SUCCESS Stories of

In 2021, the Pasadena Tournament of Roses launched its Rose Fellows program with the support of Verizon. Rose Fellows is an eight month fellowship in partnership with Pasadena City College. Following a successful inaugural fellowship in 2021-2022, the Tournament welcomed 19-year-old Asia Chang for the 2022-2023 season.

Asia, who was then a first-year student at Pasadena City College studying business administration with a focus on marketing, discovered the fellowship through Pasadena City College’s Office of Student Services and joined the Association in September 2022. As a Rose Fellow, she hoped to gain operational experience, strengthen her relationship with the Pasadena community, and pursue her goal of developing diverse, inclusive and thriving communities.

During her fellowship, Asia worked with the Community Relations Department, where she had the opportunity to conduct community research and outreach, as well as work on event planning. She was also able to work on cross-departmental projects, coordinating with third parties, developing sponsorship decks and managing event timelines.

“Throughout the fellowship, my mentors guided me in developing not only skill sets, but also my professional network, which have already proven useful in a multitude of settings,”said Asia.

Passionate about communal development, Asia witnessed first-hand during her fellowship how this can be achieved when communities from all demographics work together. “One of the most important things that I learned during my fellowship was the leadership presence the Tournament of Roses has within the city of Pasadena and in neighboring communities; and the impact that leadership has,” she continued.

Asia also saw the benefits of working with a close-knit team and shares that this experience has now set her standard for the kind of teammates she would like to work with and the type of work environment she can see herself thriving in.

Prior to beginning her fellowship, Asia had a general idea of the career she’d like to pursue, and she hoped to transfer to a four-year university. “Before this, I thought I wanted to work in social media marketing, and this fellowship has not only strengthened that passion of mine, but also it has created a huge interest in a field I have never considered - event planning,” Asia shared.

Recently accepted into the University of Southern California’s prestigious Iovine and Young Academy, Asia hopes to continue being involved with a nonprofit organization like the Tournament of Roses, possibly through the development of a club or school activity.