19. Kelly Anne Meyers

I have been holding out on all of these half finished blog posts for some time now.  And well, since this thing is due by 5pm today I think it’s time to wrap them up.  Note to future Creative Straters: Do not do this, half finished blog posts take a ton of time to clean up, and saving them to the last minute is a bad bad bad idea.

We have had some amazing presenters in this course, great people with great ideas have really helped me figure out my place in the industry and also how to stay afloat once I get my foot in the door.

First, we had Kelly Anne Meyers Skyped in during the early weeks of the term.  This was a great way to start off, we had the opportunity to hear from one of our own, a UO alum who is doing amazing things straight out of school.  She works with New Yorks Code and Theory. 

Some takeaways from Kellys chat:

1.       Don’t sell yourself short.  If you know your stuff, then you should get paid for it.  If you feel qualified for that Junior Planner position straight out of school, then go for it. You don't have to take an internship.

2.       Be Informed.  You have to know your stuff.  Kelly mentioned that the reading the internet is something that she has always done for fun and that hobby is what got her the job.  She is the “office millennial” as they call her, she knows about the industry and it’s inner workings and we should too. If you aren't following her on Twitter, you should be.

3.       Use the UO network.  Kelly went straight to New York without knowing anyone but rather than be totally freaked out and at a loss for where to go and what to do, she tapped into the other great UO alum that are spread out across the globe.  She got a place and has now made herself into a pretty great NY transplant.

Listening to Kelly really helped calm my nerves.  It’s nice to see that it can be done, that she was sitting in this class one year earlier freaking out just as much as I am.  And look where she is now, she’s in the big city, working for her #1 choice in agencies and doing the things that she loves.  What an inspiration!