Alley-oop to JuanPe: here I arrive!
You can’t believe how excited I am to write these lines… Finally, I can say that I’m a part of the Manfred family. But before I explain the story, let me introduce myself. My name is Juan Pedro (JuanPe, for the friends), I’m 22 and the new guy on board in the Marketing department. Knowing how fast we are growing, the title of “the new guy” won’t last long, but I can say that I’m the first “murcianico” in the team. Directly from the southeast of Spain to bring you lots of “chorricos de limón” and “paparajotes”.
I’m currently living in Madrid while studying a double degree in Journalism and Media Studies.
A very important part of anyone’s life is their passion, and mine it’s clearly basketball. I fell in love with the game when I was a little kid and always dreamed about doing it for a living. Now I can proudly say that it happened because I’m currently coaching in CB Getafe youth program and senior team, in which we ended up being the champions of Madrid and getting the promotion to Liga EBA, a very serious step into professional basketball. I would say that was one of the proudest moments of my life so far.
JuanPe, where does this come from?
When I was younger, I didn’t dream of playing at the highest level (because I sucked, honestly) but desired to work as a commentator or write stories about my favorite team, the Golden State Warriors. Since I was a kid, I had clear that I didn’t want a shitty job my whole life and that’s why I decided to work hard writing in some basketball blogs with the goal of making it one day into the big stage. All of this being a weird 14-year-old kid that decided to start early enough to achieve everything as soon as possible.
I gave everything that I had to grow my own brand (and still not the most famous in my family) and also the website’s that I was working for at that time. And… it finally happened! I was able to go with a press credential to a Warriors’ game and met all my heroes at 18 after many, many nights of no sleep, watching games and getting knowledge about how to communicate and create a big community in social media. There are images that prove it!
And you would say… after accomplishing all of this, how the hell did you end up in Manfred with a Marketing internship? Well, working for more than six years every single minute with a clear goal in mind made me feel lost after it came true. I didn’t know anymore what my purpose in life was, while also realizing that I didn’t want to be a journalist. Yup, all of that while in my 20s, still in college and supposedly living the best years of my life. Shout out to my friends who did a short film about this feeling ;).
What do I expect from me
There is one phrase by Magic Johnson that it’s been used many times, “Ask not what your teammates can do for you. Ask what you can do for your teammates”. I can say that I will bring passion, willingness to learn and the conviction to make Manfred the number one recruiting company in the world.
Kobe Bryant has always been an idol of mine. Not because of what he did on a basketball court, but outside of it. His work ethic, the Mamba Mentality, it’s something that hit me really hard, and I see it as rules to follow and live by. When asked about his approach in the business world, Kobe said “If we have a project, and you are saying, ‘Ok, I can do that’, that’s not the project we want. The projects that say, ‘I don’t know if I can animate that, I don’t know how to write that story, I don’t know how to do that… Those are the things that we want because through that curiosity you’ll reach a level that you didn’t think was possible”.
That way of thinking it’s why I decided to apply for this internship, to arrive in a very different world that the one that I was used to. I couldn’t be more excited for what’s to come and to learn and grow from my new family. This has just begun.