Assignment 16A - What's Your Secret Sauce?

KARINA'S HUMAN CAPITAL

1. My perspective of the world, as I've been told, is "unique": I am considered to be very mature for my age (again, as I have been personally told, I SWEAR I'm humble), as I carry values and morals and just a general outlook on life not very commonly shown in people my age (18).
2. I have really good music taste: Just today, my shower playlist went from 'Can't Take My Eyes off You' by Frankie Valli to 'Better' by Kelela; a 1967 classic to a 2017 R&B song, I think it's safe to say that I truly do appreciate all kinds of music.
3. Excellent work ethic: I always give my all to any project I undertake, as I hate to see things completed that visibly reflect my lack of effort and work in its final results. This is why I personally prefer to start assignments and projects ahead of schedule, so that I don't have to worry about them later. Also, I am never afraid to go above and beyond what is asked of me, always taking the extra step to ensure that whatever it is I'm working on has the unique "wow" factor that I require of all my personal endeavors.
4. Spiritual person: I am a strong believer of the powers of the universe and divine timing, something that I think is very overlooked by society as a silly fantastical hobby. I do feel in-tune with the inner workings of the universe and understand how accurate tarot card readings and astrology can be; numerology is something I only recently got into, as I have been seeing certain numerical patterns around way too much to not be worried.
5. I am driven and motivated: Again, as previously stated, I am incredibly passionate about whatever project or assignment tasked of me. I will never half-ass something that I know will produce tremendous results for me and my community; that being said, when I do half-ass something, I feel tremendous guilt and can't help but take my faults as lessons to apply to future endeavors.

INTERVIEWS

1. Interviewee #1: Shana Belfort, one of my closest friends of ~2 years
1. During our interview, Shana expressed that my organizational skills are what allow me stand out the most. In her perspective, I am organized to the point where I know exactly what I'm doing, which is then reflected in the outcomes of whatever it is I am working on; in her case, my work comes out "fantastically".
2. My key takeaway from this interview was to reflect on all the different people I have been lucky enough to work alongside and wonder if they too saw this as a stand-out feature of mine. I know for sure that in working with Shana over the years on projects certain characteristics of her's have shown through and have become major features that I admire as well, but I never really considered that people such as Shana also noticed my own distinct qualities while on the job.
2. Interviewee #2: Racquel Melville, one of my closest friends of ~2 years
1. During our interview, Racquel also brought up my organizational skills as a standout feature of mine, but also mentioned my knowledge as being factually-based and not from an objective, biased standpoint. She also pointed out how I encompass skills that showcase my creativity and my ability to solve problems.
2. My key takeaway from this interview was that I guess when you display a certain behavior it becomes your personal image, huh? Haha but in all seriousness, it was interesting to see that both Shana and Racquel acknowledge my organizational skills as a unique quality or at least on a unique enough level for it to define me as "different". I do pride myself on being organized and am really satisfied that others see this as well, as it means that I am actually organized and not just saying I am.
3. Interviewee #3: Jose Ruiz, one of my closest friends of ~7 years 
1. (His was a bit longer so I'll just paste it here) KNOWLEDGE: "Karina contains lots of knowledge that she holds back from sharing. She doesn’t share it because she doesn’t want to, she doesn’t because it’s knowledge that looks at perspectives from two points. She neither agrees or disagrees she just believes in factual evidence. Karina strives to learn at least 1 new thing everyday. Every time I talk to her I also learn something new. She strives to learn and develop new skills everyday. She then focuses on enhancing them if she particularly likes the skill. If she doesn’t like what she’s learning she usually doesn’t put as much effort, but she’ll get it done. She’s very focused and will get ahead in any way she can. But this sometimes can hurt her in the sense that she’s too much of a perfectionist. So it consumes a lot of mental energy and time to perfectly get things the way they are. She’s smart and she knows this." EMOTIONS: "Karina isn’t really emotional in person. But when she’s alone she’s such an emotional baby. She can come off as cold sometimes because she doesn’t like looking at the negatives. She doesn’t like her emotions to affect others and her productivity. This is why she avoids them in front of others. But she’s very empathetic, she’ll put your emotions before hers. She’s selfless in the sense that she cares too much, but knows when it’s good to show emotions when it’s necessary. She still has a lot to learn about how the emotions of others affect her but she’s very smart. She understands when it needs to be. But she’s not a person you should mess with emotionally because she will destroy you."
2. My key takeaway is how crazily close you can get with someone when you're friends with them for more than 7 years. That being said, people who know you best truly do know you best, even about parts of you that you thought no one actually saw or took note of. I really liked how in terms of my knowledge, I am able to learn new things and also teach my friends as well. It's like that saying, "If I eat, WE ALL EAT!!!!!", anyways, it was very heartwarming to know that I have that impact on my friends and I hope I can continue to do so. In terms of my emotions, this felt like a horoscope reading except it's based on actual observations and 7 years of it too.
4. Interviewee #4: Stephany Avila, one of my closest friends of ~7 years
1. "You are the most determined person ever. Like when you want something you work so hard to get it. Also you are literally good at everything like you are able to adapt yourself in certain situations. I would also say that you are trustworthy and dependable. Also you don’t let your emotions get to your work. Like you keep that separately because you take your work (school work) seriously."
2. Again, a key takeaway is the amount of people that have observed me throughout the years and note the hard work that I strive to take upon myself daily. While the result of the project I am working on that they observe me doing is what matters most, I am also proud that I can be of a respectable friend and person to my friends in any way possible. I also found it interesting how two people (Jose and Stephany) both noticed that I tend to separate my emotions from my goals, as it is true that I want to complete my work with as clear of a head as possible.
5. Interviewee #5: Homar Ali-Maria, one of my closest friends of ~2 years
1. "The value of having a friend that can challenge you and influence you is often taken for granted. Karina, not only one of the most invested young woman I have ever met, but also a true example of a scholar, has dignified herself as an active learner since we met in high school. The way she sees education as a platform for her future and change has allowed my former classmates and I to see how someone can develop such a powerful voice for the betterment of our society, one that is different than anyone else’s because of the emotion and intelligence she conveys."
2. My key takeaway from this interview was again, I NEVER THOUGHT PEOPLE NOTICED THESE PARTS OF ME! It's really heartwarming to see how much my friends admire parts of me that in all honesty are natural features of mine that I never really thought shown through as much as it has been indicated by my friends. I'm proud of being friends with people like Homar because likewise, he has been someone that has influenced and challenged me too so to see that I also had that impact on him was really heartwarming <3

REFLECTION
I think the way I see myself and how others see me are quite similar, just that the way others see me is a lot more detailed and specific than I had originally thought. Simply put, I didn't think people noticed the core aspects of myself that I didn't think defined me or shown through as much I'd like it to. I think I do focus more on the creative and spiritual aspects of myself than others do, but that might've been the questions I prompted them that didn't include aspects of my creative personality, etc. I think the differences can come from me not really caring about what people think about me, therefore never asking them and never knowing what people actually think about me. The interviewees are correct about me, I mean they should be I've known all of them for at least 2 years or more, and it warms my heart to know that they take notice of things that they consider to be different than most people they know. Going back to part 1, I probably wouldn't change anything because it was very similar to the responses of my interviewees.