment

100 Strangers - MelysaStranger 76/100 – Melysa

I ran into our next stranger while she was out riding a bike and enjoying the warm weather.

Meet Melysa.

What advice would you give to your younger self? “Take your time to think. Take your time… it’s ok. Slow down a little bit. You just gotta let things go. Take your time and everything’s going to work out.”

What is your biggest challenge right now? “I don’t know exactly what I want to do with my life. I have two options, and I’m trying to figure which will be the best for me right now.”

“I was assigned here college then I had to stop doing it since my dad left my mom. He was the one putting the income in the house. So now my option is go back to my country, that’s Spain, and just go to college. It will be easier for me than trying to make it by myself here.”

What are your goals? Where do you want to be in ten years? “Graduate, have my own career, probably my own business.”

Technical Notes: I used a reflector to light up the right side of Melysa’s face which was in shadow. She helped me by holding one side of the reflector with her right hand since it was very windy.

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Stranger 63/100 – Victoria

Posted on March 8, 2018 | Leave a comment

100 Strangers - VictoriaI met our next stranger as she was out with her fiancé, stranger #62 Tyler.

Meet Victoria.

“I am a student, and we just moved up here a few months ago. We were walking around trying to get lunch.”

What advice would you give to your younger self? “Probably be more confident in myself. A lot of times I feel like I bring myself down for no reason.”

Has that always been the case? “Yeah, for a while… and then I moved to Charlotte and got out of a small town. I still struggle with confidence sometimes just being in engineering, the only female… you know?”

I’ve seen statistics where females just drop out at great rates… “Yeah, I feel like they’re not taken as seriously.”

Why do you think females drop out of STEM? “I just feel like there’s a little bit of fear just because it’s not a very woman-populated kind of job like science, math or anything like that. They’re just kind of like, oh, that’s not what I’m supposed to do. It’s just kind of like a mental thing. It’s like, that’s a men’s job.”

How were you able to fight that? “I’m very stubborn and, again, I’ve been working on my confidence. I want to do something that’s impactful. I don’t want to sit in an office and feel like what I’m doing is unimportant. I want to do something big.”

What are your goals? “I definitely want to be a civil engineer. I’m concentrating on energy design right now so… sustainability projects. I actually just had an interview… that’s why I’m dressed like this. So, anything with sustainability really… I’m pretty open to that.”

What is your biggest challenge right now? “Probably focusing on what’s important. I get really distracted easily… I want to go out to lunch, I want to hang out with my friends, but I really need to focus on schoolwork and do nothing else.”

What do you do in your free time? “We go hiking. We take our dogs out and walk around uptown a little bit.”

How would your friends describe you? “Probably as social. A little feisty. But genuinely a good person I would think… I hope so.”

Technical Notes: We found a nicely lit spot with a bright spot of sun reflecting off a faraway building. I used a reflector to further light up her face.

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