University of Guelph-Humber (U of GH) Business graduate Yul Guia (Class of 2025) reminisces about his time as an undergraduate student with fondness, as he launches his career as a marketing professional with excitement for what his bright future holds.
From donning the school mascot costume of Swoop the Great Horned Owl, to competing in case competitions and being an executive of ACE U of GH, to being a First Year Experience (FYE) and a Student Transition and Resource Team (START) leader, Yul believes the key to get the most out of university is to “be open to new experiences.” This is his advice and motto, and it’s also the foundation he laid at Guelph-Humber for his career as a marketer – a career he immediately began upon leaving U of GH.
“I let go of this stubborn notion of just going to classes and [going home]. I managed to be open to experiences and that made my career what it is today,” Yul said, who’s now a Marketing Coordinator at KeyData Cyber. “I made new friends, talked to professors, went to events and just really immersed myself [in the U of GH community].”
While leaving Guelph-Humber triggers a mixture of “sad and happy” feelings – happy for his next phase of life but sad for leaving behind a special place – Yul is eager to experience all he can to be the best marketer possible, especially as he aspires to work in senior leadership and lead marketing campaigns one day.
He’s hard at work to lay the foundation to make this dream come true. During his final year in the Business program, Yul opted for taking on a placement for credit. This helped him easily transition into the professional world from an academic setting, he said. It was after his placement that he realized he needed more hands-on experience to advance his career.
He applied for a role at KeyData Cyber on LinkedIn and made it through two rounds of interviews before being hired. Yul’s success paid off because after his placement concluded, he was hired in the Marketing Coordinator role permanently, securing a job fresh out of university.
“I support a lot of the campaigns [here]...I support leadership, plan events, make sure everyone is coordinated, I plan webinars, and I also curate content for the LinkedIn and X pages,” Yul said. “It’s being a holistic marketer.”
Yul is graduating from the U of GH Business program with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Guelph and a Diploma in Business Administration from Humber Polytechnic, but it’s the experiences he had at Guelph-Humber that truly prepared him for this opportunity.
Through ACE U of GH as a delegate and later as the VP of Communications and then the VP of Marketing, participating in case competitions (events where groups or individuals are given a problem within the business sector and must consider a solution, present that idea, and debate it) gave Yul confidence to partake in public speaking, honed his analytical skills, and boosted his networking abilities. Here, he also made lifelong friends, who were part of his support system.
“Having that executive role and being the delegate in general gave me to a new light and provided me a passion and an inner path,” he said.
His experiences as a FYE and START leader, and even bringing the school mascot to life, gave him perspective to truly “understand what it’s like to be a student at U of GH.”
“I got to learn things from a different perspective. I learned about all the different programs and meet students from them. I guess that was the true experience: being part of a tight-knit community,” Yul said fondly.
Yul also had great mentors he could turn to on his academic journey, including Business instructors Prince Khan, Charles Janthur, and Aida Memisevic. He cited Aida Memisevic’s Event Management II course as a major contribution to his preparedness in the workforce, as the class planned a major professional-level immersive event for fellow Business students called Corporate Conspiracy.
“Prince Khan, Aida Memisevic, Charles Janther helped a lot with me getting practical experience as a marketer and also learning theory,” Yul said, adding that this gave him an edge when applying for jobs.
While his time at Guelph-Humber is coming to an end, Yul looks forward to continued growth as a marketer and getting involved with U of GH as an alum one day.
To learn more about the Business program, click here.
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