Stephanie Nuesi

Today, I called my parents and said: I can’t believe I’m a first-gen latina graduate👩🏻‍🎓❤️🇩🇴

These past 6 years have been the most challenging ones for me. I came to the US with 2 luggages and 1 big dream

I didn’t speak English. On top of that, my mom and I had to work many part-times to fund my education and our household

There were many times when I wanted to give up. As a first-gen, I faced many challenges in my journey

From a lost teenager to a college graduate.

So, what’s my story?

From the beginning, one of my main goals was to make my parents proud. Now that I graduated and landed my dream job at Google, I can finally say: I DID IT!😭

I was born and raised in the Dominican Republic. I come from a family of 5. My mom raised me and my brothers in DR before coming to the US six years ago

One day, I promised my mom I would make her proud. Mom, I hope this makes you proud ❤️

Now with Max Up, I get to help thousands of people land their dream career

If you’re reading this, I want you to know this: No dream is ever too big, and no career is ever too unrealistic

I wouldn’t be where I am without all the support I’ve received. If you ever believed in me, I want to say thank you

Thank you for believing in me even when I didn’t believe in myself. 🙏🏻

#StephSynergy #MaxUp

Something happened yesterday… I was invited to LinkedIn NY office for their #LinkedInCreatorDay 🥺🤍

As soon as I stepped into the office, I felt home. Don’t ask me why, but maybe it’s because LinkedIn is my favorite platform in the world

We had a chance to meet LinkedIn’s Product Team and ask questions regarding content creators on the platform, enjoy a tour around the office and meet the set where LinkedIn News and Lives are often filmed

I also met the one and only, Katie Coyle who runs the page for LinkedIn for Creators which just recently reached 800k followers!👏🏻

This was a dream and now is a reality.

Thank you Trish Lindo, Jessica Oliveira, David G. and all the creator managers who made this an unforgettable experience. Thank you to my creator manager Emma Welch for the invite. I told them you’re my favorite!

I tagged most of the creators I met, but so happy I connected with Janice, Ariel, Ashley, Vusi, Lelanie, Cynthia, Nicole, Alexis, and more 💫

Thank you LinkedIn for creating opportunities for your creators. Trust us, we love this platform. 🤍

#StephSynergy Max Up #LinkedInCreatorsDay #LinkedInForCreators #LinkedInCreators

LinkedIn found me when I was an underdog, and it helped me become a winner

This place helped me land jobs, build a community that eventually became my clients and friends, and find my real passion

But it all started when I was a defeated job seeker getting rejections left and right

I turned to LinkedIn to reach recruiters and hiring managers. After trying different strategies, I finally started to get noticed. And after many setbacks, I finally got job opportunities

After this, LinkedIn also helped me find my real passion: Coaching early career professionals on job search strategies and teaching others how they can use LinkedIn to grow their brands through my free content and 1:1 coaching sessions

I now also create content on what I’m passionate about, speak at conferences and work with brands through sponsorships and partnerships.

To say LinkedIn helped me would be an understatement. I feel like I found a place where I could be my authentic myself, not hide behind a fake brand, and genuinely help people

That’s why I preach this platform to everyone I meet. Because it helped me go from an underdog to a winner. 💙

#StephSynergy Max Up

LinkedIn found me when I was an underdog, and it helped me become a winner

This place helped me land jobs, build a community that eventually became my clients and friends, and find my real passion

But it all started when I was a defeated job seeker getting rejections left and right

I turned to LinkedIn to reach recruiters and hiring managers. After trying different strategies, I finally started to get noticed. And after many setbacks, I finally got job opportunities

I built connections here that helped me find opportunities (networking). After this, LinkedIn also helped me find my real passion: Sharing career development and teaching others how they can build and grow their brands

I create content on what I’m passionate about, speak at conferences and work on developing people on a professional and personal level

To say LinkedIn helped me would be an understatement. But it wasn’t just LinkedIn, it was the community behind it. I feel like I found a place where I could be my authentic myself, not hide behind a fake brand, and genuinely help people

That’s why I preach this platform and its people to everyone I meet. Because it helped me go from an underdog to a winner.

#StephSynergy

I’m 24, I didn’t speak English 5 years ago, and today I crossed 200k followers on LinkedIn

Writing content everyday in a foreign language. Saying this feels surreal.

I never thought I would be able to build a name for myself here, let alone have 200,000 of you following my story and seeing me as a person of influence.

200,000 of you that helped me build a 6-figure brand. 200,000 of you that helped me build a passion project that contributed to building my parents dream house and their early retirement.

Just thinking how 8 years ago I was a 16 y/o teenager leaving her home country to come to the US with:

NO English
NO network/connections
NO friends or closed ones

Just me and 2 packed luggages full of dreams.

Today, I celebrate that I represent the younger generation that once thought they didn’t have a space on this platform.

I celebrate that I’ve built a community with more people than the small town I was born and raised at.

Cheers to 200,000 lives. Here’s to more valuable content, and more people getting the help and visibility they need.💙

#StephSynergy Max Up

I DID IT!!

I’m happy to share that after completing a bootcamp as a professional student (if that’s a thing), I will now switch hats to be their new LinkedIn Instructor!

When Zach Wilson brought this opportunity to my attention, I couldn’t believe it.

I’m excited to bring all my knowledge and experiences building my brand on this platform to the new group that will be embarking in this journey next month.

This happened in a very unique way. I enrolled as a student while being a professional - and this was definitely a challenge. I struggled to understand how to even start. The journey was full of challenges.

I remember setting meetings with the instructor to get my platforms (SQL, GitHub, etc.) ready to go and things just seemed to not work the way they were supposed to. But I didn’t give up. I wanted to understand how the world of data and AI worked together. I wanted to be 1% better than what I was yesterday.

I showed up to every class, asked questions (way too many), and connected with others that were more advanced so I could get myself to the level I wanted to be at.

And I did it. I completed that and felt a sense of fulfillment for not giving up. For me, it was more about the journey and the lessons learned. It was the knowledge acquired. I can proudly say this experience changed a portion of my career.

Now, I will get to sit on the same classroom, but teaching others the power of LinkedIn. A full circle moment.

Sharing resources and helping others is my passion. If you’re a professional interested in developing your skills in Data, LLMs or AI, and also want to learn all things LinkedIn (with me), here’s a link to the same course/bootcamp I completed: https://lnkd.in/guZdAgu5.

I wanted to share my story, and also encourage you all to go after those “difficult” goals. No matter how hard they seem to be, keep going.

You will thank yourself for not giving up once you get the ‘prize’ and reach that final destination.

#StephSynergy

Real truth: I didn’t know what I wanted to do in my career 5 years ago

I used to feel frustrated because as a first-generation, my parents pressured me into knowing what career I wanted to pursue early on. Being first-generation comes with unwanted pressure and responsibilities

The worst part? They couldn’t help me navigate that because they didn’t have a chance to go to college or have a career

It took a lot of rejections, failures, and self-awareness to understand that it’s ok to not know what we want to do. What I’m doing now might not even be what I’ll be doing 5 years from now

Because my parents couldn’t teach me or help me as I navigated college and my early years post-college, I felt like I was always swimming against the current

I recently started searching for brands and organizations that help people who don’t know what they want to do in their careers. One company that I found was Ramped - a platform that uses AI to help people navigate their careers

They have a “explore any job” and “find your next job” tools that give descriptions based on job titles, uses your resume + your interests to identify your next role, and more (FREE tool here: https://shorturl.at/djoIY)

As I bring new resources to everyone, I hope that you can leverage them to succeed. You might not know what you want to do, but you no longer have to figure it out alone.

We’re here for you.

#StephSynergy #sponsored #RampedPartner

I worked as a food/table server before landing my first corporate job

I remember the words my manager used to tell me everyday: “be nice, always smile, the customer is always right, don’t upset the customer”

It took a long time for me to land my first opportunity in corporate because of my background. It felt like working a customer facing or retail job was not well seen

My friends used to say: “Is this the best you can do?”

They were landing these big corporate jobs. Their parents were proud of them. My parents supported me but deep down I knew they wanted me to work for what I wanted

After many rejections, I found companies that believed in me and didn’t let my background win over my potential. They saw the transferable skills and decided to hire me

Many people work as servers, cookers, retailers, and get discriminated because of their work history or their current jobs.

Many of us started from somewhere, and now we’re here. I go to work everyday and always say hi to our cookers and receptionist because one day that was me.

I SERVED many people with grace. And I hope we can give grace (and hire) all the workers out there who work tirelessly to earn their paychecks.

ALL jobs matter. 🤍

#StephSynergy Max Up

LinkedIn, best news of the year for me:

I have been featured in the Dominican Republic (my country’s national news) for the first time ever

Not one, or twice, but 6 features in 1 week

I called my mom who is living in our home country and we cried for almost an hour

I was featured in Fox News Media, ABC News, and Hispanic Executive this year

And last week, the national news in my country called me to interview me.

They wanted to highlight my story to all Dominicans and latinx folks out there. They wanted to highlight my work with Max Up.

I couldn’t believe it.

When I left the DR in 2015, I represented it everywhere I went here in the US. Now seeing my mom crying while watching me speak on the national TV over there is a dream come true.

Everything came back full circle.

I’m so thankful that I still haven’t reflected on what just happened. I literally cannot express how grateful I am right now.

Just know that if you’re reading this, you’re also part of this. Because this community here have been a huge part of everything that’s happening.

So, THANK YOU LINKEDIN ❤️

#StephSynergy Max Up

Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to two of the youngest career pos-influencers on LinkedIn

Linda Le🌻and I are in our early 20’s. We don’t consider ourselves ‘influencers’ but we do want to positive influence others (pos-influence) to share their stories and be part of the change

Our communities consist of almost 500k of you here. And we stay to provide our unheard stories and be a voice of support to those who want a better workplace culture and a healthy career

365 days and many conversations later, I finally met Linda in person. I can tell you that everything she expresses here is what she is in real life

It’s crazy to think that we’ve gone through work and family trauma so early in our lives. We’ve become survivors of unheard stories. We’ve been criticized because of our age

I’ve been told I’m not “experienced enough” or that my opinions have no value because of my background

We’ve been told to “stay in our lane” and to not express ourselves on LinkedIn. But we’ve also been told that our content has helped many people land jobs and look at life with more positive lenses

So we decided to focus on the positive. The positive being the thousands of you who decide to read us everyday

So to you, dear reader, this post is for you.

Your experiences (good and bad) matter. Your changing cycles matter. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. You are the best validation of yourself.

And we’re here to remind you of that, everyday.

Ladies and gentlemen, here are two 20+ years old young ladies changing the world, one person and one day at a time.🤍

#StephSynergy Max Up

The job search process is hard for many people right now, but remember that layoffs, rejections, failures don’t define you

I have a friend who called me crying because she was laid off and has been on the market ever since. She shared her frustration with job rejections and ghostings

There’s a lot happening in the world right now.

For those of you looking for jobs, don’t give up on yourself. Leverage resources, update your resume, brush up some skills, and if you have to pick up a side hustle or something in the meantime to cover the bills, go for it.

For those of you with hiring power, make things easier for candidates by drafting a good JD, do a careful review and choose wisely.

For everybody else, let’s be of help. Let’s share resources, be a connector. Let’s not put others down when they share their experiences online. They already have it hard enough. Let’s do better. Let’s be better.

We’re in the early stages of 2024 and thousands have been laid off. People are looking for jobs left and right.

Jobseeker, recent laid off person, candidate: You’re going through a lot, but we’re hopeful a new opportunity will come your way. Your current circumstance don’t define where you will be. These layoffs, rejections, failures… they don’t define you.

Let’s work on changing these - for the better.

#StephSynergy

I used to try to ‘fit in’ and hide my ‘broken English’ and my accent

At work, during presentations or even when interviewing for a job so others wouldn’t notice it

Yes. I was ashamed and afraid.

I was worried someone would call it out and look down on me because my English wasn’t “as fluent” or because it was “hard” to understand me.

I remember I used to be self conscious of my accent because of where I come from. I started speaking extremely slow so that no one would recognize it. My voice used to be “too loud” so I decided to lower it down

There is nothing wrong with adapting to different teams and scenarios, but never forget who you are or try to be someone who you’re not.

When I first came to the US 8 years ago, I used to love and appreciate my ‘broken English’ and accent because it was a reminder of the fact that I spoke multiple languages. Years later I confirmed that my accent and my not so fluent English were my assets and not my liabilities.

I realized that being latina, immigrant and having a different background were my assets and not my liabilities.

Next time you walk into a meeting or a call, or interview with a company, remember who you are and don’t hide your unique self.

#StephSynergy

REJECTION HURTS.

A couple of years ago, I kept asking myself why I was getting rejected left and right

Those rejections put me in a position where I didn’t want to apply to jobs anymore

Until there was someone who told me that all I needed was ‘one yes’, and that one yes will come. Because the experiences I was going through were going to be part of the story

Here’s what I did to improve and increase my chances of getting an offer:

1. Learned from the process and what I thought I could’ve done better
2. Changed my strategies, learned new things, developed new skills, basically made myself a more attractive candidate
3. Learned when it was okay to give up

If you’re a jobseeker who recently got rejected, I created a free curated interview guide for you.

It includes typical asked questions, tips to handle rejection, and advice from top recruiters and hiring managers. The link is in the comments.

If you’re struggling with rejections, know that you will get your one yes somehow, somewhere, just how the author of this tweet will.

#StephSynergy Max Up

LinkedIn, this is a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!!

I’m excited to share that I finally met 2 of the biggest influencers in my career yesterday in NY!🤩

As a first-gen immigrant, I didn’t know how to persevere through the job search process

I got rejected several times

Thankfully, I came across people who believed in my potential, even when I didn’t believe in it myself. They helped me overcome my language barriers and my lack of understanding of the job search process 🥺

Those same people helped me with Max Up from the beginning, and those same people are part of the reason I share my content with you all, everyday. After facing many rejections, but also getting offers from Tesla, Google, and more, I decided to help others who felt like they weren’t good enough

It’s been 2 years since I became a career coach, and these 2 individuals have helped me create and grow my community. Yes, all of you.

I wouldn’t be here telling you all this story without their support. In the week of #thanksgiving, I want to introduce them to you all. Please meet these 2 LEGENDS:

Jonathan Javier💡 & Jerry Lee 💡 from Wonsulting

Thank you for changing lives. Thank you for changing my life. Thank you for turning underdogs into winners, every single day.

LinkedIn, meet some of y’all fave career coaches!!🥳

#StephSynergy #MaxUp #Wonsulting #YourFaveCareerCoaches #LinkedInCreators