New York City No.2
“Never losing faith in yourself. You will figure out at the end, especially in New York. If you go through that path, you are one of New Yorker!” - random stranger.
I will never because I just decided to move to NY anyway for my one year left in America. And, I will make a full experience of NY life whether it’ll be miserable or not, I know I will learn and grow in a better version of myself and I could tell everyone that I used to live in NY and have an opportunity to experience that life while I’m in America.
New York City No.1
I used to question people that what do you love about New York? Why do you want to live here and opt out other much much better options? Because for me, New York is crowded, is dirty and its transportation system isn’t the best. I took my New York trip at my junior year for granted because I thought the city was not one of my choice.
Coming back to Eugene for a day, I realized I have underestimated the city in various aspects. I didn’t realize how much New York City and the people there have inspired me every single moments until I paid attention to every single person in New York. I found myself curious about the good and bad stories, about all the ups and downs in this city, and found myself as an introvert, started to strike for a conversation with strangers on a subway, which I’ve never done before even with people that I’m familiar with. I haven’t been passion and ambitious for quite a long time, and there are moments I thought I’ve been losing my passion for this industry and struggling to find back the energy that used to fuel me every single day. For a week in New York, it changed my perspectives and kept me moving forward no matter how exhausted I was. I realized how much the city impacts on my thoughts and decisions for who I want to be and where I want to live. I don’t know if I find back my passion yet, but there but there is something in the city that keeps me going days by days, that allows me to live in my own dream, and knows that everything is possible in this city. I think that’s all I need for now!
Quyen Tran
Major Keys
Get comfortable with being uncomfortable- Whether it’s being comfortable speaking with people or arguing for ideas, get familiar with that unfamiliar or uncomfortable thing. From what some people said at agencies, it seems that uncomfortable feeling never fully goes away, but it gets better with experience.
Make it bulletproof- Be ready to defend your ideas and your co-workers’ ideas. Simply thinking an idea is good is not good enough. Data + people always help.
Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work- Simple. Work hard but maintain your sanity and a life outside of work.
Brendon Maier 5/14/2018
Networking with Strangers
When it comes to networking, New York is the place to do it. You are surrounded by others at all times, and you never know who you could be sitting next to on the subway. It’s important to talk to people and to question their profession if they allow it.
It is an environment the cultivates collaborative work.
This week I heard a quote from someone during my stay at the Roosevelt hotel. I don’t remember who said it, but it went something like this: “Never be too prideful to collaborate. If Lebron James hadn’t joined forces with Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh, he would never had won that championship.”
As a huge basketball fan I loved hearing that, but as a producer I had to take it into serious consideration. There have been many times when I’ve been too prideful to accept the help from others, and my work suffered consequently.
It’s imperative that we work alongside our talented peers. This is how amazing work is created.
-Sean Haney
Shooting in the City
Attention all producers!
New York City is a tricky place when capturing photo and video content. It’s full of huge buildings, busy tourists, garbage trucks, taxis, and reflective skyscrapers.
This means that there is a TON of different shooting environments, types of light, and situations when you need to adjust your manual settings. To shoot different scenarios it is obviously helpful to bring multiple lenses at various focal lengths, but it goes beyond this.
If you’re shooting video you’re going to need to buy a variable neutral density filter. A neutral density, or ND filter, is like a pair of sunglasses for your lens. It will allow you to keep your shutter where it needs to be while you shoot at a lower aperture. This will let you get those perfectly exposed shots, while still giving you a shallow depth of field between your subject and the background (cinematic shots with your model and blurred skyscrapers are very nice).
Lastly: practice, practice, practice. You won’t regret it. While you are shooting in New York City, you need to be ready to quickly adjust your settings for new lighting situations.
-Sean Haney
Culture in An Agency
May 11th 2018
Today I was able to visit Mullen Lowe at the New York City office. This was a really exciting experience for me as I will be working at Mullen Lowe Boston as a project management intern this summer. The NYC office is the newest office that they opened and Boston is the original office. During ourvisit we were able to talk to two recruiters and then a copywriter. I really like the people, and I could tell it was a type of culture that I could fit in with. The people were extremely laid back but also showed that they were extremely passionate about the work they were producing. We always talk about culture with in an agency and I think that is something that is hard to understand until you go and actually visit an agency. You could feel and start to understand the culture of the agency purely by the people you meet. This was a major discovery I had through out this trip. A few other takeaways I had from Mullen Lowe were the importance of using data in a smart and creative way. As well as the importance of being invested in every part of the agency and being able to understand what is happening. Overall visiting Mullen Lowe was a great experience and got me excited for this summer.
-Maddi Grenfell
Girl Power
May 10th 2018
The topic of inclusion is becoming extremely important with in the advertising world, people are taking a stand to help diversify the advertising world. Being in NYC it was amazing to see this come to life. One of the first things that inspired me and got me excited was Flock. The Flock program is such an amazing opportunity to help support and inspire young women getting into advertising. I think this support system is extremely important and helpful to gain a bigger female representation in the advertising world. Along with the Flock it was amazing to see how many females we were able to talk to at each agency. It was also beautiful to see the diversity in some of the agencies, the teams consisted men and women and people from all different countries, cultures, and backgrounds. This inspired me and got me excited for the future of advertising.
-Maddi Grenfell
Climate Refugee’s at The UN
May 9th 2018
Yesterday I got the privilege to speak to members of the United Nations Foundation and the UN and about an issue I have become extremely passionate about through out the course of this year. This issue being climate refugees. This was truly a surreal experience, something I couldn’t have ever imagined having the opportunity to do as a college student. Our four person team has been working on this project since the begin of fall term, each of us had a passion for the issue and drive that motivated us to keep digging deeper. At times through out this year we didn’t know what conclusion we were looking for or if there even was a solution at all. However, we kept researching, thinking, and talking to find creative ways to find a tiny piece of the puzzle to almost unanswerable question.
This experience was truly unlike any other experience I have had. And I have learned so much through it. It also reminds me how lucky I am to be able to have the opportunities I have had. This program has provided with some many skills and opportunities that I don’t think I could have got any where else. At the end of the day I am thankful for this opportunit. and proud of our team for the hard work and dedication.
-Maddi Grenfell
Hello NYC
May 7th 2018
Today was the first day in NYC with the advertising program and I could not be more excited for this experience and opportunity. Not only are we able to visit some of the most amazing agencies in the world, we get to experience a city that has some much culture and so much going on. I am fully ready to take in everything that the city has to offer.
It was awesome to be able to visit Weiden and Kennedy, and it blows me away the amount of generosity they give to us. Here are a few of the key takeaways I had.
“Never study advertising”
“Be interested in creativity and culture”
“Take the hard stuff”
“Be indispensable and always find ways to be helpful”
-Maddi Grenfell
TTYL NYC!
Leaving New York City: full belly fuller ambition. Now that I have completely accepted my bagel shaped body, I’m hungry for some more. I feel ready to really apply myself in my career and passions. Although I know some 180 path changes are bound ahead, I have a clearer sense of what direction I want to possibly start in. Their is no possible way to surmount how thankful I am to have been fortunate enough to take part in this New York experience. I have gained so much knowledge from those around me from agency, in-house, my amazing faculty members, and fellow talented students. I have gained so many insights and memories on this trip that I know can only act as an catalyst for inspiration for myself and those around me.
I came into New York City anxious and a little confused on my career direction, I left the city ready to be ON and with a potential lead for a summer internship. I am extremely proud of the talent that sounds me in the SOJC and can’t wait to see all the ducks back in New York.
- Amanda Lucas