So, Friday August 14, I had the pleasure of meeting with Ms. Eva Chen the fabulous Beauty Director at Teen Vogue for an informational interview!!Be. Jealous. !!
Here are the top 5 things I took away from our meeting, which was highly enlightening, and tremendously encouraging!
1. 'THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR HARD WORK!' - Ms. Eva was not afraid to reinforce the fact that throughout her career, every position she worked, no matter what magazine it was, SHE WORKED HARD! I feel that it's important to not only let others know how hard they must work to get where they wanna get, but also to not be ashamed to let them know how hard you have worked!
2. PAY ATTENTION TO DETAIL. - Ms. Eva proved to me that she still works just as hard as she did as an intern or a student when she glanced over my resume and was able to pick up on small punctuation and cosmetic errors on my resume. Things that countless other trained eyes hadn't mentioned. I was grateful.
3. SHE WAS "INFORMATIONAL" - Well, full of information. It is natural of human beings to want to talk all about themselves and their accomplishments, especially when someone has reached out to them for their guidance and knowledge. But, Ms. Eva took the time to thoroughly explain to me various positions and hierarchies within the fashion magazine industry. Very informative!
4. PREPARATION - I, of course, had a few questions written down in my notebook to ask (to guarantee that I wouldn't be sitting there in aww and silence because I had actually made it to her office.) But, she was also prepared to meet with me (see #3 above). We sat in her office at 4 Times Square for an invigorating hour, and I didn't need to glance down at my questions twice! I got exactly what I came for.
5. HAVE A GREAT PERSONALITY/ BE AN OPEN, GREAT PERSON. - It is almost rare, but certainly more common nowadays to be able to go to such a large company and score an informational interview with the 'Directors' or 'Editor-in-Chiefs.' But Ms. Eva Chen was willing and open! (which, I feel, has a lot to do with her success) She could relate, as she had embarked on her own informational interviews during her post graduate days. I truly appreciate that she answered all my questions and really took the time to get to know me. She didn't try to intimidate me with her knowledge and expierience of the industry but instead she conversationally tranferred her understanding from one person who loves fashion and beauty to another!
Needless to say, (but I will say it again!) I Left the building enlightened and encouraged that friday afternoon.
No comments:
Post a Comment