Hello Everyone! I can’t wait to share a piece of my old self with you! Cammy’s Corner has been my art child since I was 17, A piece of my safe space became a recording studio when I was 17 and I want to rebirth my child in the real raw world. This year, I have been thinking about my self-care, and what that means is I have been going through a very tough year. I want to share my journey to be able to look back on (when I’m famous of course) to show my growth during a pandemic. why wouldn’t someone want to document that! Take a look at my proposal ( I know wow, amazing) to take a look at where I came form and where I’m going

These last three months, while it’s been a tough and interesting one, has shown me how to excel in my field and persevere no matter the circumstances. While I was lucky enough to take my internship requirement and find a job in my field (And I don’t really want to work a 9-5 but the one I’m in is just fine) I was able to narrow in on my goals. while goal-making has been one of my main priorities during this semester, I’m glad that I was able to tune into it for a moment in time. I was able to do more research on Black women in my field of communications. Linkedin has been my best friend. I have been able to gain over 500+ connections (which isn’t just a number but I was able to talk to/introduce myself to a lot of people) while procrastination has been at my doorstep, I would like to thank myself for being able to achieve this goal. Not only does my LinkedIn look popping, but I have also been able to work towards my graduation, and my ability to be independent and start gaining an income from my art once again. My Final Project, which I’m super excited to present the revival of my web-series! since I have two in mind, I want to have the option of doing half and half- Or just going with my gut and doing the one that makes me happy. I can’t wait to get started on it! I’m hoping that my hard work towards it gets recognized by someone, somewhere and I get my credit where my credit is due. We love that for me. i’m so glad to be ending my semester the way I did, and Itt has me thinking about the way I make goals and knowing how achievable they can be. I’m hoping that someone would be able to come back tto me in a couple ,onths and say , “You did it!”

I really did it.

So, I think I missed one class, (or 2) and was still able to keep track of the things that I missed. After talking with the Professor more about what I need to do for the portfolio class since we are almost to the end, and My mind exploded. This is the moment I’ve been waiting for. I’ve had a few friends who were seniors a couple of years back who was stressing about their final projects and I thought it was a really fun concept to end the years at college with. Not that I’m here, I’m not sure if I can share the same sentiment. This is a stressful moment! We have most definitely seen people go viral or get accepted immediately into their field based on their final project. I want it to be grand! My time at York has been interesting but I want to maximize my potential in a place where I’ve had some growth happen. I’m currently drafting my proposal to pitch to a few organizations/companies that I think would be an amazing place to host a lot of my creativity and I would love to document that process through this as well. Work harder and not smarter.

When we started talking about Internships in class, my teacher mode immediately turned on. I somehow managed to get my internship out of the way during the Spring 2020 semester (which wasn’t the best way because I had to shortcut my internship halfway because of the panoramic) and I wanted to share my tricks and tips on how to get an internship (especially a virtual one) during these times. I managed to have a 4-month social media/communications internship with the lovely organization I call home. Urban Word NYC is the leading literary arts organization in New York City. They champion the NYC Youth poet Laureate Program, the Annual NYC Poetry Slam held at the Apollo, and many more iconic events. My main goal with the internship was to get a part-time job (which they couldn’t provide because of the pandemic) but I was able to obtain some really good connects in various fields of the Industry.

Now the question is, What is your process? One of the things that I learned at urban Word NYC is the importance of networking. We all know that Linkedin is “The Facebook for adults” and the powerhouse of networking. I have a process I love to call “Networking Stalking’ which really helped me through the process of finding jobs and more specifically interviews for internships for the Summer and Fall of 2020 (not for school but for experience). Firstly, you have to look up the company that you want to work for. Find their list of employees in the department that you want to work for. Linkedin’s technology allows individuals and companies to sync up which make them easier to find. Once you find someone who looks interesting, you connect with them, and look at the companies they used to work for, and connect with people att thier old job. This puts you higher on their list, causing more and more people to connect with you. You can do with with several people.Once you do this long enough, you have a spider web of connections in different places of people doing the same job that you want to do. You are able to keep tabs/updates, find mutual people and become a familair face whenever you’re ready to ask for an interview or sending a message just to introduce yourself. As you know you probably won’t talk to the 300 people you connected with over time, but you would have a better understanding of tthe places tthat you can get into.

While there are many ways to get into the field, this is the way that I found most successful. I appreciated my method so much, that I went back on Linkedin and found a company that is the father of a big company that I want to work for. I want to be able to use the techniques I learned in this class to get an interview with someone in the company hopefully looking to hire by next year! I’ll let you know how it goes.

In the process of finding an internship last year, I became a Linkedin junkie. (also Connect with me there) I wanted to take the leap and connect with people that I haven’t met and make sure that my profile was pristine to find part-time and full-time jobs in my dream field. I wanted people to know my business side apart from my creative side and find a way to combine them both. I was able to connect with an amazing woman from a company I want to work with on Instagram and we connected on Linkedin and Bumble Bizz.

If you are looking for an amazing place to connect with like-minded people who just want to network and collaborate on certain projects, Use Bumble Bizz ( not the dating one, but the business one) I was able to create a profile and have a tinder-like experience with people I want to connect with, work with, or just talk to. While I enjoy modelling in my free time, I was able to find 5 photographers in my area that want to work with me in the month of October. Hopefully, in the near future, there can be a platform for women in the media that want to connect ( I know a couple but they’re just spreadsheet based)

While I continue doing research on people who work in my field, I continue having conversations about what I need to be doing now to ensure my spot in one of these dream companies in the near future.

So far, I’ve learned that it’s good to build my resume with extra-curricular activities! companies don’t want employees who are only work-based. they want an individual who can have a life outside of the workplace who they can essentially provide skillsets and experience to at their company. I’ve learned that you should do online courses (since we are home anyway) companies want to ensure you can manage your workload in a home and virtual/ online setting. Everything from learning SEO to digital marketing is key.

Experience is also necessary! It doesnt have to be at huge companies but interning at some of the startups who want to have good social media presence is good for your practice and for thier brand.

I am interested in influencer marketing and I joined a couple of apps where I practice writing reviews and creating videos that provide me with some experience in that field which makes it easier for me to transition to freelance or a corporate job. ( there’s no in between)

Recently, on a car ride home, I had a moment of reflection. “What am I doing with my life?” While 2020 has taken a big turn for all of us, It has been an eye opening year for me. This has been my first year where all of my goals haven’t been achieved yet. I spent my December 31st 2019, writing down goals for each month, as well as bigger goals for the year, on a personal level and scholarly level. To be frank, my personal level encapsulates all of my other goals, as my school life isn’t all that I am. One of the goals that I had for this year was to intern at HBO. no specific department, I just wanted to have those three letters, or, Warner Cable on my Linkedin Resume. I worked really hard and got all the way to the video interview.

And then I didn’t get a callback. I thought, maybe, they cancelled the internship program because of Covid. Well, I saw people getting accepted. I had to understand that even though I’ve been working towards this goal for about 6 months, some goals aren’t meant to be achievable. The goals that we set in life are supposed to range in difficulty and possibility. I learned this a couple years back when I had the wildest goals that i could’ve thought of, but surpassed them in no time.

Goals are really the stepping stool for our advancement. While I’ve had many goals for this year, I’ve reached the point where I’d just let things happen- especially with fires in California and everything else that’s happening in the world. Our future is nowhere close to being promised.

The end goal of my experiences with internships is that, while a company may have a big name, you are working with people. People who make mistakes, people who sometimes are still learning and don’t know what they’re doing, and people who can’t separate the professional and the personal. While my dreams on HBO were crushed, I think everything else that happened in it’s way made me go back and rethink some of my goals. That working for HBO doesn’t mean that I’m just working for a big company. I’d have a boss I probably wouldn’t like, being a Black woman may not work in my favor, and that “I’m still very young” (which has stopped no-one , like ever, just saying)

While I didn’t achieve my goal of sitting in a Game of Throne office chair in Hudson Yards, I’ve remodeled many other goals that I’ve been able to accomplish. Finding a more suitable internship that would land me a part-time job in my field. Tiny things such as relax more, take life by the neck and rest it on a pillow and be grateful for the little things. While I’ve been able to be on Snapchat this month, which has never essentially been a goal for me, I’ve been able to get there.

It’s time to go back to the drawing board and prioritize my goals as they come. One of my biggest goals is coming to fruition (can’t say until it’s final, hopefully before the end of this semester I can share) and I’ve been taking it for granted by focusing on other things, and I’m really happy that I’m able to do more research, reading anything I can get my hands on, talking to people about their life stories and digging deep to understand myself more. Goal planning is becoming a bit easier as I fully grasp the idea that goals are goals and some might score, and some might miss.

Well, Finally! Graduating has been a big goal for me, and I can see the finish line. I believe that in my 3 years of being at York College, It was not fun. My big goals for what I want to accomplish in and out of school never came to fruition and I can’t even be mad at it. Many of the small tasks that I have worked on gave me opportunities in the complete opposite direction of the way I would’ve wanted to go but who am I to question the universe? When I didn’t get the big Internship I wanted last summer, I didn’t want anything to do with further education. What was the point if I’m working hard at school and things can’t pay off for me? Like, America explain. I reframed the researching process and came to love job positions that I didn’t even know existed. For example, many of the big brands we see, more than likely have smaller (or bigger) brands that are easier to work for because you are behind the scenes and not working for such a big name. Consider being a Ghostwriter for Drake. While some people may want to be Drake, I prefer to be the Ghostwriter. Slept on, but I’m still working hard and creating amazing content.

Doing research really sets the bar when it comes to job searching. I think of myself most of the times like Barry Bee, Never wanting to be in the same job for the rest of my life, but I do want the one that I have now to be worth it.