Dear Future Me,

As I write this to you in 2020, I have a few questions about who I have become and if my aspirations and character has changed. How has your portfolio come along? Do you have a lot of variety in it to show people all of the things I know I will be able to do in the future? You’re not one to show off, but be proud of the work that’s been done and let people see how far you’ve come and all of the things you’ve learned while at Longwood. By the way, how’d you find Longwood? Are you still friends or keeping in touch with Lauren and the gang (Sha’rena, Paige, Chris, Kenny, Corbin, Madie)? I would hope at least Lauren, because you guys became best friends right off the bat in the fall semester of freshman year. If you’ve not been keeping in touch, I would hope that this letter would drive you to check in on how she’s doing.

By the end of freshman year, you wanted to pursue motion graphics. Did you ever get to do motion graphics? You wanted to pursue motion graphics ever since you had to drop your music minor, and at this time there is not much in the way of courses that would allow that. Have things changed? Are there more courses, or did you change your end goal? I hope your relationships with the professors are good, as well. What about your relationship with your family? Have you kept in touch with them over the years? Mom wanted you to call her every so often and update her on what you’re doing. What about Robert? Dad? Robert may have moved out by the time you re-read this letter, so be sure to try extra hard to keep in touch with him if he has. While he’s usually the one to call/text first, it would likely be a nice change for him if you initiated the conversation every once in a while. You had a good relationship with him as a sibling, and there’s (hopefully) not much that would get in the way of that. Make sure they’re all doing okay.

Even after dropping the music minor, you still wanted to bring something to the music industry. Currently I have a job as a high school instructor for the pit at Midlothian High School, as well as a camp counselor for the Rappahanock Summer Music Camp. Do you still have those jobs? Do you have different jobs higher up in the industry? Perhaps you are a graphic designer for various musical artists. Several people had said that the music industry is a good place to go for design jobs, even if it’s just advertisements for a local band. If you’re unsure of where to go at this point, perhaps you could ask Robert if he knows anyone that could use your help. At the very least, have you been keeping up with your four-mallet playing? You were really good for a freshman. Perhaps you could brush up on Rhythm Song, and play it through like you used to in high school and college.

Speaking of hobbies, you streamed Team Fortress 2 on Twitch.tv and did let’s play videos on YouTube. Has your channel grown? Hopefully in 3 years, you have gotten a Twitch partnership. However, you only streamed during big breaks over the winter and summer, so did that end up working out? While you don’t stream and do YouTube for the money, it’s always been in the back of your head while you made efforts to improve the stream. Do you still do it for fun? Or has your mindset changed and you’ve turned it into a business?

You and Lauren wanted to start a design business at the end of freshman year. Did you actually establish it? If you have, how has it grown? If you didn’t, do you still want to? Maybe you can contact alumni of Longwood and see if they’re interested in your endeavor, or whatever friends you had made while going through college. I hope that you didn’t make any decisions that you regretted during your time here, because I want to make pleasant memories here. If you did make some poor decisions, were they actually that bad? Or are you dwelling on something that you couldn’t really have controlled? Perhaps there weren’t many better options in the first place?

If you don’t quite know where to start from here, maybe you could try contacting your connections on LinkedIn, as well as alumni of Longwood who you have befriended. Hopefully by now you have done some internships, at the very least Design Lab, so perhaps you could contact Professor Lough and Register if they can direct you to any agencies. If you didn’t do Design Lab, it is a requirement to do an internship for Goal 14. Try contacting the recruiter for that business, or maybe asking if they know anyone that you could assist with your skills. Maybe you’re even farther along than I anticipated while writing this. Currently I assume you will be a very confused, fresh out of college designer. I could be wrong, since during your freshman year you have proven to yourself and the many others that you are very good at time and stress management, and that you are a very hard-working and cooperative person. Are you still that way? You’re going to need to work with clients in the future, so I hope you’re at least cooperative…

Best of luck,

(past) Angeli Leong 🙂