From Passion to Pathway: Guiding Arts, Commerce and Hospitality Students

At this event, 32 students from Arts, Commerce, and Hospitality backgrounds walked into a session that quickly made one thing clear, potential looks different for everyone, but the barriers to it are almost always the same.

Unlike the engineering-heavy audiences typically encountered, this group brought creative diversity: students who cook, sing, dance, edit videos, and dream of travelling, yet had never been shown how any of that could translate into a career or a source of income.

The same three struggles surfaced again:

money,

confidence, and

guidance.

Many already had real, teachable skills and a natural ability to connect with people. They simply lacked the framework to act on it.

One attendee reflected: "I never thought what I love doing could actually become something I earn from."

Online earning and structured mentorship emerged as the most sought-after pathways. In just one hour, the conversation moved from hesitation to genuine curiosity, and the room shifted from "I don't think I can" to "show me how." That shift, however small it may seem, is where everything begins.