In a time of incredible change, we are all experiencing this monumental shift together. With a global pandemic, the transition into online schooling and so much more, members of the Sheridan community have become chameleons to welcoming change into their daily routines.

But not every situation starts and ends so easily. There are hardships, challenges and struggles that we experience to come out successfully on the other side. In this blog series, students, Sheridan Alumni, and members of our Sheridan community will share their stories of resilience and how they were able to overcome these obstacles.

The obstacles will vary from physical, emotional and mental, and our hope is that there will be something for everyone to read and grow from.

We are proud to call this series #SherYourStory.

 If you wish to be a part of it, you can submit your stories either publicly or anonymously here.

By: Gabrielle Moryoussef

According to Dictionary.com, creativity is defined as the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc.; originality, progressiveness, or imagination. Just by Sheridan’s slogan, “Get Creative”, that’s one of the biggest reasons why I enrolled at Sheridan College. Having communication that encourages the student body to think differently than the rest of the status quo is what I knew would get me further in my career.

In 2017, I enrolled in the Business Administration: Marketing Diploma Program. Along the way, I have met so many incredible classmates who have allowed me to expand my working capabilities to excel and be proud of every piece of work I turn in. I knew that I wanted to be a marketer, but had no idea what area would fascinate me the most.

Then, in my second year, I had a professor who made me start second-guessing everything. He began the course by saying that he would treat every single brainstorming exercise session as a real-world pitch and treat all the students as working professionals. At first, this excited me, until our first brainstorming session. He gave us our first client and asked us to make them profitable. After every single person presented, he told us how the idea would fail.

It discouraged almost all of my peers and especially me. I began to think that maybe I shouldn’t pursue marketing as a professional career because I would eventually fail. Then I began to realize that my mentality was the only thing keeping me from succeeding. If I went into brainstorming thinking, “I’ll get humiliated”, or, “None of my ideas are good enough”, then it would make it a reality.  I began the brainstorming process by looking at every angle and ensuring there was no blurred area that he could question. I left no stone unturned, and came up with nothing that he would expect or hear from another team. 

Over time, I grew to like that class. I was excited to see my professor’s face when I brought up my idea, knowing that it was a new perspective he hadn’t heard yet. Toward the end of the course, he sat next to me and asked what I wanted to do after school. I replied, “I don’t know… marketing?” He continued by saying there’s a specific stream of marketing that he felt I would excel in. After some extensive research and different online classes, I had to agree. From our discussion, he advised me to head into the Bachelor of Business Administration for Marketing Management,  to further my studies with a new understanding of the future in mind.

When a figure in a position of authority is trying to make things difficult for you, most of the time it is because they want to push you. Some people are difficult just because they’re unhappy and that’s a different story for another day. But you can take each hardship as a new opportunity to be better than before, and come out of your comfort zone. That’s what “Get Creative” means to me.