Switching Paths in University: It’s never too late to start something new.
“I switched paths right before starting my 5th year in University (I did a total of 6 years). It was the riskiest, but also the best decision I’ve made to date.”
YEAR 2 & 16 MONTHS ON CO-OP
I transferred to business school in my second year of university, after finishing my first year in Arts. The business school environment has always been a busy and competitive one, where those “where are you going this summer?” questions were casually mentioned during conversations. There was a time when I couldn’t keep my mind off of the concern of being unable to land an internship after finishing second year and I’m not gonna lie - it was probably the most stressful time I’d ever gone through in my entire university years. I was new to the faculty, to people, to the networking events that I used to find somewhat intimidating, and often felt disadvantaged when it came to applying for jobs.
Thankfully I was able to do well in Finance and Accounting courses, which led me to believe that I should explore career opportunities in these fields. I was eventually very fortunate to have landed my very first co-op work term with Canalyst as an Equity Research Associate, which later turned into a 12-month placement where I got a chance to work on building, maintaining and improving financial models across different sectors. I learnt so much at Canalyst: I gained advanced proficiency with Microsoft Excel, learned best practices when it comes to financial modelling and incorporating elements into a financial model to help users make better investment decisions, and worked along with my teammates and supervisors to deliver our database consisted of thousands of reliable financial models with clean data to our clients.
After Canalyst, I left Vancouver for 4 months to intern at WestJet’s Corporate Development group in Calgary, and here, once again, learnt so much. Besides the technical knowledge I was able to strengthen from working with my seniors from Corporate Development, Network Planning, Alliances & Partnership and Revenue Analytics while getting the chance to be a part of high-impact projects, I also learnt so much from my team’s enthusiasm and passion with the work they were doing, and from my supervisors who always led by examples and helped me learn so much about the Canadian and Global Airlines industry. The most rewarding part of this experience was seeing how my work could impact to people’s lives, as I met crew members who told me they loved their jobs, read letters sent WestJet by our guests, or saw our guests reuniting with their families and loved ones at the airports. That summer, I contributed to, and witnessed how WestJet upheld their promise in continually bringing exceptional travelling experiences through launching our ULCC subsidiary Swoop, or announcing the launch of short-distanced regional subsidiary WestJet Link to better improve transportation to and from regional communities, or acquiring new Boeing 787s to better serve guests on Trans-Atlantic routes. I was inspired with the idea of customer-centricity - to positively impact end-users of the product/ service by putting them and their experience first.
WHERE IT ALL STARTED
I came back to school to resume my studies after 16 months of consecutive work terms. I entered my specialization in Finance, doing mostly Finance courses while trying to figure out which next steps to take in my career. Although I knew I liked Finance and learned so much from it, I also knew I wanted to try something new to further explore the idea of being customer-centric, and to be closer to the customers/ audiences/ guests that brands are serving. I spent a great amount of time looking at different options I have, and also for the longest time, had no idea about which direction to head towards.
The best part of this year - my 4th year in university, is that I got the chance to meet and befriended some smart, humble and sincere (and funny) people who helped shaping me into who I am today. My friends Jules and Alice were two of them. They walked me through the customer journey maps built for Marketing case competition submissions (Alice was on the same team with me competing at the UBC Imprint Senior Case Competition, while Jules was competing at Canada’s Next Top Ad Exec Competition and made Top 10 Nationals) - which shed some lights on the role of digital strategists and marketers in strengthening the business-customer relationship through purposeful and value-adding interactions along the customer journey. Suddenly, I felt a spark. I am a people-centered person, I love developing genuine relationships through meaningful conversations with people, and the idea of leveraging the power of conversation and human connection to inspire people and their decision-making in my career excited me. This was my eureka moment, marking the start of my journey to take this leap of faith.
TAKING THE LEAP OF FAITH
I am no stranger to risky decisions - I’ve surely made so many in my life growing up, but the decision to start over again in Marketing is by far the riskiest one I’ve made. Many people I knew asked wouldn’t it be easier to just do Finance rather than betting on something that was, back then, nothing more than just a spark? My mom was among the few people who supported my decision to make the switch, because if I don’t give it a try, I’d never know if it could be anything more than a temporal interest. And so I did it: I gave myself a chance to take this leap of faith to get out of my comfort zone to learn more about what Marketing truly is about.
After finishing my 4th year in university, I started doing more research & self-learning more about the field, did Brand Management Mentorship Program to learn more about Brand Marketing at CPG companies, while continuing to look for another co-op position in the Fall of 2019. I resumed my long-lost interest in reading by picking up my first Seth Godin book This Is Marketing - which describes the role Marketing holds and the elements behind successful creative strategies in the 21st century (I will definitely write a book review on this book one day, since it is definitely still one of my favorite books to date). During this period, I also developed an interest in technology, especially with digital products and their instrumental roles in our daily lives in today’s world, and landed my next co-op placement at Apply Digital - a digital product studio in Vancouver as a Product Manager Co-op. This was another transformative work experience that I will always be grateful for: I got to learn and practice the agile methodology in product development and management, worked with a team of smart, humble and supportive PMs, Project Managers, Developers, and more. I received a great amount of support from my supervisor, who did not only provide me with the support and training I needed to succeed at work, but also reminded me about the importance of health and wellbeing, and helped me to bounce back from a brief period of time where I challenged by mental health issues. Understanding my interest to learn more about Marketing, my supervisor staffed me on a go-to-market project where I got the chance to gain many exposure to GTM strategy and Product Marketing through collaborating with a team of brilliant Marketing Strategists, Designers and Copywriters. Having worked extensively on the execution of Marketing initiatives as a part of our GTM plan has affirmed my interest in Marketing, and strengthened my desire to pursue a career in this field as I wrapped up my 7 month internship with Apply Digital (with 4 months of full-time work followed by 3 months of part-time work).
The 2020 spring/ summer season was a strange one, as my exchange plan to Vienna was cancelled due to COVID-19. After finishing final exams, my friend Alice (yes, it was the same Alice who sparked my interest in Marketing) asked me to form a team and join Google Online Marketing Challenge where we got the chance to provide Google Ads consulting to a non-profit organization. I invited our friend Katrina to our team, and through Google, got paired with Assaulted Women’s Helpline - a NPO headquartered in Toronto. This experience taught me a lot about the technical sides and best practices in Google Ads, which was not only applicable to this project but ended up becoming helpful to my previous, and current work experience. I got into the job-hunting game pretty late this summer, but was still fortunate to have found an internship at Etoile Web Design - a Montreal-based WordPress development shop, where I worked as a Summer Marketing Associate with a focus on Content Creation and Creative Strategy. I pushed myself outside of my comfort zone to manage the full content cycle, from planning, ideation to execution, while continuing to explore new content ideas to promote EWD’s product offerings within the F&B and eCommerce niches.
After my final summer internship at EWD, I worked at Perk Hero - a Vancouver startup as a Marketing Associate with a focus on Analytics and Marketing Technology, and in March 2021, joined Appnovation full-time as a Marketing Operations Coordinator. Through those work and volunteer experiences, I have gained a great amount of skills across different areas of Marketing, developed a great understanding of the areas I want to specialize in at work, and become 100% committed to the Marketing and Creative industries, knowing that it’s the one thing that gets me excited everyday when I wake up.
FINAL NOTES
Looking back at my journey, I didn’t regret a single thing. Sure, it did take me an extra year in university to find out what I love. It wasn’t easy either to hit the reset button much later compared to my peers while already having over a year of experience in Finance, but I also discovered so much about myself in the progress: How excitement feels like, how I can go for hours to explain Marketing concepts to someone who wants to learn about them, how I am willing to go the extra mile to explore different approaches to tackle creative problems, and how I get excited and become 5x more patient than how I normally am when it comes to all things Marketing. And don’t get me wrong, Finance/ Capital Markets is a great industry for those who are passionate with it: I learnt so much from my Finance experiences and met so many great people along the way, but it was not the best fit for me. I still graduated with a Finance degree, and applied the knowledge I picked up from my Finance days to my day-to-day responsibilities at work. What I meant is, it’s never too late to get started on something that feels right to you. All you need is a spark, a lot of motivation, and plenty of excitement to keep you going.
My home office wall of memories, featuring collected items from the years at university which shaped me into who I am today.
Last but not least, I am grateful for everyone who has been a part of this journey. My family, my friends, my colleagues and supervisors, my professors at Sauder, the people who have faith in me and in my risky decision to pursue Marketing, and those who told me I couldn’t do it, thank you for helping me keep this fire burning. Thanks to you, I wake up every morning feeling inspired knowing I’ll get to do what I love, and work alongside people who share a common passion with me towards something bigger.
This is only the beginning, and I am excited to keep on going to see what the future of Marketing has to offer to me, to my fellow Creative professionals, and to world we live in.