One of the cool things about having a name like Jacquelyn, is that there are a ton of nicknames to go with it. Besides the most common, Jackie, I've gotten: Jack, Jack-attack, Jay, Jackal and more recently Jay·quel·in. People always ask me what I prefer to be called and the truth is, I love having different nicknames in different social settings.
Here, at The DSM Group, as the first winter intern, it seems like Jay·quel·in is a good fit.
A Little About Me...
I am currently a Senior at the University of Delaware, with only six credits left between me and graduation. Scary. What does someone do with a double major in Leadership and Mass Communication and three different minors in Advertising, Integrated Design and Entrepreneurial Studies? Who knows! Clearly I don't have a narrow idea of what I want to do, but I do know that creativity will be a big part of it.
Growing up, my family always told people how creative I was (am). Creative to them meaning I was doodling all the time, taking pictures, scrapbooking and constantly crafting. It was sort of clear to everyone that I was a little different than other kids when the Hallmark Card Designing Software was my favorite "game".
Now, as a 21-year-old, not much has changed. I still love taking pictures, especially while I was traveling last winter in Italy! I could spend hours on Pinterest, pinning every thing from fashion trends, to interior design, to the countless DIY crafts I have lined up to last me a lifetime. There are a lot of creative outlets these days and you can find me on all of them!
What Do I Want to Be?
The end of that question used to be, "when you grow up," but there is no more when. I am supposed to be all grown up now and I am supposed to have all the answers, right?
When people ask me what I want to be, I wish I could just simply say, creative. Channel my inner John Lennon.
I want to be different and I want to continue to force myself to think differently. This is something I have the Leadership Major to thank for. Being a part of a program like that challenges you to define who you are and who you want to be. You can see some of the work I've done as a Leadership Major, and as a student on my eportfolio. I could go on and on about this program and how thankful I am for the opportunities and people I've met along the way, but this is supposed to be about me and The DSM Group, right?
Well, I have enough experience and confidence in my business background to work in a whole myriad of different industries, but the best part about marketing, is this balance between business and creative strategy. And so the search for marketing related jobs began.
What I quickly realized over the past couple of years is that you're not so much looking for a job description, but an experience description. More importantly you're trying to find the right culture for you.
For me, I was interested in startups, fast-paced, collaborative and hands on environments that would allow me to feel involved, but more importantly valuable. So what does someone do when they realize they have an interest in startups? Join the Entrepreneurship Club and pick up a minor. Here is where my love for networking events and specifically Uncubed NYC started.
How Did I Get Here?
It all started with a cup of coffee. (All great things do!)
I met the CEO of Corporate Essentials as a sophomore. Then one lucky day in the beginning of the summer after my Junior year, I got a call from their VP of Marketing asking if I was interested in becoming their Marketing and Communications Intern during the company rebrand. Heck Yes.
That summer and that job experience in particular, was one of the most rewarding things I have ever been a part of. A huge part of what made that experience so rewarding was being able to work with an agency that really helped the rebrand come alive. What agency was that? Ta-Dah! The DSM Group! This is where I met the famous Jason Diller and Ryerson Kipp.
One silly question about keyword search and Diller unlocked this portal of information on HubSpot for me. I knew then that these people had a lot to offer me and I wanted a chance to work with and learn from them hands on!
What did I do next? Well, I googled the heck out of The DSM Group, found Jason on LinkedIn and sent a very eager message, that more or less said: I need to work with you!
If you asked me on the day of my interview, while I was frantically packing up my stuff from the library because the fire alarm decided to go off five minutes before I was supposed to get a skype call, or while I was running in the rain to the closest building, if I was going to get the internship I would have said, no way.
But here I am!
I'm just one week in and I can already tell that this is going to be one of those experiences that really helps me define who I want to become and what I want to do within this industry. Safe to say I am more than excited to spend my winter here learning from and working with an awesome group of people!