As the son of an accountant and business manager, business and education have always been part of Juan David Cardona’s life and his next steps after graduating from National Louis University will follow that same path.
He’ll be pursuing his Masters of Business Administration (MBA) at DePaul University in the fall– the first in his family to attend graduate school.
“Everyone was very excited, my mom in particular. She’s always very supportive of the things I do,” said Juan. “My whole family is very into the business world so everyone’s excited for me to stick in the same field.”
Juan says that his education and personal connections to professors at National Louis University helped him succeed not only on campus, but in pursuit of his plan after graduation.
“I had a lot of support at National Louis, where I met a great professor who I truly connected with and liked,” Juan said. “I took accounting a few times before, but I never got it until her class.
In addition to the formative experiences he had with professors at NLU, Juan found the Braven Leadership & Career Accelerator course to help him become a better listener, both in terms of learning other people’s stories and learning how to tell his own, while applying it to the business world.
“I’m always the one who tries to take the lead and struggles listening to what others have to say,” Juan reflected. “Braven helped me understand what people are trying to say. It helped towards my short-term plans and my future plans because in the business world, you need to be a good listener to successfully help clients.”
Juan also found his Braven Leadership Coach to be helpful, allowing him to gain new knowledge about the business world and his future career path.
“Every meeting with her was really good for me and felt very motivational,” Juan explained.
Braven has been working in partnership with NLU since 2018 to offer the Braven Leadership and Career Accelerator course, which has served 825 Fellows to date.
After finishing his degree credits a semester early, Juan enjoyed graduation day, seeing it as a chance to celebrate his accomplishments and those of his peers.
“I felt proud of myself and of my friends who walked with me,” said Juan. “I always try to remind all of us that we did something not everyone has the opportunity to.”