As I’ve wiggled my way into the corporate world I’ve met some really amazing ladies along the way. Here’s an entry dedicated to 3 standouts, be sure to check out their blogs!
My second week of work I had an email in my inbox requesting an informational interview. Did you just read that twice…because I did! Yup, Tina had found my website and wanted to hear about my social media experience before she finished her internship in NYC. I was super impressed that she reached out to me, very ballsy (plus her email etiquette was great)! We met at a Starbucks about a week later. She is fantastic! She’s going to be a junior at BU and has already had numerous internships. She’s also an international student so it was interesting to here about that as well, for instance to stay in NYC after school the job she gets has to pay for a work visa, which adds a whole new level of stress to the job hunt. We talked about the different networking events we’ve been to and the social media campains we’re working on. What a coincidence, we both were doing heavy mommy blogger research (and she was nice enough to share some great websites with me). She’s very on top of her game and it was great to be able to share my experiences and give advice to someone I knew would use it!
I met Jamie, who works at Real Simple Magazine, through her boyfriend Chris who was my co-worker at Time Out New York Magazine (her boyfriend Chris is equally amazing and gave me one of the most valuable pieces of advice I’ve received…portfolios for every interview! But he doesn’t have a blog :-p). We met at a fashion week party I was working and had a great conversation. I emailed her the next day and she told me if I ever needed anything (she knew I’d be looking for a job soon) to let her know. She had absolutely no obligation to me yet she would answer all my job hunt questions with a smile! Yup, she’s that nice I could sense her smiling through every email. Her blog has super career advice and uses her professional experiences and many accomplishments (such as being in a manager position after only 2 and a half years!) to back it all up.
Reb and I have known each other since freshman year when we both joined frisbee. Our last semester we ended up taking the train to our internships together and talked a lot about our career goals, job hunts, and other good stuff. We’ve been to a lot of networking events together; most notably we were Internet Week buddies. She recently landed a full time gig at 360i, a prestigious social media agency with a tweeting bar! Not only do I admire that she always manages to put her hipster flair into her corporate digs, but she’s one of the most professional, detail oriented, creative women I know.
Moral of the story? Find the amazing people in your field of work (or the field you want to work in) and surround yourself with them. Work with them, meet them, support them, and get their advice. It’s one of the best things you can do for your career…be genuine about it and have fun, you won’t regret it!