From the time Alaina Bryce Pauga got her first job as a teenager in Vancouver, Washington, work has been something she looks forward to. Now a senior in the human resource management (HRM) program at the BYU Marriott School of Business, Bryce hopes to one day help others experience that same enjoyment in their work, no matter what their job may be.
When she first came to Brigham Young University, Bryce was unsure of what she wanted to study. It was only after she began working as a student employee in the Department of Management office at BYU Marriott that she considered studying business.
“Faculty started reaching out to me, sharing with me their research and what the business school looks like,” Bryce says. “I really connected with the HR professors; I loved how their focus was to take care of employees, make sure they have an enjoyable experience wherever they are, and make sure they have human rights in a business setting.”
Before she applied to the program, one of the faculty members involved in the BYU chapter of the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) encouraged Bryce to participate in a case competition SHRM was hosting. Bryce heard that a team was short a member—and despite not being enrolled in any business programs yet, she decided to give it a try. “During that week of building up our case and our presentation, I got to develop really good relationships with those in my team,” she says, “And a lot of them applied to the program as well—we study side by side every day.”
After she joined the HRM program, faculty members continued reaching out. “I owe a lot of my successes to the professors in the program,” she says. “They’ve done really well at reaching out to me when I was too scared myself to step outside of my comfort zone, and then further encouraging me to keep taking other opportunities.”
One such opportunity was the internship she completed in the summer of 2024. Bryce says she had been content working in the management office, but at the prompting of her mentors, she applied for an internship with Deseret Digital Media and was offered the position. While she was there, she interacted face-to-face with the president of the company, the CFO, and other members of the company’s leadership.
Bryce appreciated her manager’s efforts to provide her with good work experience. “The opportunities my boss gave me to experience different things I wanted to experience really made my internship my own, rather than a one-size-fits-all kind of experience,” she explains. “This is what I want to do with my life: find ways to help employees truly enjoy the work experience. If you think of how much of our lives we spend at work, I’d at least want to wake up and look forward to going to work every day.”
After her internship, another opportunity appeared when a professor invited Bryce to be an officer in SHRM. She enjoyed serving her peers through the society, so the next year she applied to be the SHRM president and was accepted. “I can only hope to give back to incoming freshmen and sophomores at BYU Marriott, especially in our club and program,” Bryce says. In her position as SHRM president, she helps arrange opportunities like case competitions and networking events for her peers that she hopes will help them accomplish their goals.
A common goal Bryce shares with many of her peers is to go out into the workforce and facilitate workplaces where employees feel safe. Bryce explains that she wants to work against the narrative of HR as the workplace villain—there to enforce rules and take human feeling out of work—and instead become an advocate for employees, so there is always someone to turn to when uncomfortable situations arise.
As she completes her studies and works with her fellow members of SHRM, Bryce is excited to join the workforce. “I’ve always looked forward to going to work—even if it isn’t the most glamorous job. I love getting along with my coworkers and finding ways to make our workday a more positive experience,” Bryce says. “I understand not everybody has that experience, so if there’s something I can do to shift that perspective and help employees feel seen and taken care of, then that’s what I want to do.”
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Written by Melissa Een
