Confidently Successful

Sophia LaFrance is a content creator and storyteller who is passionate about sports and culture. Sophia will receive her Bachelor's degree in a few weeks when she graduates from the University of Florida. Throughout college, Sophia served as a sports reporter for ESPN Gainesville and a sports anchor and producer for the WUFT First at Five show (click to see her full résumé ). In addition, Sophia covered various local, Florida Gators and professional teams. She dedicated her college experience to gaining knowledge and skills in front of and behind the camera. Now, as she prepares to embark into the "real world," Sophia is committed to continue providing factual, data-driven journalism.  As a tireless worker, she is eager to learn and seize every opportunity she can to grow as a reporter. For an inside look at her experience, check out her multimedia sports reporting reel . Sophia was born and raised in Valencia, California. Upon her high school grad...

In essence, your résumé your main marketing tool.  When applying for a job, your goal should be to market yourself to the employer that you're his or her ideal candidate for the job. The best way to showcase your skills is by having a stellar résumé. As my college graduation is just over a month away, I am continually updating my résumé and portfolio website.  Here are some tips to consider when completing your résumé.  1. Tailor your résumé to the job.  Not every job is the same, so it is essential to make sure your résumé includes keywords or phrases from the job posting . Most employers do not actually look through all the 100+ résumés. In fact, there are computer programs that scan résumés and pick out the keywords that are also found in the job description.  2.  Choose a legible font.  For us girls, most of the time we want to pick a ~trendy~ font to showcase our personalities. While I am a huge advocate for embra...

When Instagram, Twitter or Facebook is down, the world explodes into chaos. While our grandparents might think we're being over-dramatic, many of our lives depend on social media. So for example, today (March 13), Instagram and Facebook were down due to technical difficulties. Instantly, this became Google's most trending topic . For the working class, students and adolescents, social media is a powerful tool. As a journalist, social media is a main avenue in which people obtain news. According to an article from HubSpot , 68 percent of Americans get their news from social media. Besides serving as a news outlet, social media can also generate your personal brand and your business. For example, I have a professional Twitter account in which I post all my news and sports media information. This allows me to provide content for people as well as show potential employers my content. I also use social media to expand the business my best friend and I started over th...

Last post I talked about the power of networking when looking for a job . While that’s an essential step in the job search, it is also important to have a professional portfolio/website. When I was a sophomore in college, one of my professors had me build a website, and that was one of the most significant college investments I have made. Over the past three years, I have had the opportunity to change and improve my website. As a multimedia journalist, a portfolio allows me to showcase my work and résumé. When networking, my online portfolio is an excellent resource to link professionals to my work. Building your website: 1. Pick your site Many sites allow you to make free websites such as wordpress.com , wix.com , squarespace.com , etc. However, if you want to have your own domain, you can purchase your domain. For example, my website URL is www.sophialafrance.co and I use the Wix.com site to generate my site. 2. Use your personal brand to build your portfolio...

March 1st. The temperature is rising, the days are slowly starting to get longer and spring is just around the corner. No wonder it's the  fourth trending topic on Google .  For second-semester seniors, however, this is a daunting time of year as graduation rapidly approaches. Landing a job seems to be the only thing on a senior's mind.  Personally, if you were to look at internet history, you would see a plethora of job and internship applications. I spend whatever free time I have networking, updating my portfolio and job searching.  Here's why networking is important:  1. The Power of Networking You know the saying, "It's a small world"? Well, you'll be surprised just how small this world is when you start networking. Look up the company or organization you wish to work for. Then, google the people who already work there on LinkedIn. After, reach out to those people. You'll be surprised by how many people email you back. ...