Compiled by Erica Wright
We asked Birmingham-area residents, Has COVID-19 disrupted any of your personal or professional goals?
Randle Porter: “It hasn’t because I blog and it has actually made people pay more attention to what I put out on my blog and it allowed me to sit down and create goals for myself . . . when before I didn’t. I wanted to grow my following and I’ve done that… so it’s really helped more than it has hurt.”
Hailey Oliff: “I don’t think it disrupted my personal or professional goals but it is have given me the time to change those goals. I changed jobs during COVID-19, so it gave me the opportunity to stop and reflect on whether or not I actually enjoyed my job and if i was gaining skills and I landed on the answer being no and as a result, I decided to change career paths. I went from working at Alabama Power in utilities to now working in real estate.”
Caroline Jenkins: “This year, things have slowed down a bit both personally and professionally so it has been a time to pause and reflect and alter some of those goals. I’ve found myself thinking about what are my goals for the next three years so it’s been a time for me to think through what I want to do in the future. I’m in real estate development and I’m thinking of goals in terms of career milestones, where I want it to go, what groups I want to be involved in and how I want to be involved in the community so really taking time to think about those.”
April Phothisane: “I graduated from the University of Alabama at Birmingham this past spring and I didn’t get to walk and have a regular graduation ceremony . . . but I’m working on my master’s degree and so hopefully, when I graduate next spring, I get to have a normal ceremony and walk across the stage.”
