Ramona Espaldon

My name is Ramona Espaldon, and I was born in the Philippines. I moved to the United States when I was six years old. I lived in Cincinnati, Ohio for 17 years before moving to Atlanta.

I have had over 10 years of work experience. My first job was working at in an insurance company based in the Philippines called New Canaan Insurance Agency. I started out working at that company during the summer and then transitioned into full time work once I completed school and my vocational training programs in 2013. In that company, I was asked to input data from Statements of Accounts and official receipts, as well as revising the Employee Handbook.

I worked at Fifth Third Bank in Cincinnati for seven months as part of a training program called Project SEARCH. Project SEARCH is a program that helps individuals with disabilities transition from school into the workforce and gain employment skills. I participated in three 10-week rotations, which means that I had to work in three different departments for ten weeks: Loss Mitigation, Information Security, and Disputes Resolutions. In addition to the 10-week rotations, I had some opportunities to face my fear of public speaking and improve my typing speed.

I then worked for a small company where I mostly organized data from company expense records before I participated in a Customer Service Contact Center program where I was asked to make 150 outbound calls per day. My responsibility was to ask clients if they were looking for a job and if they had a job, what their role was. That was one of my most challenging roles, because I had to multi-task by talking on the phone and taking notes at the same time.

I then decided to do volunteer work at the American Red Cross while searching for a new job. My task was to enter information from contact cards about people who were in the military on a company database. I also received a certificate of appreciation.

In August 2021 while I was job searching, my job coach came across a job notice from Ventures ATL. A few days after I submitted my application, I got an email with an invitation to participate in an initial interview. During my first interview, which was on Zoom, I was nervous, but I answered the questions as best as I could. After the initial interview, I was invited back for additional interviews, where I had to complete a series of task challenges. The first task challenge was mostly about working with formulas on Excel and the second one was similar to a project we do for one of our longterm clients. Two weeks later, I got another email saying that I passed all the interviews and got the job. I was so overjoyed by that great news, and I shared it with my family and my employment specialist. My official start date was October 27, 2021, and I have done a lot of projects since I started, such as a few Cox Projects, Primrose Schools, Newburger-Andes, SourceAmerica, Roark, and Autism Society. My top three favorites are Cox, SourceAmerica, and Autism Society because those projects were unique, and I acquired new skills in those three projects. I have grown by learning how to accept constructive feedback (and I think it is something I could still work on), being confident in speaking in front of other people, and realizing that I am capable of more than I think I am.

I like working at Ventures ATL for many reasons. I can utilize skills I already learned from previous jobs, as well as acquire new skills. Working at Ventures ATL also creates a work-life balance for me. Finally, I like working at Ventures ATL because most of the employees are easy to get along with.

Outside of work, I have many hobbies and interests. One of my hobbies is working out in my home gym five days a week after work (having a 9 to 1 schedule allows me to do that) and working out has had a major impact on my physical and mental health. I am also learning Spanish on a language learning app called Duolingo, as well as listening to Spanish podcasts. Even though I am familiar with the language, I thought it would be a good idea for me to expand my knowledge in a fun and engaging way.

My other favorite hobbies are listening to music and playing the piano; I have been playing the piano for 29 years. A few fun facts about me are that I can translate random sounds into musical notes, and I have the ability to learn how to play a song just by listening to a recording of it. My favorite genres of music are Broadway and Pop. My favorite musical is Little Shop of Horrors, and my favorite singer is Ariana Grande.

I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to work at Ventures ATL, and I look forward to celebrating my work anniversary on October 27th!