LJ: What are critical aspects of your job now?

 

CF: Definitely knowing platform updates. For a social media coordinator, you have to know what’s going on with Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and new ad form platforms. My co-worker started an email chain talking about a new ad unit that’s in Facebook that they found. Staying up to date with platform updates, trends, and any general news is super important to work in social.

 

 

LJ: How is your work day spent?

 

CF: In social, nothing is ever really structured. Depending on the client, the client can have different needs and briefs. Right now its just going every day willing to hard at what ever they toss at you.

 

 

LJ: What do you do to get inspired? Do you have any hobbies or any interests outside of advertising?

 

CF: I like to look at other ways people use to express themselves on platforms for art or how they use their creativity. Casey Niestat is one of my favorite film directors. He makes a lot of YouTube videos and I like how he shoots them. Their super unique, not a traditional style and I really appreciate that.

 

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LJ: How did you get your job? What steps did you take to get here?

 

CF: To work in advertising, you need tons of experience. When I was in Chicago, I was able to intern at a ton of places. Thanks to MAIP, I don’t think I would have been able to intern in as many places if I didn’t intern in Boston last year. So it was a lot of internships, a lot of networking and just being ambitious, always searching for jobs. I kept applying to a lot of places and Heat reached out to me.

 

 

LJ: What work are you most proud of?

 

CF: Well I just started three weeks ago, so I don’t have any work that I’m “proud” of per se! But I’m really happy with the agency as a whole. Something that is important to me is finding a place where I feel super comfortable so I can be myself and express my thoughts.

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LJ: What do you think is the most common misconception of this industry?

 

CF: For some reason, people say that we manipulate and I’m like, “mmmh, not really!” We don’t do a lot of that. I don’t see people in meetings discussing how we can fool people this time into buying our product. I feel like advertising is just as honest as the agency tries to make it.

 

I feel like it’s a reflection of the people who work there. If there is a group of diverse people behind an agency, it’s going to have diverse work with lots of different mindsets and have a correct image. No one is really trying to manipulate or trick anyone.

 

 

LJ: What are some changes you would like to see made to the advertising industry?

 

CF: I would love to see more diversity. There’s just so much talent everywhere. One of the things that I’ve found I most like about advertising are the people I’ve talked to don’t come from advertising backgrounds. They come from all sorts of backgrounds. I think we should do a better job at telling people that.

 

You don’t need to study advertising all four years. You just have to have a passion for people and creating things that appeal to different people. As long as you have that, you can succeed in this industry.

 

 

LJ: What does advertising mean to you?

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CF: I feel that I would not be this happy in any other job. It’s kinda weird because I didn’t ever think that I would go into advertising, but it’s also weird because I couldn’t see myself outside a marketing job. I love surrounding myself with creative people, collaborating and coming up with stuff. Advertising is a means to be myself and figure out what I do best.

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