Breaking new ground at Sophomore Institute

This January, I had the opportunity to attend Sophomore Institute for a four-day immersive experience. Sophomore Institute at Mount Holyoke College was developed with the purpose of aiding students in developing their career goals, career plans and networking skills through active communication with Mount Holyoke alums. While attending, I had the opportunity to explore several panels discussing topics ranging from combating feelings of imposter syndrome in your career journey to more technical topics such as how to engage with internships and reach out to professionals in your desired field. Something especially exceptional for me, though, in my time at the Institute, was the opportunity I was granted by the marketing team to help interview alums, such as Tracy E. Gilchrist.

Gilchrist is a 2004 Frances Perkins Scholar from Mount Holyoke College, where she majored in English and Film Studies, and she is currently the host and executive producer of her podcast “Holding Space.” She was the editor-in-chief of the Advocatefrom 2020 to 2023. Along with these pivotal career achievements, Gilchrist has been a continuous advocate for the LGBTQ+ community, specifically through her writing on the intersections of LGBTQ+, equality and pop culture.

Having never interviewed anyone in a professional setting before — much less an absolute media veteran like Tracy Gilchrist — I felt apprehensive, but I was encouraged by both Meghan Stauts and Max Wilhelm of the Mount Holyoke College’s Marketing and Communications office to push past my nerves and embrace the opportunity in an effort to gain experience. This key value was affirmed throughout our time at Sophomore Institute. As mentioned by alum Oyinade Wielock ’07 at the panel “Your Career and Your Identities,” “You have to choose how uncomfortable you are willing to be, to obtain the knowledge you want.”

When approaching interviewing Gilchrist, the Marketing and Communications staff and I felt as a team that it was most important to ask questions relative to her presence at Mount Holyoke College, her experience as an alum, as a student, etc., and how those experiences at the College played a role in the trajectory of her career path.

When I asked how Mount Holyoke College had helped prepare her for her current career, Gilchrist responded, “I felt as though Mount Holyoke took my brain, opened it up and put all this incredible information in it.” 

She continued, “I was so enamored with the minds of these people, and I wanted to learn from them. It kind of led me on this path of trusting myself.” Mount Holyoke College helped foster an element of independence and confidence in Gilchrist as she paved her career path after graduation as a self-made executive producer for her podcast.

Gilchrist was also part of the “Navigating Imposter Syndrome” panel.When I asked her how this opportunity to speak at Mount Holyoke College alongside fellow alums Takiema Bunche Smith ’95 and Olivia Velez-Benenson ’98 was for her, Gilchrist responded, “Just to see these remarkable humans who are doing incredible work, I know that I can be one of them.” 

“I forget sometimes that I have advice to offer. I'm just doing my thing and trying to survive like so many of us, and when somebody asks me a question, [I think], ‘Oh, I do know the answer to that!’” she continued. “I do have direction that reinforces that I’m on the right path.” This distinctly resonated with me as a young scholar. The opportunity to connect with alums on this level, industry professionals who once roamed the same halls and made typical young-adult mistakes, makes it feel all the more plausible that success, no matter how you define that for yourself, is achievable, and everything is a part of the process of getting there.

Connecting with alums with various backgrounds, skillsets and outcomes helped me realize that what best defines your process of sorting out areas of your life, such as your career, is the faith you have in yourself. There is no timeline, and there are no rules. This can seem daunting at first; just as having the opportunity to interview Gilchrist was daunting to me. However, that opportunity to practice interviewing, which I had never done before, taught me that often, feeling nervous about an opportunity just means that you care about it. 

With that understanding, I found that pushing past my anxieties and doing the interview anyway was way more rewarding than having let the opportunity pass me by. Pursuing this opportunity allowed me to gain a better perspective of the professional world through Gilchrist’s insightful responses to my questions. In the end, I allowed myself the chance to ask these questions by accepting an offer I was interested in pursuing despite my nervousness. 

It is crucial to know that your potential is not dictated by the rejection letter in your inbox, your momentary discomforts or the mistakes you make along the way. Instead, when you choose to accept that you are capable of accomplishing the things you want most to achieve, despite the setbacks, that is where success truly lies.