Yesterday’s Tech Meetup in the Financial District at Refinery29 felt like a professional Carnival experience – all of the alumni were in good spirits, sharing the various projects they are working on with some light recruitment thrown in. Okay, so that sounds like pretty much any networking event. Maybe I say Carnival because so many SigEp’s were there this round. As you may know, I graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a double major in Marketing and Entrepreneurship, and so events like these are always revitalizing and inspiring – it reminds me of how proud I am to be a risk taker and an entrepreneur, to be surrounded by my people! Such a great group of CMU alums were present who are working to build their own companies and who continually, ‘inspire innovation’. My pick of the evening? Dave Mittereder has a great project called The Personal BlackBox, which gives a consumer the option to share their consumer behaviourial habits…and get paid for it! These decisions are then compiled and sold to various marketing agencies for the strategic purposes. Very cool, especially considering we’re in a time where people are hypersensitive to how their personal information is distributed – so why not have some control over the process and make some $ on the side? Where do I sign up? Some alums I chatted with are loving where they are, and others are looking to transition. I, as I first wrote, am experiencing both worlds: I love what I do, which is consulting on various projects in different areas (from tech to consumer goods to theater), and I am also looking to transition because I think there is great value in learning in a full-time corporate environment. I’m thinking my next move is to work in Manhattan at a PR/entertainment agency or tech startup. I enjoy regularly working in team dynamics, and that’s currently what’s missing for me. There’s a baseline of commodore that is hard to duplicate with CMU alums — We can all be very candid with one another. I had a great, honest conversation with two alums on the less glamorous sides of work in general. Something I learned from my time at an NYC PR agency that I share with anyone newly entering the work force is that you should BEWARE OF OFFICE POLITICS. They don’t teach you that at school. And they should. There are egos you have to be wary of and cater to, stricter deadlines that need to be met, personalities you have to handle, and overall just more on the line… However, through all experiences – we learn and we grow and we get better at what we do. That’s always my goal, at least! Thanks to Doug for organizing another awesome event (you should join the group if you’d ever like to come out to one!), and shout out to my the fellas below, and our party favors. Know this: you don’t have to be an entrepreneur to be entrepreneurial – creative thinking is really what it takes. ~T.
Looking forward to tonight with the Upright Citizens Brigade! ~Follow me on Facebook and Instagram~
4 Comments
Getting off the 1 train at South Ferry station was nostalgic – feels like I haven’t been by Battery Park since an eventful Gareth Emery concert back in August of 2012. But I was back last night because I was invited to The Civilians Annual Spring Benefit, held at Battery Gardens Restaurant. Based at the tip of the park, the restaurant has a panoramic view of the New York Bay, where the Staten Island ferry regularly floated by and the Statue of Liberty was beautifully lit in the distance. Green up-lighting surrounded the lighthouse designed event space, and all of the guests were settling into their seats for the show by the time I arrived. In the center of the space was a long table for the silent auction which had items ranging from coffee sets to museum tours, to a private reading by award-winning actress Kathleen Chalfant to tickets to the live American Idol show in LA. The Civilians is an interesting theater company – their scripts are crafted by taking language from interviews they conduct. One particularly funny performance was in honor of Jeanhee Kim, the Founding Board President. There was an upbeat cabaret styled delivery that was both witty and engaging – and it was even more amusing because the content had come straight from Jeanhee, who’s pretty funny, mixed with artistic license given in the delivery. Michael Friedman accompanied on piano and shared some pieces from “Pretty Filthy” – t’was very different, very graphic, and very funny. “A team of Civilians’ artists conducted interviews with performers, directors, agents, producers, and more in Las Vegas and the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles… these interviews featur[e] several adult entertainment stars discussing the do’s, don’ts, and won’ts of shaping a career, how they got into the business, and more.” Some jokes went completely over my head… but I’m okay with that. Complementary drinks were served all night, and I of course enjoyed the dessert bar =] - I had been craving chocolate covered strawberries recently! It was clear to me that this is a tight theater family, and I was happy to attend.
Looking forward to tonight’s Tech Meetup at Refinery29 – till then! T Happy Happy Earth Day!! This is one of my favorite times of the year! Why? Well, besides the weather usually being beautiful (and today is no exception), it's a time of the year when people celebrate life and the earth and are more conscious about their consumer decisions. I've been working for Eco-Bags Products as a consultant and Brand Strategist over the past few years, and I value its small size, sustainable practices, and overall positive environmental impact. In fact, it was announced today that the company is a B Corporation Best for the Environment Impact Honoree! Such good stuff. I hope that today, you try to decrease your environmental footprint by:
Have a beautiful rest of the day! Be sure to go outside and enjoy some of it! Rain OR Shine!
|
T-Comm blogWant to know what we're up to? Check us out! Archives
June 2020
Categories
All
Click to set custom HTML
|