15 May 2009
I’m Leaving PR and Going to Business School
— Begin navel-gaze —
Today is my last day. It’s not only my last day at CJP, where I’ve had the good fortune to work with fun, savvy people and interesting clients, but also my last day in the PR/marketing industry, in which I have spent nearly four years. After doing some traveling this summer, I will be at Columbia Business School pursuing an MBA beginning in August.
The years in PR have given me a great breadth of experience working in industries from ice cream to private equity to digital advertising and cross-platform entertainment.
While I really like ice cream, I am absolutely crazy about media and technology. I know that’s a broad statement, but the evolution of it all is like crack to me. I guess you’d say Zuckerberg and Henry Blodget are a few of my principal dealers. I mean, how ridiculously cool is some of the stuff The New York Times is working on? Moving content seamlessly from a tablet PC to a TV or iPhone, RFID-enabled advertising, e-ink!? (Which is not to say that all of these are being developed exlcusively at NYT Co. — but I really like NYT Co.)
Maybe what excites me most is the confluence of content and technology. That’s where I want to be.
So I’m going to make a change. For the past few years, I’ve helped companies tell their stories to the media and through the media, as well as through Facebook, Twitter, etc. What I aim to do next is work within the media and technology industries — from Google and News Corp. to nascent startups — to create new media and delivery platforms, supported by healthy balance sheets and income statements.
It sounds a little trite even in my head, but it’s what I want to do. I’m going to go to Morningside Heights and become an Excel ninja, and master (pun!) how numbers move around financial statements and term sheets. I’m also really excited about Columbia’s media program, and the independent Columbia Institute for Tele-Information.
I know an MBA is only part of the equation, though. I want to learn more programming, as well as user experience design and project management. Many of the people I’ve met on Twitter and Tumblr have helped me get an informed start on that already.
In long-overdue conclusion: I’m don’t know what my path will be, but I’m grateful for the opportunities I’ve had and the people I’ve met thus far in my professional life. If you’ve read all this chances are you’re one of them. If not, let’s get coffee.
