While in New York earlier this week with Vandy on Madison Avenue I got a broad overview of the media industry, from advertising and journalism to film. Yet the one experience that really made an impression on me was when we visited Viacom where we heard Jim Balbirer talk about his career after college.
What stood out to me was when Jim, a senior vice president at MTV, described his career path as anything but straight forward. After graduating from Vanderbilt he started off working as a paralegal but eventually ended up in television advertising sales. This retrospective gave me perspective on my future career path, which I now see as an opportunity to pursue multiple passions rather than a struggle to chart the perfect course.
I was also struck by Jim’s story about his time at Turner Broadcasting. He mentioned how he got his job at Turner and how he kept his job at Turner by taking risks. I think that risk-taking is an integral part of all success and as Jim was sharing his experiences I realized that few ventures are exhorbitantly risky early in life. Although I enjoyed listening and talking to all the speakers this week with Vandy on Madison Avenue, I believe that I came away from Jim Balbirer’s speech with the most insight into my opportunities after Vanderbilt.
-Benjamin DeMilia