Anisha Sampat, Marketing and Communications Coordinator

Video Transcript

I actually got into marketing when I was in high school. I was in a leadership role managing the diversity committee for associated student body. And in part of that role I actually found myself putting together an appreciation luncheon for teachers. And in the process of doing so, because we were at budget cuts at that time in the public school district, I actually had to go to local businesses, talk to them and market why they should donate money and/or food to the cause. And so by seeing how I got to match my mathematical side and show them the benefits of donating from an economical standpoint and match up with the creative side of actually putting this piece together and doing all this on little to no money, that’s when I found out I wanted to get into marketing.

The ability to match up my creative side with my mathematical side and blend the two to create a product which I could see make a difference for people. And in the process I actually found out that there was a job opening at Frank Rimerman where my sister had already worked for five years and I had seen how well she was treated and what the firm does to develop their employees’ careers and I knew that was probably a great place for me to go to kick off my career in marketing. And also because I had previously interned at a law firm in professional services as a marketing assistant. So I thought it was fitting.

So my best piece of advice to give to a teen or any individual who wants to pursue a career in marketing and/or communications is to keep with it. You’ll keep trying and you’ll kind of find different paths. And eventually you’ll find the one you like. You know if at all you want to dip your feet, marketing is a great industry to get into because it gives you a lot of exposure into all different types of business operations as well as different types of any corporation. Stay determined. You don’t necessarily have to do everything but if you really do something really well you’ll find a lot more success in that.

For me while in school, in high school actually, the extracurricular that I actually enjoyed the most that helped me with my career where I am today is being in journalism. But that was also because I took a role as being the business advisor. And so I was actually in charge of making sure we sold all of the ad space every month. And so kind of taking that role and also taking the ability to practice my writing skills and work on my written communication helped me a lot to get to where I am today.

So despite any career path that you choose, whether that be in marketing or any other industry, you will face rejection. And it’s okay. We all have to fall in order to get up. I would recommend that you actually use your failures as a way to move forward and actually help you step forward and get to that angle you want to get to. It’s okay if you have to start out small. We all have to take small steps to take a bigger step. So that’s what I would recommend is stick to it and eventually you’ll get to where you want to get.