Anika Kina Kudaka breaks the echo chamber and finds her own path

Anika Kina Kudaka arrived at McMaster with dreams of becoming a doctor, but her plans began changing in second year.

She began her first year in the Life Sciences program in September 2021 – a time unlike any other. Starting university during a global pandemic meant her experience was far from typical. Campus life was quiet. Instead of meeting dozens of new people and venturing into other dorms, Kina Kudaka spent most of her time studying and connecting with her roommate and a small circle of friends who lived on her residence floor.

Of those five friends, four were also in the Life Sciences program, and all of them shared the same dream of becoming doctors. Kina Kudaka described it as “kind of like an echo chamber”, where the path to medical school felt like the only option.

In her second year, Kina Kudaka applied for the Life Sciences co-op program. She was starting to realize that there were other career options available, and she wanted real work experience to help her discover what truly interested her. “I thought it’d be silly not to apply to co-op, especially given the current job market.”

Kina Kudaka got into the co-op program and began the job search immediately. She connected with three co-op students who worked in roles that she was interested in, applied for 22 jobs, sent personal emails, and then landed her first co-op at AFYNIA for an eight-month work term.

She says her first round of applications felt like a walk in the park compared to the second and third. Kina Kudaka applied for 73 jobs and interviewed a lot more than she did during the previous cycle. Naturally, she felt defeated, and lost hours of sleep because she couldn’t help but think she should be using all her spare time to apply to jobs.

She felt like she was the only one who hadn’t landed a job. “People usually only choose to share the good moments. You see someone post on LinkedIn about their new role, but you don’t see the hundreds of hours they put in to get there.”

Although it felt like a never-ending process, Kina Kudaka says she stayed sane by reminding herself that it’s not the end of the world if she doesn’t secure a work term.

What felt like a never-ending job search came to an end when she landed a four-month role as a Marketing Intern at Shoppers Drug Mart. The job was in Markham, so she spent 12 hours a week commuting from Mississauga. “I’d try to catch up on sleep on the bus ride.”

Kina Kudaka’s lengthy job search and a friend she met in second year inspired her to help others. She became part of the Co-op Ambassador program where she helps prospective and current co-op students by sharing advice and her own co-op experience. Kina Kudaka learned a lot from her friend who became her mentor. “He taught me a lot about resilience, and I wanted to pay it forward, because who knows where I’d be without him.”

Kina Kudaka’s currently working her third and final work term at EVERSANA as a Research Assistant on the Value & Evidence team.

Although her co-op journey came with a handful of challenges, she says she’s grateful because it prepared her for the future and taught her a lot of lessons. When she first arrived at Mac, she never pictured herself focusing on anything but her studies – her primary concern was getting good grades. Her parents immigrated to Canada from Peru, and she was the first in her family to go to university in Canada and pursue a degree in science.

Kina Kudaka accomplished much more in her five years at Mac than she expected – she’s graduating with 16 months of professional work experience, was nominated for McMaster Science Co-op Student of the Year, is a Co-op Ambassador and Co-op Student Mentor and is the Careers Coordinator for the McMaster Science Society.

She’s currently applying to graduate schools so that she can elevate her credentials before she starts her career. Her goal is to work in marketing within the pharmaceutical or biotechnology industries.

And when asked what she’s most proud of – “the person I’ve become.” Through co-op experiences and challenges, she has learned the importance of trusting herself. If she could give one piece of advice to her first-year self, it’s simple: don’t worry so much – everything will work out if you’re prepared.