September 2008-April 2009 Campus Marketing Intern

My aforementioned internship with the Chicago Machine was thanks to an internship program, the University of Dreams. After participating in the program I wanted other college students to know about this great opportunity. In a time when getting an internship is so competitive and more about who you know rather than what you know, I wanted to let other students know that U of Dreams would guarantee them an internship. Beyond that they have weekly career seminars featuring very successful businessmen and women sharing their tips and secrets for success. So I became a Campus Marketing Intern for the program to spread the word on Florida State University's campus. I worked in a team of 4 recent program alumni and together we held information sessions, posted fliers around campus, and made announcements in class. We also utilized social media sites such as Facebook, Myspace, blogs, and message boards. I won the flier design contest for creativity and effectiveness. I also helped FSU to be part of the top 15 schools to bring in the most participants for the 2009 summer program.

Key skills acquired: Utilizing social media sites for advertising

FSU Advertising Program: The Century Council

For my Creative Strategy class I worked in a team of 5 individuals to create an integrated marketing plan for The Century Council: Distillers against underage drinking and drunk driving. This particular campaign was a PSA against binge drinking among people 18-24 years of age. We were responsible for every aspect of the campaign including primary and secondary research, public relations, promotions, branding and creative design, and media planning and budget allocation. I worked as the Creative Director within my team and was responsible for all print ads as well as the outdoor advertisements and promotional fliers. I also designed a website homepage. We published a plans book to present to our client and finally pitched our campaign in a 20 minute presentation. (Note: the client was not actually present, our professor posed as the client) We held weekly consultations with our "client" and were responsible for keeping our client in the know by sending a weekly progress report.

Key skills acquired: How to sell your ideas to the client, the importance of research, & keeping a good relationship with the client

June-August 2008 @ The Chicago Machine/All Terrain

During the summer of 2008 I traveled to Chicago to intern for the Chicago Machine Major League Men's Lacrosse Team. This was a new team so they had little money to work with and relied heavily on word of mouth so my job was to be part of a "Street team" of interns who roamed Chicago and the surrounding suburbs decked out in Machine apparel handing out free tickets to upcoming games and spreading awareness of the team. The team was able to secure a booth at the annual Taste of Chicago festival in the Taste of Sports area of the event. I managed the booth since I was the only intern who was there every day of the event and had a pretty good system running things. We had a prize wheel that people were allowed to spin once per day and each color represented a different prize. While people waited in line we asked them to fill out a registration card so we could send them direct mail or call them about upcoming events and games. We made sure everyone had a free ticket to the upcoming game and a pocket schedule. Beyond the booth at the Taste of Chicago, I worked 2 days a week with the team's PR firm, All Terrain. I helped organize all of the game photos labelling them by date, opposing team, and names of players shown in the photo. I was also in charge of contacting all players to update their bios on the website. Furthermore I was solely responsible for the McDonald's High School Athlete of the Week feature. This included emailing all coaches and players being recognized and writing a paragraph or two on the website each week. I also wrote a short article on standout players for an advertorial featured in the Chicago Sun-Times.

Key Skills Acquired: Taking initiative and creating work for myself when there seemed to be "nothing to do."

May 2006-June 2008 @ Sunglass Hut

I worked for 3 different locations throughout the 2 years I worked for Sunglass Hut. I started the summer after my freshman year of college in Merritt Island. I worked a lot of hours over that summer and at the time business was good - MI is only about 10 minutes from the Cape Canaveral Cruise Ship Port and Cocoa Beach so we had a lot of tourists come in that had lost their glasses in the ocean or lifeguards and crew ship staff members. After that summer I transferred to the Macy's store in the Governor's Square Mall but mall was on the far end of Tallahassee from where I was living so I transferred for the final time to the Tallahasee Mall kiosk. I had to learn extensive product knowledge on each brand from lens and frame materials and pros and cons and what glasses were good for sport vs. fashion and even as specific as good for fishing and golf vs. cycling and so on. I was solely responsible for running all aspects of the kiosk because we were only allowed to have one person in the kiosk at a time. I kept records of all shipments both incoming and outgoing, all returns and exchanges, and also entered all customer data into our 'customer capture' database. We had quarterly staff meetings where my manager would give awards to each employee and I often won the award for flexibility because I was always available to fill in for a sick co-worker or to come in early or later if need be.

Key skills acquired: Customer Service & Product Knowledge

February - July 2005 @ The Connection

After the holidays I came upon this job thanks to a friend of my brother's. His father worked for a car part wholesaler and they needed some part-time help entering orders and organizing paperwork. I went there every day after school for just a few hours but it was a great job! They paid well and I loved working with adults instead of people my own age! I have always gotten along with adults. I remember as a child during recess I would sometimes sit and talk with my teachers instead of playing with my friends. But I digress...
I had to learn a new computer system but that didn't take me long - I'm a very quick learner. Data entry was easy and I was able to do things quickly and accurately. I helped organize paperwork and fax important documents. I got so fast at doing things that I would finish entering orders quicker than they could sell the parts. Another one of my big projects with to update their salvage yard database. Salvage yards were their main customers and I was tasked with contacting every salvage yard and making sure their address and phone numbers were up-to-date. I really enjoyed this job and the only reason I left was because I moved to Tallahassee for college.

Key skills acquired: Microsoft Excel, Computer data entry, & adapting to new computer programs

November-December 2004 Holiday/Part-time @ Sears

After a short break following my departure from the DQ, I joined the temporary holiday staff at Sears. It was your typical retail job - I worked the cash register, demonstrated customer service and product knowledge with a smile at all times, and kept each department clean and organized. I think the highlight of this position was the night that a woman tried to steal a cart full of merchandise and the Loss Prevention team asked me to calculate the total cost of all of the items so they could file a report. They specifically called my name over the loud speaker so I feel like they trusted me over some of the other employees to do the task.


Key Skills Acquired: Organization of display of merchandise

March 2003 - August 2004 My first Job

Shortly after turning 16 I landed my first job at no other than the local Dairy Queen.


A friend of my Dad's is the owner of this particular DQ so I got the job easily. During the year and a half I spent there I definitely learned a lot. I was good at being to work on time and giving enough notice if I needed a day off. The schedule was pretty flexible and the shifts weren't too long since most of the employees were high school students and for the most part it was everyone's first job. Since all of the employees were young and had little job experience, there were some petty arguments and disagreements and I learned how to deal with conflict in the workplace. Unfortunately my co-workers were not as mature as I was at the age of 16. Personally, I feel that 16 years old is too young to hold a job that has little to no management or supervision.

Key skills acquired: How to address problems within the workplace & how to handle co-workers I don't get along with.

First advertising experience

My first encounter with the ad industry happened during 5th grade at Audubon Elementary School. I entered the annual Design An Ad contest sponsored by FLORIDA TODAY’s Newspaper in Education department and Paradise Ford. My ad for Paradise Ford was simple - I have limited drawing skills so I used stick figures for people but they had great facial expressions. My mother might have a copy of my winning ad somewhere and if I ever find it I will scan it and post it onto this blog. I can give a very detailed description since I remember this like it was yesterday.

I remember my tag line read "Steer yourself in the right direction and come to Paradise Ford"
I did do a pretty accurate drawing of the Paradise Ford logo (the logo featured on the right is a newer logo and a bit more busy and detailed than the one I had to draw.) and my main image was of a fork in the road where if you turn right, you drive to Paradise Ford, and to the left you would drive into "The other guys." Then I had two vehicles - one on the road that split left and one on the road that split right. The one on the Paradise Ford road had a decently drawn car and a stick person with a big smile on his face. The other car on the other guys' road had a tire that fell off and was rolling down the road and the stick figure had a very angry face with his arms waving in a rage.

Each participating business was able to personally select the ads appearing in Today’s special section. All students whose ads appeared in this section received a $50.00 savings bond and a framed certificate of participation at a reception held at Gannett Plaza. That was my first taste of advertising success and clearly a foreboding experience!

Important lesson learned: I love advertising!

Grand Opening!

Consider this the grand opening of my new resume/blog....my blogume? or resublog? (Neither of those seem to roll of the tongue very easily, do they?) The subsequent blogs posted will include detailed accounts of my past job experiences and my skills profile. Thanks for visiting!