Coffee & Honeycomb: advertising

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MONDAY'S MEMO : A WEEK IN NYC (PART 1)

Monday, February 24, 2014

Happy Monday!
Since Mondays are the day I am dedicating to speak on all things professional, I thought I'd wait til today to share about my NYC trip!

I was in NYC for four days, will all expenses paid for through the American Advertising Federation (AAF). I mentioned it briefly here, but I was nominated as one of the 50 Most Promising Minority Students (MPMS) of 2014 in the country.

The intent of MPMS is to "help the workforce better reflect the multiculturalism of today's society by connecting the industry with the nation's top minority students." So, AAF sent us to NYC for a week of networking, interviewing, and industry immersion opportunities with industry professionals/companies. (taken from website.)

Prior to, I didn't really understand what would happen during the trip and didn't anticipate too much to since it was only four days long. But boy, was I so, so, so wrong. I learned, I networked, and I was inspired. What more could I ask for? It was exhausting with how much activity we did in such a short amount of time and the amount of information we were supposed to digest, but each night I went to bed fulfilled and excited. These people are so, so, so passionate with their trade—and that's honestly all I'm looking for. That's what gets my heart beating. It excites me to know that one day I'll work alongside such people. (:

While I was there, I had the chance to interview with 6 companies total; McCann, BBDO, Initiative, Hill Holiday, Wieden + Kennedy, and General Mills, along with a handful of informal interviews. The rest of the agenda was blocked for seminars and workshops addressing relevant topics like leadership types, confidence skills, diversity, women in the workplace, etc. Different companies also held Q&A panels and agency tours, so we could get a better peek into the working life. It was so great.

Here are some memorable quotes from the trip to leave you with...

"You're too smart to just be average at something."

"Do one thing a day that scares you."

"Don't just network, build relationships."

"Be curious."

:)

I know I'm fortunate to have found a career that really excites me; and I know not all people want or need to be fulfilled with their career—and that's fine. (: To each their own. But I hope that wherever you are sitting, I hope this week you will strive to find more joy in your work today than yesterday. Work doesn't have to be your life or even a large chunk of it, but you CAN make 9 to 5 count. Seek another project that excites you. Ask your co-workers out for coffee. Hang a pretty poster in your office. Do anything and everything to make it count.

HELLO, HELLO.

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

I'm alive! :)
Happy (belated) Valentine's Day, friends!

I hope my dear friends Ellyse, Ella, Megan, Amy, and Kiki kept you company while I was away! Weren't they great? If you aren't already, find some time to make your way over to their blog cause they are constantly spitting out good stuff. And then, press that follow button—you won't regret it. (;

New York was an absolute BLAST and I can't wait to share the entirety of it with you guys, but right now I'm just trying to catch up on my school work, relationships, sleep, and not to mention tv shows. (House of Cards 2 came out last week. Anyone else on that yet?) But I promise I'll be here reeeal soon. Thank you everyone for your sweet words + prayers throughout my trip! I appreciated every single one, for real. Updates to come on my job search status!

Til then, hope you all have yourselves a WONDERFUL hump day! It's warm (well, 30-degrees-kinda-warm) and sunny where I am (sup, chicago), and I've started my day with morning prayer + Caribou coffee + inbox sorting. My kinda morning! :)

MONDAY'S MEMO: HELLO NYC!

Monday, February 10, 2014

The week has finally arrived and I'm heading up to NYC for the AAF's Most Promising Minority Student Conference. It's going to be one amazing, chaotic, and life-changing week. A jam-packed itinerary is planned for every day of the week, and one of them is strictly reserved for interviews. Yes, eight hours of interviewing. Fifty (!!!) companies from around the country, and from all sorts of disciplines, will be there (Like CNN, Conde Naste, Razorfish, and Leo Burnett, just to name a few...) It's time to pull out the big guns. So far, I've revised, revised, and revised my resume, printed out 50+ copies, and ordered business cards.

I'm still doing some interview prep + researching. If you're curious on exactly HOW to interview prep, here are some things I do:
- Research the company: annual reports, CEOs, recruiters, etc.
- Research the industry landscape: healthy, climate, trends, etc.
- Research the work the company has been cranking out.
- Research common interview questions and type up answers
- Prepare stories and experiences to highlight (in the form of STAR: situation, task, action, result)
- Prepare questions to ask.
- Prepare a 30-second thank you speech.

The internet is a beautiful thing for times like this. :)

So with all this madness going on, I won't be able to really dedicate time into blogging as I'd like to! :( I will be MIA for the week; however, I am leaving you in good hands! :) I asked some of my favorite blog friends to join Coffee & Honeycomb while I'm gone, and they have graciously accepted. These are some truly WONDERFUL ladies and I'm so excited for you to meet them. So keep checking back here during the week and be ready for new faces and new content.

*Follow me to NYC by following me on Instagram (@jkfacee) if you aren't already! :)

MONDAY'S MEMO: I'M AN AD MAN

Monday, February 3, 2014

Right now, I'm shifting into "student mode" and trying to absorb as much information as I can... Not just from my classes, but from every avenue, as well. I'm reading through Forbes, AdWeek, This Week, and "Lean in" daily. I'm trying to be a student of advertising, not merely an advertising student.

As a second semester senior, my graduation date is creeping up very quickly (May 17th). I'm currently job searching, networking, browsing industries, etc., and I want to be as informed about the advertising industry as I can.

In the same way we shared how blogging is a culture and language you must practice, so is your trade. The more I fill my brain with the trends, jargon, methods of my trade (advertising), the more organically I can speak about it at career fairs, emails, professional conversations, etc.

I take my career kind of seriously. And not in the intense-feministic kinda way, (but if that's your thing, you go, girl) but more so in the way that I'm really passionate about my professional growth, my professional impact, and my professional trade. I want to be in an industry and specifically a company I believe in and respect, I want to be effective as I can in the role I am. So this job searching is not only looking through places and applying, but it's also an internal search, too.

This "search" has been taking up a lot of my mind lately, so I want to share about it here with you guys—my slow, painful, and exciting journey into becoming a contributing citizen of society. (yikes.) This whole semester is a process as I find myself as a professional, as well as find the perfect company where I can dive in and get my feet wet. What does that even look like? Will I be able to identify it right away? If I find the perfect place, will they find me to be the perfect candidate? That sort of thing...

Each monday I want to share with you the update of how my job search is going, what I'm learning, and some tips for you as you search for your own career path, internship, career, etc. Nothing formal or anything—again, this is just my "journey." I'm just going to be writing as someone who's in the same shoes as you and intentionally trying to develop a more professional voice. (Speaking of intentionality, if you want to find a blog all about intentional living, you must check Jess Lively out. She is the queen of living with intention.

So, if this is a topic that interests you, please tune in every Monday and we'll explore different topics/segments related to professionalism/job searching/etc. If this is not really your thing, no worries, come back other days of the week to find the usual content (lifestyle posts, inspiration, photos, etc.)

This week, instead of extending a tip, I kind of just want to (quickly) talk about where I am right now...

What you guys don't know is that last semester I received my first rejection email. And I cant fully describe it to you but my world seemed to collapse. I was defeated and heart broken and confused. Maybe I was also a bit dramatic, but getting that rejection email is never any fun—especially when you thought that prospect seemed perfect for you. Anyway, I don't want to delve too much into this because I'm going to have a separate post on getting rejected later, but that was just where I was towards the end of last semester. I didn't feel like an all-star and my pride was hurt. From then to now, though, things have changed... I was named one of the "Most Promising Minority Students" of 2014, I used the rejection as a learning opportunity and stepped up my game, and I kept trying to learn...

I'm leaving for New York one week from today for an Advertising convention/award ceremony, and I have (so far) two second-round interviews lined up for the week I am there. I'm not going to disclose company names just yet, but I can share the cities they are in! One is an advertising agency in Oregon and the other is a client-side office in Minneapolis. I actually thought I did TERRIBLE in one of the phone interviews and was feeling bummed about it, but today I received an email that I had passed to second round. (PTL! I know that definitely was not me.) Both of these companies are companies I really, really respect and would be more than honored to work for—I'm even honored to just be considered a candidate! The only thing is that they are both out of state. Yikes. So moving forward either way will make for a huge life adjustment.

Other news, I have two Chicago advertising agency prospects I am in the middle of interviewing for right now... These are also really great and reputable agencies, but I'm not sure I'm in love with them, you know? I don't know if the line of work I would be doing there would really fulfill and inspire me daily. I don't know if that's naive for me to think that way, though. I've been really, really fortunate to have positive internship experiences, so I only have high hopes for a full-time position, too! But everyone always says that working is not fun...

Regardless, I'm trying to put my best foot forward, embrace every opportunity with an open mind, and keep a positive attitude. :) Keep you posted!

Find more posts on professional development here.

THROWBACK THURSDAY : SUMMER FEVER

Thursday, September 26, 2013

In lieu of fall, I thought we'd dedicate today's #throwbackthursday to reminiscence on the previous season: summer. (:

Oh summer, what easy and wonderful days you were... Abundant with wedding bells, rooftop lunches, morning train rides, work cocktail hours, lazy Saturdays, foodie adventures, CM munchkins, and tan lines...

IN PHOTOS

Although it has only been a few months, my life looks drastically different now than it did before. My responsibilities are different, my work feels different, and my prayers sound different. Not necessarily good or bad, just different. But you know what they say...

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens." — Ecclesiastes 3:1

So with that, fall, I welcome you. :) Bring whatever this season may — and may it be more grand, stretching, beautiful, fruitful than the last. May I be more loving, patient, diligent, and faithful than the last. And may God be bigger, realer, clearer, and sweeter than the last. Bring it on, fall.

Life of an Ad Intern: Day 2

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Day two was INSANE. Let me tell you about it.
The Insane Story of Day Two:
I boarded the 8:00 am train (per us), found a seat, opened my purse to pull out my train ticket and realized that my wallet wasn't in my there! -Along with all my cash, cards, train and bus tickets... I had a mini-panic attack unsure of how I was going to get through the rest of the day, let alone pay for the train ride I had already boarded. I was like... should i run off, should i stay on, should i lie, should i cry... I felt like I was in Italy again illegally riding those trains to Milan. Anyway, I rummaged through my purse and found a crinkled $10 sitting at the bottom, (lucky instance #1) so I was like nice and I decided I would use that for that train! ...And figure out the rest later.
So, the ticket master stepped in going around to see some everyone's boarding pass. By the time he got to me, I explained to him that I had already purchased a monthly pass but accidentally left it at home so I didn't have it with me that day, but I assured him that I ride that train every morning, yadda yadda wink wink pulls shirt down -- no I'm totally kidding. He asked me if I'd be there tomorrow, and I responded yes, and he let that ride go. (lucky instance #2 -- ticket master pulled through that morning. ps: i saw him again a later day and said "HI" and flashed my monthly pass in the air for a few seconds to show gratitude for the previous day... he didn't remember who i was and sort of cringed for being so enthusiastic. end note). So I was like okay, I can use this $10 for the ride back home then.
AND THEN, the train was delayed. Like I said, I hopped on the 8:00 train which is supposed to arrive at 8:34... BUT we didn't get to union station until 9:40!!! Two trains broke down on the track and one of them had to be tied up to the train in front and dragged into the city. Our train just followed slowly behind that whole ordeal. It was a mess. Do you follow? Picture oregon trail on the train tracks, because that's pretty much what it was.
When I found out the train was going to be delayed for such a long time, I panicked because I didn't want to be late on my second day of work, and decided I would use that $10 to pay for cab fare. I emailed my supervisor letting her know about the metra delay and that I would be in ASAP. She responded by telling me to just take a nice walk cause it was beautiful outside. "no worries" she said. So I was like, okaaaay! So I took that 30 minute walk to save that $10 for the train ride home like I originally planned. (lucky instance #3)
Then I came work, read some blogs, stapled all these packets (i'm becoming an EXCELLENT stapler, btw. I started to play this game to see how quickly i could get through packets... and the time is honestly pretty impressive.) So after I kept winning I got bored and lunch time came around. I had luckily thrown in some granola and decided to just munch on that to save monies. BUT THENNN, one of my supervisors came in and told me that there was a client lunch happening and that we could go out to eat on the company card!!! Just my luck. (: So, we went to Nordstrom Cafe and each enjoyed a $15 dollar meal. I got this amazing chicken pasta and a red velvet cupcake. It was freaking perfect. (lucky instance #4) Way to be clutch, havas.
Then the afternoon is kind of a bluuuuur and the work day ended and , I walked back to union station, and payed $8.75 for the train ride home. What a day. Now all I remember is a blur of mini-panic attacks; but luckily, somehow everything aligned and it was a-okay. (:
Anyway. That's my ridiculous story for the day. Now I will show you my outfit which has nothing to do with said story... HOWEVER, I am linking up with Mix & Match Fashion to daily document how I do biz casual. (:
DAY 2 OUTFIT:

DAILY TAKEAWAY:

PC STILL sucks. My eyeballs hurt so much from staring at this dim screen for 8 hours. And you can't take screenshots. And you can't zoom in/out with your trackpad.
It's hard to type quickly with long nails. I should probably cut them because they keep sliding off these cheap, plastic keys and falling into the cracks in between. ESPECIALLY BETWEEN "k" AND "i" AND "f" AND "t.

xo.