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2002 NYWICI Foundation Career Conference
A lovely late September weekend in New York!
They began arriving Friday afternoon, from all over, more than 150 young people, men as well as women, undergrads, graduate students, as well as many several years out of college. They would spend the next 24 hours together, exchanging cards and experiences, getting to know each other as well as a number of NYWICI members and professionals from all phases of communications. Following is a brief description by NYWICI member Linda O'Connor.
Friday, September 27:
Those arriving early had a chance to make on-site visits to two major New York City companies, Avon and WABC-TV.
Co-VP of Student Affairs Beth Janice first led over 60 participants through the offices of Avon, where they got an inside look at the 115-year-old beauty company. They met with key members of Avon's vast communications department, including marketing, internal communications, external communications, editing and the Avon Breast Cancer Crusade. Participants then visited the "Brochure Room" (where the spring 2003 brochures are already being planned) as well as the in-house company store!
Unfortunately, no time to shop, since they had to move on to ABC-TV.
Where Beth's NYWICI colleague and Co-VP Student Affairs Karen Schadow led them through the various studios, including the sets of "Live with Regis and Kelly" and the Eyewitness News. The group learned in detail about live television through visiting the control rooms for the news shows, Master Control, the newsroom itself, and the studios. They met ABC directors, on-camera talent, and production people.
Beginning at 4pm, the participants broke into Skill-Building Workshops, focusing on Interviewing, Resume Writing and "Finding the Right Career Path for You!"
At 6pm on Friday evening, the official opening of the Conference, everyone gathered for the "Meet 'n Greet" Reception in the Palm Room of the Roosevelt, including NYWICI members and other communications professionals. A highpoint was the:
Ann Taylor Fashion Show
Karen Schadow was Master of Ceremonies for this entertaining event. 2002 NYWICI scholarship winners and Beth Janice modeled stylish business attire ranging from casual day sweaters and slacks to an elegant red sheath dress and jacket perfect for an evening out. Gail Ripp, VP of Merchandising for Ann Taylor, and the moderator for the show, surprised everyone by generously donating each outfit to the model who wore it. Students also had an opportunity to mingle with NYWICI members and discuss their career aspirations.
Saturday, September 28: Welcome Presentation
Karen Schadow welcomed students and offered them advice based on her own experiences. Having worked for ABC-TV News for many years, she compared their career path and job search to writing a news story, suggesting they look at the "5 Ws: Who, What, When, Where and Why."
WHO you know can move your career along, so keep networking.
WHAT you accomplish each day can make a difference, so set a daily goal of at least 3 phone calls or letters.
WHEN you start – and the time is now – is important to your motivation and energy.
WHERE you look – there are lots of jobs outside New York City (you can always return!).
WHY you are where you are in your career or your search can motivate you to move forward.
Remember: A positive outlook and a little progress each day can make the difference!
Individual career advising sessions from NYWICI members followed, and focused on topics such as resume critiques, image consulting, event management and non-profit development. Recruiters from 1010 WINS-AM & WNEW-FM and Fox 5/WNYW were available to discuss current internships and job opportunities for students and recent graduates.
Luncheon Speaker:
CBS Early Show Medical Correspondent Dr. Emily Senay was the luncheon keynote speaker. Dr. Senay graduated from the University of Chicago with a B.A. in biology in 1983, received her M.D. from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York in 1988, and has been a general practitioner since 1994.
Her career path was not a straight line, and she was "greatly discouraged along the way." During her last week of medical school in 1988, she panicked about her outstanding student debt and upcoming internship. She did a short six-month internship, worked at Rikers Island as a staff doctor to pay down her debt, and served her residency in internal medicine at Beth Israel Hospital in New York City. After taking a course in investigative journalism at the New School in New York, she made the strategic career decision to transition out of medical practice and took a job with a pharmaceutical company that made videos. From there, she became a medical editor at Lifetime Medical Television in 1990, which led to an anchor position Medical News Network (1992-1994), reporting on health issues daily via satellite to physicians.
She has been health and medical correspondent for CBS morning news shows since August 1997. She was health reporter for Up To The Minute, CBS News' overnight broadcast from 1995-1997. Her weekly "Prescriptions for Women" reports focused on health issues affecting women.
Dr. Senay had plenty of advice for students. Most of all, she wanted to thank the people who discouraged her, since they helped her focus on what she really wanted despite their criticisms. Responding to questions about career and family, she said that a morning show is easier for mothers than other types of news shows that break stories later in the day, often requiring last-minute coverage. She talked about being a woman in a male-dominated industry, and said that while men had more power behind the scenes, women make up most of the audience for TV and often relate better to female correspondents. She also talked about the evolution of the medical establishment from research on male subjects to understanding that "women are not just small men," and that there is a real interest in women's health in the news media. Dr. Senay is currently writing a book about men's health for a female audience, since women are often the "health engineers" of the family and seek a doctor's care far more frequently than men.
Dr. Senay talked about some of the negatives of her profession, including job insecurity and an overemphasis on looks and hairstyles. She joked that her former medical school colleagues had more confidence in their employers, because while she faced volatile producers and sudden ratings-driven changes, it was unlikely that a management team would say to the head of surgery, "You're out because we didn't like the way you closed Mrs. Smith." Her personal approach to avoiding media scare tactics is to focus on providing the audience with useful, carefully worded information that isn't misleading.
Key recommendations to students starting out were to be flexible, nice, and open to gaining knowledge from other people. She talked about her relationship with anchor Bryant Gumbel and how much she had learned from his techniques. She also advised recent grads to "be aggressive, be around and be positive" if they want to break in to this dynamic industry.
Afternoon Career Panels
The afternoon panel sessions featured more than 35 speakers from the fields of advertising, entertainment, book and magazine publishing, broadcasting, marketing, corporate communications, public relations, news reporting and the creative arts. Companies and organizations represented included Avon, Lifetime Television, Saatchi & Saatchi, Scholastic, World Wrestling Entertainment, Ketchum Public Relations, BMW, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Bravo and the Independent Film Channel. The sessions with the highest attendance are described in detail.
Advertising
Advertising panelists and moderator Tiffany Warren, Manager of Diversity Programs for the American Association of Advertising Agencies, talked about their smartest career moves. Saatchi & Saatchi Account Executive Kelly Fay said that "speaking up, volunteering, and rotating accounts to diversify" really helped her expand her knowledge base and develop a positive reputation in the company. Gail Barlow, a copywriter for TBWA/Chiat Day believes that "grunt work pays off" and started out small, with a local account, that enabled her to learn and develop her skills while she created a successful campaign for client Chick-fil-A.
Getting to know upper management was a key to success for Antoinette Gabaton-Moss, a media planner for MediaCom, although in her case, it involved wearing sunglasses in the office for a week to recover from retinal damage to her eyes! After the company vice president noticed Antoinette's shades, she got to know her and Antoinette learned how to deal with upper management, including negotiating deadlines, sitting in on meetings, and asking questions. Tiffany thought her smartest move was being a risk taker with unglamorous projects. She left a secure job with a business training program to take a low-paid advertising job because she was passionate about the work, and her patience and persistence led to the job she holds now. Students in this session learned about job titles that might be appropriate for them, such as media buyers, account planning and research, in-house producers, and traffic managers.
Broadcasting
Karen Schadow, whose company The Voice of Success specializes in coaching for public speaking, moderated the Broadcasting discussion. She spoke about working for ABC for 24 years, and her unique opportunities with the network, such as being the first female cameraperson for ABC sports, winning an Emmy Award for coverage of the 1984 summer Olympics, and performing in front of the camera as well as managing behind the scenes.
Jenny Alonzo, Vice President of Production for Lifetime Television for Women, brought her two daughters to the session and talked about the hard choices she had to make as the mother of small children. "You lose your life during sweeps week," she said, and felt that after the birth of her oldest daughter she couldn't handle another sweeps week when she worked in promotions at NBC. Luckily, at the woman-oriented network Lifetime, she's been able to influence programming and increase cause-related marketing while maintaining time for her family.
As a woman of color, Audrey Jones found that when she started in the business 20 years ago there were not many minorities in jobs that she targeted. "I starved for a long time," she quipped, but her hard work and talent led to recognition as a producer for the Charlie Rose Show, which went from local to national broadcast during her five year tenure. In her current role as a producer of The View, she's had the opportunity to appear on-camera during discussions of her Internet dating experiences.
Rita Cosby, Senior Correspondent at Fox News, is renowned for her exclusive interviews with internationally significant figures such as the Pope, Slobodan Milosevic, and Yasser Arafat. Rita always knew that she wanted to be a news reporter and thought that some of her most important career experiences came while working at a small TV station in Bakersfield, California. She had the opportunity to gain hands-on experience in many facets of broadcasting, such as writing, editing, doing live feeds from the van, and even reporting while being held at gunpoint, which happened during her coverage of the LA riots. This low-paid job led to recognition and eventually she was hired by Fox, where she became the youngest senior news correspondent in network TV. Rita earned the nickname "velvet hammer" because of her determination to achieve her goals while being nice to people, and she advised students to "be persistent, and don't be afraid to make mistakes."
All of the panelists had role models who helped them along the way, such as mothers and journalism professors and workplace mentors. To break into this competitive field, students were advised to volunteer to work at night at news stations, to make contacts and have an opportunity to try different projects. Panelists also recommended taking a position as an assistant, since experienced assistants are often promoted. And finally, job-seekers were told, "Don't be afraid to leave New York for a job; you can always come back."
Creative Career Paths
Moderated by cartoonist and illustrator Anne Gibbons, this panel focused on non-traditional careers and how to integrate doing what you love with earning a living. Cynthia Soderholm, staff writer at the NYU School of Continuing Education and Professional Studies by day, playwright and author by night, talked about how often we are influenced at a very young age by family members who want us to pursue certain kinds of work. In her case, her grandmother admonished her never to become a hairdresser or an actress. (Cynthia was never quite clear about what wrong with these professions, only that they were forbidden.) So, she became a writer, even though she had a strong passion for theater, and eventually left a secure corporate job to take playwriting classes. Her current challenge is finding the energy to develop her character's voices at night after a full day at the office, and she advised students to not always listen to their parents, that a little risk is OK.
Pru Sowers, Vice President, OMI Business Communications, found that her "creativity was caused by desperation and unemployment." She stumbled into journalism in high school, and learned very quickly that the best way to get published was to ask people what they wanted her to write about. She told students, "Finding out what the market wants" is critical to success. After covering sewer board meetings and taking pictures for local newspapers, she landed a position with a PR firm, only to get fired because she couldn't spell. On the bright side, getting fired led to a position with Institutional Investor, and specializing in the financial news sector earned her a broadcast position on the business news segment of ESPN. After being let go from several jobs, only to turn around and sell the same services back to former employers, Pru realized that if you really care about what you are doing, it's easier to sell. In her current role as business developer, she effectively markets what she does best: telling stories.
While many creative types have earned the nickname "editing diva," Martha Arnold truly deserves it, since she is a professional opera singer in addition to being Managing Copyeditor at Avon Products Inc. "If you can survive opera, you can survive corporate America," since the skills developed in theater—being ready for anything that's thrown at you when the audience is waiting—have helped her perform well in stressful jobs. After a successful career as a touring opera singer, Martha decided she needed some balance in her life and left theater to take a staff editing position with Avon. As an entertainer, she had learned to give great customer service, and it served her well in editing. Although she is happy in her position at Avon, she still nurtures her creative side, and is currently developing a new show, Two Hot Chicks Well-Seasoned, about two experienced women seeking romance in the big city. She advised students to be flexible, and don't be afraid to follow your instincts.
Anne Gibbons told students "rejection makes you resilient" and doing what you love helps artists to thrive. Her career crisis occurred after she earned a physical education degree and realized she hated the work. She had always done cartoons and illustrations on the side, but her biggest boost happened when she was fired from a job and her employer told her to work on her art since it was what she did best. Finding her niche as a cartoonist helped her parlay her hobby into full time work. Now her greatest challenge is turning fans into customers. "People love my art, but they don't want to pay for it."
Student Comments
"I got to meet some extraordinary people I otherwise never would have had the opportunity to meet."
—Senior at Fordham College at Lincoln Center
"This program provided me with a wealth of knowledge to take back and share the other Stony Brook University Students. It also provided me with excellent networking opportunities and potential speakers for programs we plan at the University."
—Graduate Student from Stony Brook University Career Center
"It gave me valuable insight on interviewing and seeking an internship. It also was very inspiring for me to hear stories of the women speakers and gives me even more desire to be successful."
—Senior at Fairleigh Dickinson University
"It [the conference] gave me ideas of what media companies want in an intern. I was also able to discuss where my resume could use improvement."
—Sophomore at Rutgers University
"It helped me to realize the many different career paths that I can follow after graduating with a Communications degree. Also, I learned what employers want to see on my resume and I of course networked and met some women who really inspired me to continue realizing my goals."
—Senior at St. Johns University
"It was great for networking! I made some great connections with people in TV, which is very difficult to do. I also got some good advice on my resume"
—Junior at CUNY Hunter College
"This program was great. I feel much more focused and no know which areas I want to target. I thought the panel discussions were great. I realized what my strengths and weakness are. I truly enjoyed meeting one on one with the counselors."
—Senior at Brown University
"I was able to meet people in the industry!"
—Graduate Student at The New School University
"Networking and getting first-hand experiences were great."
—Graduate Student at Marymount Mahnattan College
To view more images of the event, visit the News Archive.
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