Alumni Holiday Spotlight: Taylor Trinidad, Regional Airport Authority
The Fowler College of Business at San Diego State University has many graduates working in companies that enhance the year-end holidays for shoppers, travelers and merchants. Here is the story of one of those grads.
Trinidad on the job at the San Diego International Airport.
San Diego County Regional Airport Authority: Taylor Trinidad
If you and your holiday packages arrived or departed the San Diego International Airport during the holiday season, much of the thanks belongs to the management and staff of the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority. The agency is responsible for the airport’s safety and security measures and day-to-day operations affecting thousands of passengers and freight shipments that move through the airport on a daily basis.
One of those staffers is human resources business partner, Taylor Trinidad, who earned her degree in management with a specialization in human resources in 2013. Trinidad says she is not just passionate about her work, but she is also passionate about the organization she works for. “HR is a function needed at almost every organization, so you can take your pick of where you wish to work,” she said. “But finding an organization where you are passionate about what the company does — and where you are proud to say you work — is something to be truly valued.”
Trinidad, a native of San Diego, chose to attend SDSU because she “could not think of a better place to go to college than America’s Finest City.” She decided to concentrate her studies in human resources because she was fascinated by her mother’s work as an HR professional and because it offered a variety of career specializations.
One of the key elements to success in the field of HR, according to Trinidad, is getting to know the people within the organization. “It’s my favorite part of the job and it helps me to be a better HR business partner,” she said. “It helps people to feel comfortable when they talk to me since they know me on a human level.”
Trinidad said that nearly all of the human resources-related classes she took at SDSU provided her with a base to build her career foundation. She said: “Although there is a lot you learn from working in the field, the coursework at SDSU really provided me with a solid foundational framework as I started my career.”
For SDSU students considering a career as a human resource professional, Trinidad said the best starting place is to seek out an organization where they are passionate about the company’s mission and products. “HR professionals are needed in almost any organization, but when you find a company where you truly care about what they do, it makes your job even more rewarding.”
