Giving advice of any kind.

Q: Hey Mama, I’m a senior with a job offer right out of school… I want to ask for more money for my starting salary, but I’m worried about jeopardizing the offer! What would you do?

A: It never hurts to ask for more money! Imagine you interview dozens of applicants, finally find the right one, and when they have the audacity to ask a single thing, you fire them and start the whole process over. Pretty dumb, right? The worst thing they can do is say no. Ask for more money than you think you deserve, then hopefully their counteroffer will be somewhere closer to what you want.

Q: If you could say one thing to your freshman year self on day one, what would it be?

A: I think I’d tell her that it won’t be so bad forever. Right now, every time someone disagrees with you or starts a conflict it feels like your entire world is crashing down.Believe it or not, there will come a day when you can look someone in the eye and tell them they’ve hurt you, and you won’t cry or faint or want to die for the next week. You’ll learn how to fight and be strong and stand up for yourself. And turns out when you believe in yourself, people tend to walk all over you less and respect you more.

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