Business: Sales Assistant
Business
Teona Marie Cosare: Sales Assistant
By Mike Yoshiura • Photos by Scott T. Kubo
There’s no escaping the fact that college costs are rising. According to College Board, the majority of families paid an average yearly increase of $95 to $1,404 between 2007 and 2008. On the brightside, there is more than $130 billion out there in financial aid and scholarships.
For Teona Marie Cosare, it was a Heald Merit Scholarship that allowed her to pursue higher education at Heald College.
Teona, 21, is the oldest of four children and was born-and-raised in Wailuku, Maui. At Baldwin High School she maintained a 3.7 GPA and enjoyed the rigors of school, but she was unsure about applying to a four-year college. “Being a good student and getting good grades was always a priority, but growing up, I never had a plan for myself,” she says.
But in her senior year, she recognized that she needed to make plans for life beyond high school.
Teona and her best friend and classmate, Janissa Rivera, planned on moving to O‘ahu to attend Heald College. The 18-month college is a regionally accredited, private career college that prepares students for professions in healthcare, business and technology. The idea of leaving home and becoming an independent student appealed to Teona.
To deal with college costs, Janissa and Teona applied for Heald’s scholarships. Teona’s high GPA paid off with a 13,000 Merit Scholarship. Janissa got the Quarterly Scholarship valued at $1,200.
In the summer after graduating high school, the two girls packed up and moved to O‘ahu to join the college’s business program.
“Business is so broad. I took courses like payroll, software technology, environmental science and psychology. It was a little bit of everything,” she says. “For me, the professional atmosphere at Heald College definitely eased the transition from being a student to becoming a working professional,” Teona says. “Heald taught me the importance of appearance, attendance and attitude.”
In April 2006, Teona graduated from Heald College with her associate’s degree in applied science in business administration. Three weeks later, she was hired as a sales assistant at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach Resort & Spa.
As a sales assistant, Teona carries out general administrative duties like answering and directing phone calls, filing, writing proposals and contracts and coordinating VIP reservations.
“Everyday is a different day. It’s a fast-pace industry,” Teona says. “To be successful in sales, you must be flexible and have the ability to multi-task. The Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) certification that I obtained at Heald really helps me carryout many of my daily projects. Whether it’s coordinating correspondence and memorandums on Word or inputting and retrieving data on Excel.”
In high school, Teona had reservations about attending a four-year college. However, after attending Heald and mastering her on-the-job skills needed to excel in today’s competitive job market, she is much more confident. She is currently looking into attending the University of Hawai‘i to further her education and career.
