Every person has a story to tell.
Personal History
Howdy! My name is Cierra Mason, a digital creator and recent college graduate that is passionate about making a difference. I was raised in the tiny village of Northville, New York. From the mere age of three, I was playing games on the E-machine and learning about the Internet for myself.
Although I was born in Virginia Beach, I ended up moving around a lot in my youth. This lead to me turning to the internet for my entertainment needs- which helped nurture a love of technology from a young age. I ended up teaching my parents and grandparents how to operate technology at the age of five. Learning always came quickly to me, as I easily surpassed my peers in many areas of academics. (Except math. That was the bane of my existence.) During high school, I was accepted into a program called P-TECH. It allowed for those in rural regions to receive an associate's degree when they may have otherwise not been able to. From there, I engaged in Underwater Robotics Club and became a national-level competitor of Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA). I also became one of the youngest inductees into the Phi Theta Kappa honors society. On the side, I did some volunteering at the local church. I even got to go to a local tech conference to network with people at all levels of their career.
At a mere 17 years old, I received an A.A.S degree in Computer Information Systems. This made me the first of my bloodline to graduate with a degree in over a century. From there, I wanted to specialize. I turned to Baldwin Wallace University to further my education. It was out-of-state, but that never stopped me before. Looking to branch out, I joined Pi Lambda Phi and volunteered my time at the Brain Center. Through this, I managed to advocate for many ideas, such as 32-hour school weeks and greater access to assistance for disabled people. It was thanks to this that I discovered who I really was. This enabled my desire to give my work to institutions that make me feel fulfilled as a person. As of April 2023, I graduated with a B.A in Digital Media and Design: Interactive Design. I migrated to the Hampton Roads in October 2023, to which I got a proper taste of adulthood. I juggled multiple jobs to get by and keep the lights on. Now, I'm ready for something more fulfilling and properly launch my career.
Professional Record
I have the ambition to jump-start projects before my career began. I took on some field-related (and not-so-related) work in school to get a more firm grasp of what the industry requires.
At 15 years old, I already worked to earn a living. It was a simple summer job doing data-entry at the local State Farm, but it helped me understand the technicalities of an office environment. It wasn't long after before I started experimenting with my own high-school projects that dabbled into some light code and website builders such as Wix and Weebly. I also played around with graphic design tools such as PhotoPea and Canva to create small works for fun. This helped to spark my interest in design and development as a whole. Serious about my commitment, I took a position at my local TOPS grocery store to save some money. This position taught me important skills such as flexibility and having an attention to detail.
The job carried me all the way to college, where I began immersing myself into the tech industry. I joined ACM in order to stay up-to-date on trends. For a semester, I did an internship with the local IT department. I took on jobs on-campus while attending a full-time schedule, which taught me the importance of prioritizing work and getting a grasp on a proper work-life balance. With this work, I learned important qualities such as leadership, efficiency, and being the reliable one that is always available at a drop of a hat.
This included becoming a food service worker and a Resident Assistant. While I obviously learned the tools of the trade through my coursework, I got a few opportunities to put that into practice. The first of these is when I joined the Hive Design Group, and was delegated a task of managing a website that needed a large amount of content managed in a uniform way within the span of a few months. The second was during my senior project, where I was given the task of creating a website from the ground up using Drupal- a CMS that I had never heard of prior. Through all of this, I have learned how to apply myself to the real world and adapt quickly to any situation.
When I moved, I took on two jobs nearly simultaneously. The first as a part-time retail worker, and the second as a contractor under High Impact Television Systems. These jobs allowed me to grasp the complexities of quick communication in a fast paced environment in order to please the client- whether it be a live audience of thousands or a person at the register. Now, I am working on entering the next stage of my life, as I take my first steps into the real world. To accomplish this, I am starting my search for my first in-field full-time position. If you are interested, feel free to contact me here.