Mashable

As classes draw to a close, I find myself more and more intrigued by the possibilities marketing has to offer. I find myself wanting information about how to do things immediately. Lately I have been constantly looking at my degree evaluation to determine what classes will be most beneficial to me. Online Marketing, Direct Marketing, Public Relations, Advertising. I feel like I want to immerse myself in all of them. I don't think I have been excited about school work until this year. I think predicting new and exciting things is why. I'm really confident I am in the right industry with Marketing. Once classes end and after Sales Academy training in North Carolina, this blog will be revamped and be commentary on different ideas of how to market things.

With this blossoming interest for anything Marketing, I have been on @Mashable a lot lately looking at their Business & Marketing section. The new news and buzz on all things marketing has really peaked my interest. It will definitely be a source that I will go to to see what new ideas are being created.

There's one marketing experiment that really caught my eye on Mashable today. You can find it here ---> The Russian Roulette is such an innovating concept. It brings so many things into play that I learned about during marketing. It's creative, it's risky, but more importantly it draws attention to the brand. It also is a reflection of how much our "virtual lives" have become apart of us. I mean imagine the impact if tons of my friends played and lost their Facebook pages. I mean Facebook has become such an integrated part of people's lives. To lose it all to a game is intriguing and scary at the same time. Kudos to the Miami Ad School in Europe.

Emerald Ball and updates

Kappa Delta's formal was exciting and lots of fun last night; however, it also reminds me of the looming end of this semester. I officially have two weeks until I will be done with finals and will begin my Area Sales Manager position with University Directories and begin traveling all over California to make sure our sales representatives hit their target goal! I have already devised a study schedule to make sure I finish all the studying I need to. These next two weeks are going to be busy and I want to be 150% prepared for finals. Going into finals, I believe I have all A's or A minuses in my classes so the pressure is on.

As far as this blog, as soon as my finals come to a close, I will be adding more pages. I plan to add a portfolio of my experiences that can be displayed online. I think a portfolio will be good to keep track of my numerous projects I have been working on. I also want to start more blogs on social media, online marketing, and marketing techniques that I find. I think it will be a good way to track my progress in getting experience in the online sector. I really am intrigued about SEO, online banners, contests, so I want to find an outlet that will allow me to learn about these. I think this form of marketing will become very important for after I graduate.

I know this is a short post, but I really must get back to studying! Look out for more to come!

Back from Chapel Hill

Area Sales Manager training in Chapel Hill for University Directories was a success. It was an amazing experience that really expanded my knowledge about managing and working with people. The first day we were at the Triangle Training Center. We had some really great topics come up like trust, direction, and team work. It definitely was fun. Taylor, the TSM in my region and I did the ropes course together. I know we are going to be such a great team, especially working under Kyle, our regional manager. I just can't believe the challenge I have for this summer! It seems like such a big task this summer to manage 27 interns! I'm so thankful for the opportunity. I'm currently reading the book, Self Leadership & the One Minute Manager. It's really intriguing and has some great insight. Hopefully I will be able to apply everything in the book to my interns!

The more I think about it, I know that I really would like to be on the Marketing or Public Relations side of business instead of sales. Sales is a great place to develop my skill set and learn how to put things in the perspective of the consumer; however, I'm ready to apply that to marketing strategy and practice. After this summer, I hope to find an internship to supplement my internship with Allied Integrated Marketing to really put my marketing and public relations skills to the test. In the middle of the semester I was doubting my switch from Marketing to Integrated Marketing Communications; however, now I know I am studying the right coursework.

Wikipedia defines IMC as: Integrated marketing communications (IMC) is a process for managing customer relationships that drive brand value primarily through communication efforts. Such efforts often include cross-functional processes that create and nourish profitable relationships with customers and other stakeholders by strategically controlling or influencing all messages sent to these groups and encouraging data-driven, purposeful dialog with them. IMC includes the coordination and integration of all marketing communication tools, avenues, and sources within a company into a seamless program in order to maximize the impact on end users at a minimal cost. This integration affects all firm's business-to-business, marketing channel, customer-focused, and internally directed communications.^[2]

Summer Goals

So I will be in North Carolina tomorrow, and I have been thinking a lot about the summer. Traveling all over California for this job is going to be amazing and I will have a lot of time to myself and explore. I've decided to create a bucket list that I hope I can accomplish

1. Hit my sales goal as an Area Sales Manager
2. Surpass the region's sales goal!
3. Scrapbook my time at: SDSU and Disney
4. Network with some people who work at Corporate Disney
5. Visit all 4 Kappa Delta's or at least see the outside of them
6. Take 1 picture every day for the whole summer
7. Save at least 85% of everything I make
8. Read a book on SEO/online marketing
9. Find cute things for my new room in my new house!
10. Blog at least one or twice a week!
11. Scope out the best places to shop.
12. Perfect my resume!
13. Workout at least twice a week!
14. Tan?...no SWIM (since it will be the first summer I'm not working as a lifeguard!)
15. visit as many people I can
16. GO TO DISNEYLAND whenever possible :)
17. Visit my little!
18. See a concert
19. Roadtrip to Vegas?
20. Buy my 21st birthday outfit!
21. HAVE AN EPIC 21st birthday!

I think 21 things on my summer bucket list are pretty symbolic because I am turning 21 this year. Maybe when I turn 21, I will realize that I'm an adult. I know everyone says you are an adult at 18, but there are still things as a 18/19/20 year old that you can't do. For example you you can not rent a car, and you can not go on a cruise without a "guardian". I'm sure there are a lot of other things, unfortunately I can't think of them all now. That's it for now though!

My, my Time Sure Flies

It's pretty amazing that this semester has passed so quickly. Most likely due to crunching notes, racing to my internship, filling my planner, and tons of events. I finally have finished most of my midterms for the semester which is really relaxing. I just need to hold out until the end of the semester. I'm on my way to my best semester yet, which will be a great accomplishment for me as I took last semester off to do the Disney College Program.

Marketing370 is probably the most interesting class I have taken at state. Most likely its because it directly correlates to my major and the internships that I have been taking. I think one of the reasons why I am doing so well in that class is because I see how my internship jobs relate to actual concept. It's making learning so much easier. My courses are finally closer to home than they have been since my college career. I've also started to notice how many of my courses are now overlapping in content. There are many times where I've started to notice the content in my intercultural communications class, my management class, and my marketing class have the same underlying content. Finally everything is cohesive and it makes me excited for the upcoming semesters and future jobs.

Lately, I've really become intrigued by Search Engine Optimization and building my online brand. Online marketing has increasingly become so important in today's market. I'm intrigued by what opportunities SEO and online marketing has to offer. I'm going to spend a lot of my summer attempting to teach myself all about online marketing while I'm traveling from market to market. Hopefully I will be able to keep this goal when summer comes closer.

Back to School

Wow. Time sure flies. It's probably because I had so much fun last semester.

It's amazing how much I've been through since last semester. I successfully completed the Disney College Program! I learned so much about the Walt Disney Company and myself. It definitely opened my eyes to things I could have never imagined doing. It really felt like a 6 month vacation in Florida and it was soooo worth it. I've seen the parks inside and out and really felt how to make the Disney magic come alive. Not to mention the best friends I made there. The people that work for Disney are absolutely amazing. They truly made my experience and I can't wait to meet up with them again!!! The opportunity to network and learn about corporate Disney was absolutely amazing as well. I never thought about how many options there would be after I completed this program until now as a Disney Campus Representative. It's absolutely incredible the doors that opened for me! Hopefully I can continue to work towards returning to Disney some day to work forever but for now I need to concentrate on school!

Back to SDSU as usual. I think I went overboard on my schedule this semester. I seriously have no free weekend or day really to just sit and relax..it makes me miss disney but at the same time, I know its absolutely necessary to get everything done. I have 15 units this semester, an internship, sorority life, AMA meetings, a relationship and I try to have a social life. It's getting pretty hard to balance. Luckily I am interested in my classes now. I don't think there has ever been a time that I have been this engaged in everything that I am learning. It's most likely because I know this is what I will be doing for the rest of my life. My internship is pretty amazing. I am currently working for Allied Integrated Marketing as their Columbia Pictures Intern. It's pretty neat to work on the promotions side of major motion pictures like Just Go With It and currently Battle LA. There's a lot of work that goes into it though I will admit. I'm just trying to take the internship day by day and get everything out of it that I possibly can.

Kappa Delta is crazy as usual. We have events every weekend/week. It's sorta hard to keep up. I forgot how time consuming it is. I love the girls though so I try my best to attend everything no matter how crazy my life gets. This semester I feel somewhat disconnected from the house. I officially have no positions in the house this semester. No obligations to go out anymore to the fraternities because I'm not social chair. It's sorta nice..I'm so over being at the fraternities.. its the same story there as it was my freshman year. I'm glad my lil dag took over for me...on other news...The seniors are down to their last 2 months in the house! It's so bittersweet..I really can't imagine KD without them..especially my big! There's so much that happened this semester. My big must be one of the strongest people I have ever known. Her mom died suddenly only 2 weekends ago, and my big still can put a smile on her face and continue to live out her life. I have the utmost admiration for my big. I will miss her next semester :(. luckily i have an amazing twin and new little sis to be with all next semester!!!!

I'm trying to get into the habit of blogging more often for not only myself but things I'm interested in. Including: Disney, fashion, gossip, marketing, & college life! Look out for that!

Summer

School is finally over..it's a mixed feeling about not going back next semester.Being away from San Diego, my friends, my Kappa Delta sisters, Kovu, Louis, & my family, it will certainly be an adventure in Disney World. To be honest, I am a little nervous. Every time I want to have an adventure, I seem to venture farther and farther away from home. But that is part of growing up I guess..

So much has happened since I last blogged; I'm not sure where to start.

My spring semester ended very well. I ended up with 2 A-'s, 2 A's, and a B. My total GPA is now a 3.18 & and hopefully going up. I hope to keep this up once I get back. Finals were stressful as always with the same old routine of all-nighters. I'm glad that is over. Kappa Delta was absolutely amazing this semester. I'm somewhat sad that I'm giving up social chair; it's definitely a love-hate relationship with that position. I'm glad that I can finally pass it along to my lil dagger. I felt as if I did the best I could in planning all of our social events. It took a lot of work, but I am really happy at the outcome. I planned 3 large dances-date dash, the phi delta theta exchange, and Emerald Ball. I managed to keep us in budget for all of the dances, which I feel is a GREAT accomplishment! I even managed to make Kappa Delta some money off of Emerald Ball! I also planned lots of exchanges, socials & ect. for the girls. It was a really great semester overall. I'm definitely going to have a hard time not being inactive next semester.

North Carolina was intense. It consisted of 10 hour training days, little sleep, food that was way too rich for me, and 750 of the most outgoing type A personalities you could ever meet! It was a lot of work but so much fun. The traveling was very long, sort of miserable. The people I met were absolutely amazing, I feel like they are practically family...when I left, I felt as if I knew all of these people for years..The training was like nothing I have ever done. Lots of memorizing, understanding, and putting everything together. The hard work definitely paid off though. I am fully prepared for my internship. My internship is definitely the most difficult internship I have ever done. It's not a physical challenge, it definitely tests my patience and dedication. I am learning to overcome rejection & move on from no's. I am becoming better at selling. And this internship gives me a whole new perspective on how businesses are run. Definitely something I look forward to discussing with a future employer. I made my first sale on Tuesday! $465.00!! Hopefully one of many more to come!

My disney internship is less than 65 days away! I can't wait.

I have also decided to take on another job this summer during the weekends or more specifically on Sunday. I couldn't give up my job at highlands just yet. I love teaching lessons & being in the highlands enviornment. I love the kids & my highlands too much to leave just yet. And the pay also helps because as the word "internship" implies, I'm not making that much this summer. I can't believe it's been almost 5 years since I started. It's been a long run. I went to the giants game with my highlands staff & had an amazing time. I look forward to spending one last summer with them before I officially have to move on to a "real job". Yuck. It makes me realize how fast college is going. I want it to slow down a little bit. I'm enjoying college. I am excited for the future and my future career, but I want to enjoy everything college is. I am constantly reminded that I only have one chance to do everything.

With that said, I will do everything as if it's my only chance.