So me.

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Growing closer to the rest of my life.

My entire life, I have always pretended and tried to act older than I really am. I've always been able to connect with adults better than people my own age and I have always been told that I am wise beyond my years. The thought of growing up has never been scary until just recently. The realization has come in slow bursts. I first caught a glimpse of being an adult when I flew into Providence from Christmas break and had no one there to meet me and no school transportation to call. I had to have a cab take me to where my car was parked. That was mainly bad planning on my part but it was a preview of my life when I move somewhere completely new and I do not know a soul. I am not afraid of moving somewhere completely new again, I did it for college, I can do it again for my career, but I had never really thought about how weird it is to not have anyone meet you at the airport or anyone who could meet you at the airport.

Remember back when I was stressing about when and where I was going to do an internship? Problem solved, I got an internship at a local ad/pr agency in Providence, Duffy and Shanley. I am officially staying in Providence for the summer. I will be working at school part time, taking a night class, and doing my internship. That should keep me busy, at least busier than I was last summer at home.

Since I hang around so many SEE (sports/entertainment/event management) majors, I forgot that unlike their degree plan, mine does not actually require a full internship. So strange enough, I only need to do this internship at Duffy, I don't have enough credits to do a full one. It's good because I am that much closer to being done with college, but bad because a lot of really cool internship opportunities require that it is for credit only. I only have 2 trimesters left of classes after this academic year. What do I do all spring trimester next year? Should I hang around since I have a year lease and graduate with all of my friends? Do I peace out early and hop on a 2012 campaign trail? Who knows! I'm flying through college faster than normal, but I guess it was the plan all along. 

Until next time...

Lessons Learned: SES Educational Excursion 2011

Unlike the stereotypical Spring Break activities that come to mind, I spent my spring break with 39 bright and ambitious students interested in pursuing a career in the sports/entertainment/and or event industry exploring he industry on the west coast. The Special Events Society strives to supplement our education outside of the classroom and give us true experience in the events industry. Last year we went to Orlando, FL and this year we went to the Los Angeles, CA area. This past week was filled with different tours and Q&A's with all different types of venues and event professionals.

The list below pretty much sums up what I got out of this trip:

1. When flying coast to coast, always fly Virgin America
2. Yes, it is Spring Break and we are going to CA, but it is still winter. Pack appropriately.
3. When planning a race, always check to make sure you have enough sign-age, safety pins, and make sure the bibs are in numerical order before registration begins.
4. The best place to watch celebrities on the red carpet is on TV, not from behind a fence across the street.
5. Most professionals in the event industry, fell into it by accident
6. Be willing to work for free and pay your dues
7. Pay attention to the small details and fix things without being told to do so
8. If you haven't been hearing enough "no's" you haven't been talking to enough people
9. "No" just means "Not now". Be delightfully persistent.
10. Be well versed in the industry before entering the industry.
11. Send your resume to EVERYONE.
12. The sports industry is a very small world, do not burn any bridges, they talk. 

The SES board members did an outstanding job planning this trip for us. I can't wait to get started on brainstorming ideas for next year's Educational Excursion. The new board has some big shoes to fill.

Until next time...

In Sync

My Google Apps

Instead of checking important things off my to-do list today, I discovered Google Chrome Apps and synced my entire life online. I finally figured out TweetDeck and wondered why I didn't start using it a very long time ago. Updating Facebook pages is a big part of my job and the leadership positions I hold. With TweetDeck I am able to manage all of my social media in one application. Genius. It is also a lot let distracting than having an actual Facebook page up on my computer at all time. Just recently I synced all of my calendars to my iPhone and today I figured out how to even sync my Facebook calendar to my phone. Here are the directions to do it if you're interested, it is very easy to do.

By doing all of these things, it is a way to make me feel more productive that I actually was, but it also allows me to keep myself organized and connected at all times. In preparation to going out into the work force in the near future, I have been attempting to brand myself. A good way of doing that is doing my personal IMC (integrated marketing campaign). I am in the process of streamlining my own brand and making all of my online profiles cohesive within my own brand as well as sending out positive messages out about myself. I am managing my own PR as well as my own marketing. It is not quite there yet, but I am very excited about it.

More to come...until next time...

I left my heart in DC

The entire female conservative
population at JWU

Ahh, finally time to sit down and blog after CPAC. I spent this past week in DC with 4 other lovely JWU conservatives volunteering at the 38th Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). Rae and I had such an incredible experience last year volunteering, we brought 3 more with us this year: Alison, Katy, and Dara. It is always such a great learning experience for everyone to go but it is even more special to us because of all of our backgrounds in the event and hospitality industry. It is a perfect merge between the two things we are passionate about. Although I am leaning further away from event management and closer to advertising and media, this was also an incredible experience for me as well. There is the RNC and DNC conferences and then there is CPAC. It is the 3rd most news covered political conference in the nation. This year I had the opportunity to assist the Director of Communications at CPAC, Ian Walters. There was an expected 11,000 people attending this conference and over 400 different media outlets registered to cover the conference.

w/ Griff Jenkins from FOX News

My experiences as the media assistant was different from my experience as a volunteer last year. While I technically had more responsibility this year, I spent a significantly less amount of time in the ballroom listening to speakers and more time out and about helping Ian put out fires here and there. I didn't get to meet as many speakers this year but I did get to interact with the press more and meet reporters from major news networks like FOX, CNN, The Washington Post, and the list goes on and on. I spent some time backstage with the production team as well as time down in Radio Row confirming interviews with different politicians and radio shows. During my down time I got to sit at media registration and chat with people in the public affairs and public relations profession. I discovered that there is a small niche of people who are interested in media strategy and politics. I shook lots of hands and collected business cards. I also learned more about how CPAC is run, and got to see a whole different behind the scenes of the conference.

The whole CPAC Crew

It saddens me every time I have to leave DC. I am confident that I will end up there at some point in my life, hopefully sooner than later!

Until next time...

Snow days and long weekends.

A snowstorm blew over Rhode Island last week and we are still enjoying the white blanket that lays over the ground, except for the snow/ice still covering parts of the sidewalk that I walk on. Last week we had a roommate meeting with the GRA (graduate resident assistant) about the issue of switching rooms for half of the year. Long story short, Rae and I originally had the master suite and the other two had the "B" room. The other two wanted to have the master for half of the year and it was a bit of a battle until we surrendered and moved. Luckily we had our snow day the next day so we were able to just make the switch Tuesday night and into the early hours of Wednesday. Note: I am not bitter about being in the smaller room. I like the smaller room, I don't see a problem with it or that it is really much smaller than the old room. I would have never asked to switch if I were originally in the smaller room. I have never dealt with someone so unwilling to compromise. That is in the past. We have a peaceful living environment now. The new room is almost like starting with a clean slate.

It must be an old habit I carry from growing up in Oklahoma, but when it snows, I still feel like life stops for a while. It has been really nice to be able to just hang out in the apartment, take leisurely trips up to Thayer St., and take a day trip to Boston. The downside of leisure is that it costs money usually. After dinner on Thayer, we were able to just spontaneously walk into the Avon Theater and watch a movie. We watched 'The Kings Speech" really great movie, I highly recommend it. I know. It sounds like a date. Moving on. Saturday we went to Boston and hung out at Harvard Square for the day. We spent the day hunting for the perfect place to eat lunch and window shopping.

Rae has taken it upon herself to help me meet my "Asian American Ivy League" husband. Now, I am perfectly content not having a significant other at the moment, but ideally I am looking for some who looks like this. He would ideally speak English very well and had parents who made him go to Chinese school so he would be able to speak, read, and write Mandarin Chinese. He must be a strong Christian that does not believe in instrumental worship. Preferably pursuing a  career path in mathematics, engineering, finance, or computer programming. He needs to be emotionally stable and very mature. He cannot appear to have any resentment towards his parents for being really tough on him and expecting nothing less than perfection. If you know anyone that fits the criteria above please tell him about me and how wonderful I am and have him contact me, thanks.

I'm sure I approached this blog with some purpose, but it has obviously lost focus.

Until next time....

Intern

I know. It's January, but I have to start deciding what I want to do this summer! It is finally time to start interning. I have waited for this time since before high school. I have been looking at internship opportunities for years now. There are so many jobs that I want, I would love to be able to intern for all of them! Now it is time to actually apply for them, but is it? Rae has been looking/applying for some really awesome internships all over the country ( which I have already seen as well). I don't like the idea of picking up for a very short amount of time and moving across the country for an internship just yet. Is that closed minded of me? I love the idea of graduating first and then upping and moving anywhere, I don't want to live somewhere temporarily and then having to come back to school. That's so much unnecessary moving for an opportunity that will still be there when the time is right.

I have great opportunities lined out for me here in Providence this summer; does that mean I'm selling myself short? I have an apartment here, I have a job that includes housing and meals, and I also have some really internship opportunities that I would really like and I think I would learn the same things as I would moving across the country.

Lots to think about. But for now, I need to focus on some things that are happening NOW. Small but important things like projects for class as well as ad team, UIB, and making steps to making a difference for commuters somehow. More to come once I actually produce some results from those projects on my plate at the moment.