Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Tips From Pamela Jones

Last Wednesday I had the privilege to hear from Portsmouth native, NSU 2008 graduate, Pamela Jones and she spoke to us about the tips to being a successful mass communication major in and out of school. She started off in school joking around all the time and active on the yard in many organizations on campus. She is now located in New York making more money then she would in Virginia stating “sometimes you gotta leave out to bring back in.”

In 2006 she got picked to go on a mass communication trip to New York and ran into MTV and ended up on TRL dancing to Beyonce and got invited back the next day. Her whole motive was, “what possibilities do you have just jumping up.” She ended up getting an internship in New York and is still interning there.

Since she got serious about her future she considers herself a grinder. While all her friends were in Miami for spring break she was in New York staying in a hostile, it was the scariest experience in her life but anything to get your hands on, anything to get contacts of the people you need to know was her reasoning. Don’t break the law, but make it work. Stay after the movie and watch the end credits, get the cast caller name, call the studios, get their extension and work it out.

Pamela stressed how we needed to take advantage of the resources provided at school, you may have to merge your personal life and school, stop looking at the little picture and look at things in the long run. You’re going to fail, they will tell you no, but you have to have a quick turnaround. “You never know the avenues you can take, always have an open ear to what’s out there.”

She also emphasized how important our resume, image, and networking is. The energy put into that one piece of paper will take you so far. “GRIND, be humble, know that no one owes you anything, be creative, you really have to stand out, what does your personality have to offer?” You have to talk to your professors and faculty, build a relationship so that you can come back and have doors opened. She left us all with a statement of motivation, “If you don’t take any actions, then you have no room to complain about anything.”

No comments:

Post a Comment