"During his time at Lancaster, Emilio was an active member of the Work in Progress community. Before this session I was aware of his story, however, hearing Emilio share firsthand what he learned about himself from being a shy coder to a leader and an entrepreneurial team player, was truly inspirational. I found myself completely absorbed in Emilio’s story and I was in awe of his unique approach to discovering the direction of his work, and to leading a life of value and growth.

As a 2014 Lancaster graduate myself, his story left me wondering what I could have achieved or learned about myself, had I made the most of the opportunities on offer during my time at University.

Handling uncertainty and ambiguity

Emilio came to Lancaster in October 2020 when Covid was still at its peak. His fresher’s experience was far from what he had imagined. It was a time of extreme uncertainty and isolation, and Emilio had not managed to establish the friendship groups he had hoped to make on arrival to Lancaster.

Curiosity and taking the initiative

Instead of accepting this as his university experience, Emilio sought new opportunities to develop himself and his skills beyond his coding hobby. Stepping out of his comfort zone, his personal discovery took him in directions he could not have foreseen.

Developing himself and his mindset

Emilio took part in Work in Progress’ enterprise skills and mindsets initiative ‘Engagement Academy’ in 2021/22. This involved a 12-hour development programme with Amanda, Work in Progress’ Enterprise Education Development Manager, equipping students with mindsets, tools, frameworks, and commercial awareness, ahead of a 100-hour work-based learning internship.

Mattering and contributing to making a difference for and with others

A group of Cumbrian small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) were facing a period of uncertainty and significant change in their sector that threatened their very survival. Emilio and the students in his team were tasked with supporting the business owners to explore ways forward, applying their problem and solution research skills and fresh perspectives to contribute to real change in the world.

At the first meet up between the students and the business owners, Emilio said he felt like he was in a movie, like ‘Ocean from Ocean’s 11’; the realisation that these companies valued and welcomed the students' perspectives, actively encouraging their contributions to finding a solution to their problems was hugely empowering. The experience, Emilio said, was a real confidence booster and an eye-opener; he realised that he had something of value to offer to these people; his perspectives mattered.

Facing the fear and doing it anyway

At the end of the first meet up, when a project leader had to be nominated, Emilio stepped out of this comfort zone and volunteered for the position;

“It was the first time I ever engaged in a project with other students. I was a solo developer and they asked, ‘Who wants to be the team leader for this project?’, and everyone kind of shied away. And that was one of the first realisations that I had of a recurring lesson, which is that most people are really scared all the time in a room, and that means that if you're really scared in that room, you're with them too. Everyone's scared, so confidence is kind of just fabricated. So, I just put my hand up at that point, I said, ‘I'll do it.’ ”

Learning to work with others through taking action and reflection

In the weeks that followed whilst working on market research for the project, Emilio re-applied the enterprise skills and tools he had tried out in the development programme to develop a team culture and really improve his leadership skills. Emilio described one challenge he overcame whilst working in a team with differing approaches to deadlines. Whilst Emilio preferred to work agile, with continual reviews of the work being done, a teammate did not work in the same way. He said;

“…people work in different ways. People have different flows, and my first approach was to try and maybe insist that I would like to see these pages earlier, but the other person wasn't listening. I learned that part of leadership was also to just put trust in your team and understand that they will deliver if they want to deliver, and if they don't want to deliver then that's it. You can't always damage control.”

Aha moments and personal transformation

This was a really pivotal moment for Emilio; the realisation that although people work differently, if you’re working towards the same goal, with a shared vision, the results will come. At the end of the internship, Emilio and his team delivered a market diversification report to the companies and that enabled them to find a way forward to sustainability. He never imagined as a STEM student that he’d be do anything like that.

Confidence to do more, be more and fear less

After the Engagement Academy, Emilio was keen to keep developing his new skills and he joined Edible Campus, a LUSU society working with Green Lancaster, and even became President during his time with them. Of his experience with Edible Campus, Emilio said,

‘Towards the end, we had 17 committee members in part of my team. We had as a goal to win the Sustainability award from the Union for my presidency year. We had 330 signed student members at one point... it was a very stressful ongoing project. Being able to have all of those leadership skills that Engagement Academy gave me on how to create a good team culture, how to create a vision, how to create value using a ‘business model canvas’ so that the society would be financially sustainable. It really paid off, especially when we ended up winning the Students Union Sustainability Award.’

University as a safe rehearsal space to learn through experience and failure

Unsurprisingly, Emilio spoke highly of this experience of joining and running a society on campus and recommended it to new students looking at ways to develop their skills. He said...

“….realise that you are investing in yourself when you're in university, not just in terms of a degree, right? Like if you have a student loan or if your family is paying for it, whatever your situation is, in a way you're investing money in you right now that is going to be paid by your future you. You have to just make sure that your future you thanks you for whatever you did in the three years. And I'm not talking about just concentrating on your degree, which is of course very important, that's what we're here for. But also exploring all the different avenues... Universities are a rehearsal space. The risk is very low; every time you go into an opportunity, there's an uncertainty. And that uncertainty is what scares me, at least away from doing things, because I'd rather stay where I am than change. But if you actually start to think about it, the consequences of that opportunity, of you failing that experience, it’s trivial most of the time.”

The value of the entrepreneurial mindset for discovering your potential

When he started at Lancaster, Emilio would never have described himself as entrepreneurial; rather an inventor, something less ‘intimidating’. By going on a journey with his participation in Engagement Academy, his tenure as President of Edible Campus, and his dedication to personal growth, he demonstrated how with awareness of the entrepreneurial mindset you can intentionally take action to develop it; to create value, spot opportunities, learn through doing, cope with uncertainty and ultimately to have self-awareness around your strengths and weaknesses to help drive you forward.

Emilio can certainly be proud of his investment in himself. His future self is thanking that shy first year for daring to do what scared him, to develop, grow and find the direction of his work. Who knows where his talents will take him next? For now, Emilio is based in London studying a Masters in Applied Mathematics at Imperial, as well as establishing his startup, NEA Studio. He hopes to be able to work full time on his business after completing his Masters."