I'm not sure how long this should be, or exactly what to focus on but here we go.
Since I was young, I always wanted a job that would let me travel the world. In high school, I looked into politics, international law, and global development thinking I wanted to change the world but in reality I just wanted to travel.
In high school, we had a careers class where one of those standardized career surveys pointed me in the direction "Advertising Manager" but I didn't think much of it.
Went to university, studied political science. After first year, I was in Italy where I met a guy who was teaching English in Austria, told me all about the gig and how it allowed him to travel. I waited 3 more long years of studying to get out of university and took off immediately.
Lived in China for a year, then Japan for a year and half and overall spent about 3 - 4 years travelling. Got tired of teaching but wanted to continue seeing the world so I returned to Toronto to study marketing at GBC. I thought marketing would be a skill that could take me around the world and I already spent hours on social media so why not get paid for it.
Finished at GBC and found an internship in Taipei, Taiwan as a Community Manager for PicCollage, a Taiwanese software company. The pandemic started 3 weeks before I was supposed to fly over so worked remotely from Canada for the next 2 years. Went from Community Intern to Community Manager. Main roles of the job were content creation, social media community management, copy editing, some email marketing, a ton of SEO, and more. Great experience as I got to dabble in a lot but ultimately had to leave the company as I was burnt out. It wasn't really a remote first company and I felt burning me out after 2 years.
Quit my job to start an Amazon Business which is still in the works. Been learning about product design, market research, product research, and a ton more. In my head, it's all just marketing (minus the accounting) - how to sell a product I believe in. How design works in with a product to sell it. I'm in the phase of ordering samples now.
Back in April 2023 I found a new job while randomly scrolling through LinkedIn. I'm now a Community Engagement Marketing Executive for JENZA Travel. We are 3 travel brands in Ireland, England, and NZ that help send young people abroad on working holiday experiences. The team is built of people who have lived abroad and want to remove barriers so others can have the same experiences. I do a lot of community marketing so social media, writing content, influencer marketing, brand ambassador programs, and really just mobilizing our community when needed to promote our brand and experiences.
Here are the websites,
JENZA: jenza.com
BUNAC: bunac.org
USIT: usit.ie
I also now work with a friend who is building a video game to be marketed in Japan and North America. I've help start the social media for it, built the Steam profile, and write all the English copy for business documents, pitches, presentations, in-game content, and social. The game is KALEIDOLA and here is the Steam page but please note I'm aware the images in the description are stretched and we're still trying to figure out why this is happening: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2529140/KALEIDOLA/
I included all the lengthy details from high school until now because whether a knew it or not, I've been working towards this job for years. A job that'll allow me to travel, work in marketing, and help people work abroad. Heading on a 2 month trip to Thailand and Japan, the UK next spring, and planning to move to New Zealand hopefully within a year for a new adventure.
So sorry that this a novel! also, I need to take an updated photo of myself so will send that soon.