I sat down with a family friend who’s a freelance writer to get some feedback, tips, etc. She was very helpful and got me connected to the right networks to build myself a semblance of a career. Obviously, step one was my resume.
It wasn’t until I sat down to start pulling together my work portfolio that I realized just how much of it I had over the years. As I built my resume, I realized that I was not the newbie writer I had claimed to be. In fact, I had been paid for my writing skills since I was in college—when I got hired to work at my school’s Writing Center which helped other students. I had also joined the newspaper and was a student editor and contributor for the literary magazine. But because the school was not a liberal arts school, I never took myself seriously—nor did I allow anyone else to.
Since college, I’d managed to find side projects for most of my employers that utilized these skills one way or another. When I worked at the Hyatt, I helped with some of their social media before that was even the monster that it is today. I also came up with a fictional story about the pop-up happy hour bar and where it got its name, Jaxx. I also then had to format it so it would fit on the brochures. I worked with an author to help her put together her book tour, I consulted with several restaurants, bars, and brands to help them with their marketing, I even researched and wrote up some script additions for the initial food tour company I worked for. And then, of course, I did everything from the ground up for my own company and website. I went from thinking I only had a couple of credits here and there, to realizing that I would have to consider what not to include.
Today, I work for a chef who’s had her own interesting career journey with food, that I’ve helped her put into words for a 2nd cookbook proposal, as well as assisting with her blog, newsletter, and social media. I also work with a very well-established bakery from Brooklyn that’s looking to launch a new brand line of snack products. And while my title is Marketing Coordinator, the role is much more. I’ve been writing pieces for the I Love the Upper West Side Blog in exchange for advertising of my food tours—let’s see if my next sponsored post gets any bites (pun intended). AND I’ve reunited with a connection I made, on the evening I quit working for Great Performances, to help create content for an up-and-coming food start-up that’s got so much potential that they’ve been invited to SXSW!
