Who You Are Matters

Welcome to my blog! 

    My name is Momo Messerschmidt, I’m an LA native, and I currently study Business Administration with an emphasis in Marketing at USC’s Marshall School of Business. Although I have spent most of my life in the South Bay, my future lies in San Diego where I plan to live with my partner and work from home in the digital marketing industry. I currently work at The Influencer Marketing Factory, a full-service marketing agency, and I am discussing a post-grad offer. My studies at USC and independent marketing certifications will support my career growth. 

    I find that there are many interesting parallels and differences between myself and my parents. I share my mother’s love for Sanrio, chihuahuas, and the beach. When I’m away at school, my mom always sends me videos of the ocean waves because she knows it helps with my anxiety. She also used to regularly send me photos of our pet chihuahua Teacup before he passed away. Our greatest difference is our approaches to navigating conflict and negative emotions. My years of therapy have taught me the importance of honest communication and empathy while my mother still struggled with being direct about when she’s unhappy. Mental health is greatly stigmatized in Japanese culture but I think she’s more supportive now than before. My father and I undoubtedly have the same work ethic and love for spirituality. My dad introduced me to astrology in elementary school by reading my horoscope from the Sunday LA Times. Recently, my dad gifted me a ton of my favorite crystals and birthstones passed down from a gemologist he knew based in Long Beach. My dad and I also have different approaches to mental health, communication, and accepting accountability.

    I mostly operate under the expectations of my parents, which include perfection, academic excellence, leadership, kindness, and being well-mannered. These expectations are aligned with those of traditional Japanese culture since my mother immigrated from Japan and made it the dominant culture of our household. As I’ve gotten older, I’m trying to break from such a rigorous lifestyle, although I can see the positive aspects, to be more graceful with myself and open to connecting with others. My past marketing professor, Dr. Schiele, has been a huge role model for me due to her unwavering passion for marketing, understanding culture, and supporting her students. My first class with her inspired me to apply to my current job and declare my marketing emphasis.

    I feel especially connected to wild sand cats because they’re small, agile, fast-thinking, and stronger than people perceive them to be–plus, they’re very cute. When I was a toddler, my Jiji, grandpa, would photograph me holding leaves, “hapa” in Japanese,  when I would visit my favorite park in Japan. My family has an album full of these photos and I’ve always loved looking at the diverse patterns and colors of leaves. 

To close, here’s my Astrological Big Three:

Aries Sun

Sagittarius Moon

Libra Rising/Ascendant  Note: My original blog from August 28th was deleted (I'm not sure how ☹️ I've spent the past few hours trying to recover it with no luck) so this is a repost. Thank you for reading!!