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During my sophomore year, I was tutoring a kid from Music Mentors of Pomona Valley, a program that gives free private music lessons to underprivileged students. My mentee was extremely vibrant and intelligent, but most importantly committed to learning a new music piece on the piano. The piece was “Payphone” by Maroon 5, a popular song at that time. Excited to teach, I found the easiest version of the song that I could and adapted it to make it easier. On the first day of my one-on-one with him, I had one of those “teachable moments.” He stared at the sheet music for a bit, and then it hit me that he did not know how to read music.

This “aha” moment led to another conversation, one I had with the head of the program. After talking, I had confirmed my suspicions that this was a common problem throughout the program. Music lessons are expensive and a privilege for people to take, but they also provide music theory background, the building blocks of learning how to play an instrument. From there, I was inspired to create a separate program on music theory education, one that would utilize a group setting to create a sense of community while teaching the subject matter.

Since then, Music Mania was born and has increased by 75% from the 20 students enrolled the first year, with mentor involvement increasing by five times. Kathleen Muenzen, lead mentor of Music Mania, shared her thoughts on why she joined the organization: “I joined Music Mania because music is my passion, and I am always searching for ways to make other people as excited about it as it makes me! I am also a strong believer in early exposure to music, both because it’s great for brain development and because it is something that can bring so much joy to life.”

The success of Music Mania serves as a reminder that an idea is powerful enough to create change in a community. From my perspective, I’ve learned much about how to create effective programs that best suit the kids of the program, especially during early childhood development. In return, I hope they take away from our mission to foster a sense of confidence through group interaction and a better understanding of music theory.

By: Sharon Chiang

This week, I attended CMC’s 8th Annual Women & Leadership Workshop, co-sponsored by Berger Institute, Kravis Leadership Institute, and Robert Day School. As a senior, I fondly remember the first time I attended the conference two years ago. The Women & Leadership Conference holds dear memories for me as it was not only the start of one of my strong mentor relationships, but also a crucial turning point in my career trajectory. Finding an internship as a sophomore in college is challenging enough as it is, but the added stress of switching from applying to biotech research opportunities to a professional internship made it a bigger obstacle for me. However, the conference makes socializing with industry professionals and alumni a fun experience and gives a great first introduction to networking.

By: Sharon Chiang ’17

Most of the time, when viewing job descriptions, many of the same qualities appear: “Demonstrated leadership,” “Team player,” “High-quality analytical and problem-solving skills,” “Exceptional interpersonal and communication skills.” However, these frequent buzzwords for the traits that come with job qualifications almost assume that emotional labor should be a part of the workforce.

In my Sociology of Emotions class, sociologist Arlie R. Hochschild talks about how emotional labor is not acknowledged or compensated in the workplace. For instance, in the American culture where “the customer is always right,” people must mitigate their own emotional reactions to the demands of the customers in order to perform their job well. However, is this a demand that should be more explicitly stated in the workplace? In Hochschild’s book The Managed Heart, she states that the “method acting” during a job can undermine the authenticity of one’s emotion. For instance, when great customer service is expected, a person in the workplace may forget to put his or her emotions as a priority. In a society where emotions are commoditized, there is less value on expressing one’s true emotions as opposed to the emotions that are expected from either customers or society.

Does this mean that the compensation for emotional labor should be explicitly stated? This proves some complications as people handle emotional labor in different ways. Since it is a subjective topic, it is hard to outline in a contract. However, that should not diminish the importance of its acknowledgement in society. Hochschild brings to light the gendered expectations of emotional labor in the workforce. While women are expected to be more tolerant and compromising, this emotional labor is seen as “expected” and therefore taken for granted. However, there is hope in bringing these issues to light. By having the conversation of the different expectations in emotional labor, there is an easier path to bring up these discussions in the future.

By: Sharon Chiang