Aisley Ellis (she/her), is a fourth year Honours Public Health and Human Resources student. To say her tenured co-op résumé is inspiring would be an understatement. Her blog discusses her journey from the campus store all the way to a role within government service, the importance of communication during every term and how finding meaningful and impactful work in entry-level positions are important to growing.
Aisley's co-op journey:
Work term one: For her opening co-op role, Aisley worked for the University of Waterloo at the W Store as a store operations assistant. Initially she stocked shelves and cleaned, however, when the store shut its doors during lockdown, Aisley took on greater administrative responsibility.
As the only member of student staff in the store, she transitioned to creating Instagram reels, participating in photoshoots and handling communications.
Q&A with Aisley:
Is a role involving leadership and helping people one you can see yourself making a career out of?
“I think so. I have realized because public health is very ‘social justice warrior’; the social determinants of health, justice, mental wellness and universal income. All of those things, they’re where my heart is. However, in a professional capacity going forward in my career, I want to be able to bring those pillars to help other people.”
“In a channel that is either corporate or government, I want to be inside the belly of the beast, metaphorically. I really love servant leadership and filling your cup so it pours onto others as opposed to filling your cup first. I think they are both very connected and I don't know how that will unfold as far as helping people and serving others in the future. I definitely put a lot of trust in things to work out and they still continue to do so.”
Have you discovered new strengths within these roles that you wouldn’t have known you had if it weren’t for co-op?
“Project management is one of them. I realized through my PD 5 (Project Management) course that I was doing so many things that had names and theories to them. I was like ‘wow, there's a whole group of people internationally that plan these elaborate events.’”
“It all started at the Visitors Center because we were working on open houses. These were huge projects and I wasn't necessarily the project manager but following along with the phasing and new software that we're using and attracting our stakeholders, realizing that they are our audience, that was my introduction to large events and projects.”
“Being a part of the facilitation and understanding what a user experience looks like for a faculty member, to transitioning into my role at IDEX where I was a project manager for a month-long, that was another thing that brought out my authentic self which is people first.”
“Bringing a user experience into a corporate setting and saying, ‘let's plan a month of wellness activities,’ giving my pitch, all these things were transformative for me in navigating project management. I learned really well.”
“I was the first person to bring a land acknowledgement or pronouns to places that I've worked before too. That's me. That's what I do. Bringing up those ideas in a very respectful and people-first way is what I value.”
Have you been able to use your creativity and individualism to stand out or is the work more autonomous?
“One thing that I learned early on, and I’ve been reintroduced to it through the government, is understanding that my working style and communication are completely different than anyone else's that I’m ever going to work with.”
“One thing that I always look for in jobs is ‘what’s the management like?’ ‘What are my tasks?’ In a lot of the jobs that I’ve had, we have a few tasks that need to get done and go on regularly, but it’s really something where you can kind of choose your own adventure. I tend to gravitate towards that to begin with.”
“As soon as I start a role I make sure to have a conversation and say, ‘I prefer to be reached out to on Teams.’ ‘I prefer my feedback to be once every month.’ ‘I work better in the morning.’ Those sorts of conversations are how I like to be worked with. Slowly developing an expectation with the people I’m working with puts my interests out there to where I can best help the company.”
What has been among your greatest accomplishments within one of your co-op roles as of today?
“I'm so grateful for every job and coworker I've ever had.”
“Transitioning to my later roles and adopting the ‘social justice warrior’ alignment within my tasks was great.”
“Being a part of the Pride initiative at IDEX was huge too. These roles have shown me how much you can interact with everyone.”
“You're working with people who are not only a safety net but also a trampoline. They want you to bounce back up when you struggle and you can lean on them at the same time. Creating that balanced culture and being a part of it as well, asking people how they want to be communicated with and carrying that out, makes me proud.”
What do you envision for yourself going forward in your career?
“I've been riddling with that, especially going into my fourth year. Am I going to go into a master’s program? I don't know.”
“Leaning back into the values of servant leadership service and being somewhere that I can make an impact, that’s the end goal.”
“One thing that I learned is the impact that you can make. It's different everywhere.”
“One day, I'd love to be the CEO of the best place to work in Canada.
I would aspire to lead people in a way that empowers them to seek their best self and to find the top of their own Maslow's hierarchy.”
