HandmadeTo edit, click on the text to start adding your own words.
|
Omar El Akkad: Giller Prize-winning novelistWhatever the opposite of natural salesmanship is, I have that. When I was 16, I got a job at a call centre. We sat around all day making cold calls, trying to get businesses to pay to be part of a directory. The whole thing was almost certainly a scam, and I lasted exactly one afternoon before I quit. It didn’t take long to realize I was not going to be any good at it.
The first job that actually stuck was at the Queen’s Journal. One day, I saw a job ad for an assistant news editor. I had no idea what it would involve, but I knew writing would be part of it. For some reason, they gave me the gig. As soon as I walked in, I felt like I was part of something. I ended up spending my entire university career there, and worked my way up to editor-in-chief. The Journal gave me access to a community – a place where I felt at home. On a technical level, I got an education in computer science. But I was very bad at it. The student paper was where I really got an education. Click here for full story |
Simon Huck: Publicist to mega-celebritiesMy whole life, I’ve been a super fan of all things celebrity. I would watch red-carpet events like the Grammys and the Oscars and wonder what the managers and agents did – what this whole world was about. But I had no connection to the entertainment industry, and it all felt so other-worldly. What I did have was a subscription to US Weekly magazine, and while I was a student at Queen’s, I read an article about a famous publicist named Lizzie Grubman. It was a nothing article, but I was fascinated. I googled her agency, and started calling them every single day. I told them that I would work for free. That I would get coffee. And that I was moving to New York City, which wasn’t true.
Eventually, the agency agreed to meet with me, but when I showed up at the offices of Grubman/Cheban Public Relations, they didn’t even remember speaking to me. I’d never had a job before, but from the second that I set foot in there, I knew this was what I wanted to do with my life... Click here for full story |