20A Growing Your Social Capital

• The industry expert: Michelle Crumpler 
• Background: Michelle is my mentor for my current internship. She is the executive HR leader at the Mandarin, Jacksonville Target. She has worked at target for fourteen years. Essentially, she handles the hiring, coaching, development, etc. of her specific store.
• Slot: Domain expert; Michelle fills this spot by being at the front lines of HR daily, which is a job I would like to do.
• Michelle and I contacted because she is my mentor for my current internship.
• Nature of exchange: Michelle coaches me daily in order to prepare me to take on a full-time HR position once I graduate next spring. The return of the expectation is for her to be an approachable mentor and for me to be a flexible and open-minded learner.
• Including this person in my network will enhance my ability to exploit and opportunity by being able to show me the ropes/basics of hiring and managing people. If I do become an individual with my own business, I will need the knowledge of the management perspective. Also, she would be a great resource if my company got really big, because she could potentially help get it in Target.
• The market expert: Ian Bathurst
• Background: Ian is a fourth year college student at UF. He studied economics and works as a dog sitter/walker with Rover. He also has a dog, so he is very passionate about animals which would help me with my product, Canine Condiments.
• Slot: Market expert
• I met Ian one day at the J. J. Finley park in Gainesville. He and I both had our dogs there and they took a liking to each other. We exchanged information and ended up being great friends and our dogs would get together frequently to play. 
• Nature of exchange: The nature of our exchange is pretty mutual; we both help each other by allowing our dogs to play, get tired, and get exercise in an efficient way.
• Including Ian in my network would enhance my ability to exploit an opportunity, because he could help me get an idea of the dog market in Gainesville (i.e. which owners have dogs who struggle getting food down/maintaining a healthy weight). HE potentially could even advertise with me and leave flyers behind at his clients' houses. He has a great idea of the market!
• The supply expert: Darryl Rutledge
• Background: Darryl is my friend's dad and also a truck driver. He goes up to VA twice a week to help ship supplies for Walmart. He ships mainly soft lines, but he also has done pet supplies in the past. 
• Slot: Supplier
• I connected with Darryl via LinkedIn and having mutual connections. I contacted him through an online message and he was more than happy to help. 
• The favor Darryl did for me was explain in great detail how logistics works. Logistics is not in any real interest for me, so it was nice to hear a new perspective. He did not expect a favor in return.
• Darryl would help me get an in with transportation and suppliers, as they truly are the backbone for moving America and stimulating the economy. 
• Reflect: This experience will shape how I participate in further networking events by giving me confidence in approaching people, as well as being more approachable myself. I personally enjoy networking, so this assignment was fun! Yes, this experience differed from my past networking events by being more remote and not as structured.