Hailing from San Diego, California, where she was High Tech High School’s FC President, Paola Ochoa is a first-year student at FIDM studying Visual Communications. In addition to her busy college career, Paola is a Student Ambassador at FIDM, passionate content creator, and is the founder of Teen Boss Babes, a community for helping teens start or grow their own business. We caught up with the entrepreneurial student to learn more.
How did you first hear about FIDM? The first time I heard about FIDM was through [YouTuber] Shany Monroy. I used to watch My Dream Quinceañera, and Shany created a follow up series about going to FIDM and that is when I knew I wanted to learn more about the school.
What are you currently working on in the Visual Communications program? For Marketing & Brand Development, I am working on doing a pitch for the brand Charlotte Tilbury with one of my friends. In Digital Illustration, we are currently doing a project where we are designing for a pop-up event, and I am doing it for Justin Bieber and his new album Justice.
What do you like best about the Visual Communications program? I feel like the best thing about the Visual Communications program is that you are able to learn so much about different things in one place. I have been able to learn about marketing, sketching, and digital graphic design all in just three quarters.
What are your career goals and how is FIDM helping you get there? I would love to become a full-time content creator and pursue that after college. I want to be able to expand my social media presence as well as my businesses to be my own boss full-time. I feel like FIDM is helping me get there by teaching me all different aspects of skills, from marketing to digital graphic design, sketching, and so much more that I am implementing to my own businesses.
What are your responsibilities as a FIDM Student Ambassador? It’s all about getting to know prospective FIDM students, but also to be the go-to person for students interested in FIDM. I love being able to represent FIDM and share my love for the school while helping those wanting to be a part of our community as well.
Tell us about running your own business while being a student and what you enjoy about entrepreneurship: I started my entrepreneurial journey at the age of 16, as a junior in high school. Being at FIDM has given me the opportunity to learn more and connect with other passionate people. Being in school and running my businesses, it’s been all about making time in the day to dedicate to each thing, but also going with the flow of things because sometimes you can not focus on one thing and another and that is totally okay. To me, the thing I most enjoy about entrepreneurship is being able to connect with others and be able to help them along in their journey.
Keep up with Paola’s FIDM journey on Instagram @paola.ochoaa.
