By Q: What do you want to do after you graduate?
A: After I graduate? Well, I’m in my last year of the MPA [Master’s of Public Administration] program. I’d really like to travel. I don’t know where I’m going to get the money to do that at this point, but traveling would be really big for me. I’d like to take a tour of Africa. But traveling is big. I don’t want to jump into the workforce or anything. Once I do that, the traveling opportunities will die out, so just traveling.
Q: How did you get involved in ASI this year?
A: Well, it was kind of weird. Some people, like faculty that I communicate with consistently, pushed me to apply, and I ended up getting picked. I really wasn’t expecting to be picked. I figured I’d put in an application anyway and I’d just be substitute teaching for this last and final year of mine in the program.
Q: What are your hobbies?
A: I forgot what those were. I like to play basketball. I like to stay active. It’s quite hard to do. I enjoy reading. I like to just spend time with friends. For whatever reason, I cherish that a lot these days more than I did a few years ago. I’m pretty simple. I’m laid-back.
Q: As chief of staff, what are your duties?
A: It’s funny. Hiro [Okahana] says I’m [ASI President Shefali Mistry’s] purse carrier. Basically, I’m her policy adviser, and I oversee the presidential cabinet. So, all of her secretaries essentially would report to me and then I would report to her. Outside of that, the more conventional role that I have is assisting her in whatever she needs to get done. I’ll be a designee for, to use an example, an Academic Senate meeting. She sort of fits me into wherever she needs me to fit in. My duties may change from week to week, but they don’t differ too far.
Q: And the Senate recently voted to make the chief of staff position an executive-level job. What attributes make that job an executive-level position?
A: I think the time commitment and the level of responsibility are contributors. Being the chief of staff is sort of like the president’s right-hand person, and there’s no way the ASI president could handle school and the respective job if he or she didn’t have some assistance. I don’t even think we can do it with just two people, to be honest. There’s a lot of stuff to do. Being with the other three [executives], it’s funny because I didn’t have to get voted in. I was appointed. But at any rate, it’s cool. Shefali, Hiro and Zaira [Tinoco] treat me as their equal, and I’m able to participate in everything that they do.
Q: Do you find it helpful that you’re a graduate student as opposed to being an undergrad?
A: Most definitely. I think that, with my background in public administration, being in student organizations and other things of that nature, and just being a little bit older and a little bit more mature, I’ve seen already what works and what doesn’t work. A lot of people were like “Oh well. He doesn’t really understand ASI and this and that,” which is actually incorrect. No one knows the organizational culture when they step into the organization, but it doesn’t mean that they aren’t capable of fulfilling administrator roles. This isn’t my first job as a manager. I have experience. I used to substitute teach for L.A. Unified, so managing a classroom or managing a group of people and extracting the best work out of each individual is nothing really.
Q: What change would you most want to see within ASI?
A: I’d like to see a new group of students come in every year. I’d like to see a change so that people get the leadership experience. ASI, in my mind, should be the greatest leadership experience a CSULB [Cal State Long Beach] student could take part in, and I think when you have people that stay in for a long time, that’s where the exclusivity comes in. I think that this is sort of the ideal leadership experience. I would like for students to have the experience. Yeah, a lot of people have been here for a year or two and they do their job really well, but, at the same time, I want to see new faces come in with new ideas, new visions. This is what I think ASI should be aspiring to do.
Q: If you could trade places with anyone on campus, who would you choose?
A: I guess I’d like to be president of the university. Ask Alexander if he’d like to trade with me. I’m not sure. I think I’d try to take a shot at being president.
Q: What qualities do you think someone who wants to become involved with ASI should have?
A: I think, ideally, a person should be able to communicate clearly. I think a person should also understand the importance of relationships, understanding how to lead, on one hand, and also understanding how to follow. The leader-follower dichotomy is complicated for most people, and I think it’s important that leaders first and foremost are humble individuals because, if you’re humble, you won’t have a problem with the leader-follower relationship. I like people who are creative. I don’t think that I’m much of a creative person, but I think that our commissioners are some of the most creative people I know. Creativity is important.
Q: Is there anything else you would like students to know about what you do?
A: I want them to know that ultimately, I’m here to work for them. I’m their voice. A lot of people don’t understand that I’m not sitting in my office or in a meeting thinking about “Mekonnen’s agenda.” I’m trying to figure out what students want and what students need. In order to do that, I have to stay in constant communication with them, so I would want them to come to my office, to e-mail me, whatever it is that they have to do to let me know what they like , what they don’t like, what they need and so on. I want them to know that, ultimately, we’re here to serve them, and there are people here who are dedicated to serving the students. I think a lot of times people think we’re here to build our résumés, but my résumé is cool. I don’t need another line on my résumé. I wouldn’t have done this if that was the case.
