I am a marketing associate/ social media manager. HOW FUN RIGHT?! No, but seriously it is fun. I work for a real estate broker and his team at one of the countries top real estate brokerages. My manager also owns a cleaning company and I am in charge of their social media accounts.
So how did I get here? Let me take you on the journey.
When I first switched my major over to Journalism, I wanted to break news and tell stories of the people who can’t speak for themselves. When I got to class however, I didn’t feel the same way. I was more into the visual and social media and blogging side of journalism than I was the side where I’m breaking news. Don’t get me wrong, I did tell compelling stories, but that’s not where my heart was.
The first time I actually thought about social media as a career was when I went to Her Conference, a conference put on by the wonderful people at Her Campus. It was the summer before my senior years and I was appointed as the Campus Correspondent, or editor-in-chief of my school’s chapter. There was a panel where women came to speak about their jobs in social media. I was simply intrigued and I just had to go and hear what they said.
Well I went…and they sold me. Social media is what I HAD to do. I left that panel feeling confident that social media was what I was supposed to do. During my senior year as well, I was managing Twitter, Facebook and Instagram pages for my chapter as well as managing my own. I had my work cut out for me and although it was hard and I had times where I had to be careful that I was on the correct account, I was living my best life.
I graduated and went on to graduate school for journalism and I wasn’t working on anything social media related for a while until I got what I call, my big break. One of my classmates in grad school was working for the City University city as a social media manager and she told me and a couple of other people about a job opening at her office in Brooklyn. A team was looking for a social media analyst. I hesitated, but I decided to apply. I only hesitated because I was in school and I also had another newspaper job so where was I going to find the time to put into this position.
I got the call while I was in the gym that they wanted to interview me. I interviewed over the phone, they called me in for a second interview but it wasn’t really an interview…they offered me the job right there. I stayed there for a little over a year and it was a great experience for me. I brought my expertise at managing social media sites, but I also learned a lot that could help me in my future endeavors.
Currently, I have the opportunity of a lifetime. Not only am I working in the field that I love, but I’m also exposed to real estate, something that was on my radar to get into. I have the best manager who is ready, willing and able to teach me the ins and outs of the business, leading up to me getting my license and making it official. Also, working for him and his wife with the cleaning business has also been a pleasure. I am able to create graphics all day and think about hashtags. Who doesn’t want a job like that?
Tabia's Thoughts 