A “thank you” card from the intersection of my dream internship and real life

by Jared on July 20th, 2008

If you ask me what it is that I have done with my new media experience while getting my MBA – I probably won’t have a single, decent answer. Oh, I have plenty of decent answers, mind you; I just haven’t found one that fits all occasions.

At first, I started off thinking new media wouldn’t be a good hook for the more traditional brand management MBA internships I was after. Then, I realized that new media MBA internships actually existed and tried to pivot my search in that direction and new media became my main selling point. Ultimately, I ended up wasting so much time figuring out how to market myself that April came around and I still didn’t have an internship locked down.

While most of my friends were signing great summertime commitments with companies like P&G and Deloitte, I was stuck trying to figure out if I could realistically pass off the title of “Barista” as graduate-level job experience. Then, it happened; my dream internship fell into my lap when I was least expecting it.

Granted, the experience did come with a few strings. Before I could take the internship, for instance, I would also have to spend a month coaching undergraduates in business strategy. What happened here was real life…apparently it happens, occasionally.

Flash forward to the last four weeks of summer: Most of my friends are either getting ready to complete their internships or have so, already. I, on the other hand, am only a quarter into my dream internship, trying to figure out how to cram 8 to 10 weeks of experience into just 4. Though I have to spend countless hours over the weekend working on presentations and creative briefs – literally turning out pages of the best marketing ideas I have ever had – it’s the reminder that this is real life that keeps me going.

In new media, when we step out of the digital-meta-wiki-blog-pod bubble, we’re sometimes surprised to find that the real world can, and will go on without us. The benefit I have found however is that my time in new media has made me more entrepreneurial and ready to face those glimmers of opportunity, no matter how strange or oddly they are presented to us.

For that, I am eternally grateful for my circle of new media friends and the people I have met along the way. Thank you.

Technorati Tags: new media, mba internships, surviving business school

Four lessons from being 26

by Jared on November 19th, 2007

Right now, I am sitting in a Caribou Coffee in my hometown of Atlanta, Georgia desperately trying to avoid a barrage of calls, e-mails and facebook wall postings about one thing; my birthday.

Ok, “avoid” may be an overstatement. Ok, I’ll admit that as I was writing this post, I checked my facebook wall at least three times.

It’s not that I don’t like my birthday, it just always seems to come at the most annoying times. Grad school has tempered my expectations of just about everything now-a-days.

For instance, I could be doing a lot of things today but the act that is bringing me the most pleasure is the completion of a marketing research focus group analysis. As long as I am procrastinating however, let’s see if I can’t ping out a couple of the things I learned when I was 26….Click Here To Read More >>

Technorati Tags: birthdays

20SMF Episode #67 - Out of a Job, In Front of a Mic (Part 4)

by Jared on August 20th, 2007

Part 4 - Some closing thoughts on my tenure as a marketing strategist and cheif contributor to 20-Something Marketing.

“Out of a Job, In Front of a Mic” is four part series covering the ups and downs of being a 20-something marketing strategist.

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Just how many gay geeks are there?

by Jared on June 15th, 2007

According to a recent post on Endgaget; quite a few.

Check out this recent post about an iPhone sighting. Scroll about a third of the way down the page and you’ll see what I mean.

I admit the guy with the iPhone is pretty cute but more interesting is how easy it is to get the fan-bois (intentional, btw) all riled up. Then again, technology AND hot guys? It’s like Christmas and my birthday all rolled into one!

…and yes, this is another post made during a VERY boring Friday.

Catch you guys later!

To Work From Home Or Not To Work From Home?

by Jared on June 12th, 2007

On the list of mind-{explicative deletes}ing things that have emanated from my boss’s mouth, I think he took the cake with the following; “You know, you can work from home if you want to.”

After years of complaining that others got to work from home and he didn’t, I can’t imagine this offer coming without ulterior motives. After racking my brain, I think I have narrowed it down to a few possibilities. He could want to…

• Get a head start on converting my office into a sauna
• Rifle through my files to see if I am attempting to steal office supplies before I leave.
• Or, he could have just realized I am filling the downtime writing in my blog entries.

Either way, if he is reading this; why would I leave the office? I am having just as much of a ball with my final projects as I have been messing with your mind….come on down, I am making margaritas at 4:00 PM!

This isn’t the kind of crazy you can outrun, apparently

by Jared on April 19th, 2007

Thursday - 12:30 PM…

I am staring at a marketing award application and contemplating how much better it would sound if any of what I was writing was true.

Then, an email came from an ex of mine with this header:

SUBJECT: You crept into my subconscious…

I respect this ex too much to publish the full e-mail but let’s just say this; it was about a very strange dream he had about me running away with his current boyfriend. This was one of those e-mails that just made me sit up and say WTF????

Now, these two have been together for a little more than a year and a half and I consider them both friends however, this is the kind of crazy I just didn’t need today.

Deciding to skip lunch, I went immediately to the gym. I pounded out 35 minutes on the treadmill, returned to the office and am now downing a green tea smoothie. The funny part? I just checked my e-mail and found a similar e-mail from another ex.

Given my morning, I have to conclude three things:

1. Crazy has it in for me, today.
2. I seriously need to re-consider the types of guys I’m dating.
3. If you have a dream about an ex - please keep it to yourself.

The only good thing about this is now the marketing award seems much more appealing for some reason…