Jillian Brown: Giving Back to the Community

International Women’s Day is celebrated annually on March 8. It gives us an opportunity to reflect on progress made, to ask for change, and to hold up women and celebrate their acts of courage and conviction by ordinary women who continue to play an important role in the history of their countries and communities.

Jillian Brown works for Royal Bank of Canada. I talk to her about her life in the corporate world and her passion about giving back.

Jillian, it is a pleasure to have you on my blog. Please tell my audience a little about you?

My name is Jill. I am 23 years old. I have recently graduated from the University of Guelph, where I majored in Accounting and minored in Marketing and Leadership. Currently, I am a Product Analyst in Premium and Everyday Credit Cards at RBC. I really enjoy what I do.

For the majority of my childhood, I was a competitive dancer, living the life you see on the hit reality show “Dance Moms”, when I was 13 eventually, I lost my passion and was looking for a new hobby to fuel my competitive nature. As I entered high school, I found a passion in a sport, a little less graceful – hockey. Being a highly competitive individual, I wasn’t ok with just playing house league. I played for one year and made a rep team every year following and played into rep into university. With my competitive nature, in University, I became very involved with student clubs. I was President of the Accounting Society of Guelph, taught 2 first year business classes as an Undergraduate Teaching Assistant and I competed and was Co-Captain of our intercollegiate case competition team JDC Central.

All of my experiences really shaped me to be the competitive, reliable, dedicated and empathetic person I am today.

Talk to me about your passions in life?

My biggest passion is giving back and helping others. If you are able, I truly believe it is important to give back and help others, no matter if you know the person or do not. This passion of mine is twofold however, this relates to both volunteerism and giving back to others as others gave to you.

I have always had a passion about volunteerism, which only grew bigger as I went to university. When I started university, I realized I had so much more time in my day and wanted to help as much as I could. I volunteered at the food bank, Run for the Cure and United Way and many other organizations over my 5 years in Guelph. In my 3rd and 4th year, my passion for volunteerism grew even more after doing two co-op terms at United Way Guelph Wellington Dufferin. I learnt so much about charitable giving, the importance of volunteers and the need that is in so many communities. The impact charities like United Way make in communities is incredible. These individuals work tirelessly to raise money for other people, striving for the strongest communities possible.

Within the second fold of my passion, I really believe in giving back to others as others have to you. In your daily personal growth and development, someone has taken the time to help you. Whether it’s with a course, an activity/hobby, future career or simply lending a hand when you needed it. I think both current and future generations need to focus on helping each other be successful. Even though I have only been graduated for one year, I plan on going back to my alma matter regularly to help students and give them the advice I once received.

Walk me through your life experience, what did you learn from these experiences and how has it changed you?

Just after I was born, I was diagnosed with epilepsy, which hindered some of my development growing up. I got tired very easily and at times had difficulty remembering things. My parents always hoped I would grow out of it as I got older and very luckily, I did. Around the age of 10 – right when we used to do multiplication tables competitions in grade school – my doctor told me that I wouldn’t have to take my medication anymore and I had grown out of epilepsy. Even though I grew out of it, for quite some time after, I had trouble remembering things and always had to study a little bit harder and for longer periods of time. Although it didn’t affect my memory as much when I grew up, I always gave myself a little extra time to do things.

In high school and university, these habits continued and I always made sure to give myself a little more time than I thought I needed for my studies. Although I outgrew it, there is always a chance it could come back. So, it taught me to really understand myself, great prioritization skills and understanding of how to utilize my time the most effectively.

When something happens to you or you have a medical condition that is out of your control, you really try to push through it. Even though I am fortunate enough to have outgrown epilepsy and it doesn’t affect me much in my daily life anymore, it taught me to constantly keep pushing through things that happen, to be kind to myself and others, and to be more aware of what is happening around me.

Who are the Millennials, what do they want, what do they want to change in present day society?

In this day and age, I think many people generalize Millennials and say “they have everything given to them” and “they do not know the value of hard work”. But – I disagree. As technology and innovation progresses, cultural and societal norms have changed, Millennials still understand the value of hard work, but a lot of things that were once difficult for other generations have become more accessible for us. Although we have these tools and it seems like a lot has been given to us, issues today have become so much more complex and Millennials have so many larger problems to solve in their lifetime.

For Millennials, I think our generation just wants to be happy, which is defined differently for everyone.

I also think simplification is the one thing that many things that my peers and I are focused on. Many things in the past were complicated, time-consuming and at times difficult. Millennials are constantly trying to make things simpler and better for everyone.

What should employers know about you and how to treat you at work?

For many people in my generation or any generation, people (including myself) do not like to be micromanaged. I am a true believer in giving feedback, but I truly believe that when you micro-manage someone, you don’t allow someone to put in their best work forward. Micromanagement is different than when you’re training someone and providing them with guidance/feedback. I think not being micromanaged and being given freedom is something someone looks for in an employer and a manager and really makes employers successful at the end of the day.

What are some of the social and other causes that you are passionate about which the past generations missed out on?

With my passion for volunteerism, I am passionate about youth development, poverty, and focusing on helping the senior population thrive. But one of my passion that I think past generations missed out on understanding what you are putting in and on your body.

People never understood how the food they ate, the chemicals in their toiletries, or the impact of their hobbies had on their health – physically and mentally. Nitrates, sulfates, cigarettes are just a few dangerous chemicals/items that went under the radar for years.

It is important to develop an awareness of these things, which I believe is becoming more relevant. People are eating more fresh foods and purchasing shampoo and makeup products that have fewer chemicals. This will force large companies to think more and make changes too, which will be beneficial and more sustainable in the long run.

Talk to me about food, family, faith, and finances and what do these things mean to Millennials?

I am unsure what all of these things mean to all Millennials, but I do know what they mean to me.

Family is by far the most important thing in my life. I am so fortunate to have a great one and I would drop anything for them.

My family really shaped who I am today, which is why I think it is important to share a bit about them. My Dad’s family is from “the Rock” otherwise known as Newfoundland and my mom’s side is from the province where the sky is very big. If you’ve ever been there, you’ll know this is Saskatchewan. My older brother Derek attended the University of Western Ontario and studied Mechanical Engineering. My family is filled with hard-working, intelligent, and practical individuals which very much rubbed off on me.

In our family, my grandparents or parents’ generation did not go to University, they worked very hard for what they wanted and to provide for their families. I am very fortunate to have two extremely supportive parents who constantly pushed both my brother and me to be our best and also told us we would be successful no matter what we set our minds to. On the side of work ethics, my parents always taught us that things don’t come easy and you have to work for what you want. I carried their advice with me growing up, which helped me overcome a number of obstacles in both school and social aspects of my life.

In terms of food, I think myself and many people in my generation are becoming more conscious of what they are putting in their bodies and understanding more and more the impact our food has on the environment. I believe the new food guide is a big step to help Canadians live and eat more sustainably.

Being an accounting student, I am aware of my finances and focus on the value of what I am purchasing while also saving for the future. For many millennials, I believe this generation is more focused on living in the moment and spending money on what makes them happy rather than focusing on the future. This is not to say Millennials aren’t savers, but right now – I think my generation is really focused on enjoying life.

What do these words mean TL, Hangry, Cray, bae, lace, just saying WCW, MCM, ICYMI, I can’t even in millennial speak?

I have no idea what TL, Lace, and ICYMI mean.

Cray is short for crazy.

Hangry is when you’re both hungry and angry

Bae is similar to Babe which is someone you’re very fond of either as a friend or more than a friend

WCW and MCM are not acronyms I would ever use but they mean women crush Wednesday and man crush Monday. So, if you have a crush on someone you would use this acronym.

I’m can’t even is a term that is used when you don’t want to deal with something, are shocked, can’t believe something.

Tell me a good joke?

I don’t really know any good jokes. Jokes aren’t very millennial, it’s all about memes these days.

What should the generation X and baby boomers know about your generation?

To keep it simple, they should know that they can trust our generation to do good work and make things better, in our environment, politically, and in our daily lives.