When I was younger, I didn’t believe that a career journey was a thing. I thought that you get a job after high school or college and that’s what you do for the rest of your life. My mom has worked at the same place since before I was born, and worked her way up, so I just assumed that’s how it works for everyone… WRONG.
I was lucky to have known from a young age that I would have a career in marketing. I remember my first trip to Disneyland, all I could think about was how every little detail helped guests to understand the story of the brand. So ya, from nine years old I was judging logos, in-store signage and brand identities.
Although my career journey has taken me through a few variations of marketing, all of my jobs have been within that scope of work. But I also recognize that many high school students and young adults have no clue what they want to do, or even what opportunities are available to them.
Sidebar – This is something that has always bothered me. I truly believe that the final years of high school should be based around helping students learn about the job and career opportunities that are available to them. Less electives and spare blocks, more education on what high school is preparing you for. Imagine how many more students would have a clear idea of what to do post-grad if we spent a little less time analyzing their APA citations and more time understanding how English class can prepare them to be a book publisher, a copywriter or a journalist.
Anyways, I was lucky to have an idea of what I wanted post-grad. My career journey has been interesting and it has taken me places I’d never dreamt of, and it’s brought me to me dream career now. So let’s take a look back!
When I graduated high school, I was already working retail at Garage Clothing. It didn’t take me long to get bored of asking customers if I could help them, but luckily I discovered visual merchandising. I loved getting creative and strategic with the layout of the store. Soon after graduation though, I left Garage and took my merchandising skills over to lululemon, where I had a lot more freedom to create outfits, exercise my creativity and plan for sales.
I learned SO much working at lululemon (I was also getting a degree in Business Administration with a specialization in Marketing at the time). I learned how to give and receive feedback, how the small details drive sales and how important relationships are in business.
The summer after I graduated with my degree, I had this crazy idea that I should move to Edmonton (WHAT?!) and get a job with the Edmonton Oilers. I loved hockey and had dreamt of working in marketing for an NHL team. Two weeks after making this decision, my dad drove me out to Edmonton and I got comfortable in my one bedroom apartment. Very comfortable. In fact, I spent two months unemployed in that apartment.
After repeatedly messaging the HR director for the Oilers on LinkedIn, she finally agreed to interview me and ultimately offered me a position in Ticketing. For about eight months I worked with season seat holders, answering their calls and emails and helping with their ticketing issues at the games. I quickly learned that obtaining a marketing role with the team would be very difficult and also that, marketing isn’t quite as fun when you don’t need to try and make more sales. That was a huge lesson for me in my career.
Edmonton was not the place for me and I missed home terribly. A little under a year after moving there, I moved back to Kelowna and started working for a local media outlet, KelownaNow, and marketing agency, Csek Creative. They hired me on as a Content Writer, but thanks to my inability to be satisfied with a single job, I quickly become the Content Director and managed teams in both businesses. I learned so much about how to lead and how to create content that encourages action.
About two years in, I decided to move on from those companies, but I chose to stay in media for a while and learn more about advertising. I ended up taking a marketing position followed by a sales position with Black Press Media. The experience that I gained working with clients was invaluable, but it also gave me the push I needed to dive into entrepreneurship.
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October 2019, I left my job with Black Press Media and started working for myself. I do freelance marketing and writing for a handful of local clients, and of course, I have this blog. Blogging has been my dream career for some time now and I’m so happy that I am making my dreams come true. It’s challenging and stressful and I feel like I’m making like 50 cents an hour right now, but I know it’s going to be worth it.
My aim is for this blog to be an authentic, creative and bold space where I can connect and grow with all of you. I love to talk about affordable style, wellness tips, Odie, relationships, career advice and so much more with you guys, and I’m grateful that I have this opportunity. I’m also grateful that my career journey has led me right here, right now.
I would love to hear about your career paths! If you’re down to chat, please send me a DM on Instagram or email me at sammy@sammmyhill.com.
