Devils in Depth: Ci’mone Rogers
If you’ve been juggling a lot this semester, junior Ci’mone Rogers is right there with you! With three separate internships and a full-time major in Business (Information Security), Ci’mone has had to introduce some new strategies in her life to make sure she’s staying balanced.
Despite a hectic schedule (and maybe because of it), Ci’mone knows that she needs to be able to unwind with mindfulness and intention. As part of her recipe for relaxation, she’s recently started listening to audiobooks—at the moment, she’s making her way through Michelle Obama’s autobiography Becoming Michelle, since she considers “the entire Obama family” as some of her personal heroes
When she’s not lending an ear to the latest audiobook in her growing collection, Ci’mone turns to music to destress. As a child, she used to play piano and is now looking to resume her practice. Soon, she may be able to play along to some of her favorite artists, and trust us when we say that she’ll cover a lot of different genres in doing so. If you take a look at her Spotify Wrapped playlist, the results are diverse.
While she’s currently on a Michael Jackson kick and loves to listen to classic rock from AC/DC, she’s also obsessed with reggaeton artists like Bad Bunny and Jay Balvin, who are “the loves of [her] life”—Ci’mone says their lyrics are even making her think about learning Spanish all over again.
Beyoncé, who “makes [her] feel good about [herself],” is another mainstay for Ci’mone, and she also dabbles in indie singer Vance Joy’s work. To develop your own sense of musical taste, Ci’mone advises that “you don’t judge music, you just go with the flow.” If she feels like she wants to venture into something new, Ci’mone will often ask her friends to share their playlists with her; this way, she’s exposed to different artists and she’s able to deepen her relationship with her friends.
Although Ci’mone recognizes the importance of taking a break, she’s most often hard at work managing her wide variety of responsibilities. Although she started out in information security not knowing much about the tech world, these days she’s become an expert at mastering computers and, in particular, coding. Ci’mone says, “I’m coding in Python, which is great. I even enrolled into a Python course.” And that coding class is coming in clutch as she needs to know how to code in order to succeed in her prestigious NASA internship.
Ci’mone loves her internship there because it challenges her and pushes her to grow, and is a great resume-builder as she looks towards her future. She aims to work for the Department of Defense, so she knew a NASA internship would help “build up to where [she wants] to go.”
Her other two internships, with the NAACP and the Human Services Campus, are also helping to prepare her. With the NAACP, she’s aiming to continue to “diversify the ASU campus”; she also loves to contribute to HSC, an organization which provides the unhoused with the support they need to recover.
Outside of classes, juggling three separate internships takes a hefty amount of organization to keep Ci’mone balanced. “But the good thing is that they’re each flexible, and so each thing is teaching me something different,” Ci’mone says about working with three separate organizations at the same time. To stay on track, Ci’mone records “all events in [her] planner to prioritize [her] time wisely.”
During the fall semester, Ci’mone says, “[it] was overwhelming and I tried to do so much.” As a Barrett student, she says she benefited particularly from the T.W. Lewis Center, which held a variety of events that helped her prepare for the semester. Now Ci’mone is “a little more calm, a little more laidback, and definitely more driven about self-care.”
In order to practice self-care, Ci’mone’s been utilizing a few different strategies. One of these is allowing herself to say “no” to things she doesn’t have time for. She says, “I try to have five things I’m able to do every day. So, for instance, Wednesdays are my busiest days because I have four classes. So I only have room for one more thing. That’s how I limit myself.”
She has also discovered a new love of journaling on her self-care journey. “Every night, I journal. I basically close out my day in my journal, and I start up my day,” Ci’mone says. By journaling on a daily basis, recording what went well and what went not so well each day, Ci’mone is able to set intentions for herself. Since she can make goals based on what she journals, it helps Ci’mone to feel more organized.
Thanks to self-control and time management, Ci’mone has been able to keep up and flourish despite her hectic schedule. Through her hard work, she can passionately support the community, succeed in her internships, and continue to devote energy to her learning, and we look forward to seeing where she’s headed next!
