When I was little, I thought everything was 5 minutes away…
No matter what car ride adventure my family would go on, the second my Dad started the engine of his obnoxiously purple Oldsmobile, I would fall asleep. Then, once we were close to our destination my family would wake me up.
Now this teleportation-like superpower I had unfortunately ended around the time I turned 10. After that, not only did I discover that everything was NOT 5 minutes away, but I also got very motion sick in cars.
This discovery, however, did not deter my family from continuing to take our family vacations together by car. The rationale here is that my Mom was (and still is) afraid of flying. Heights are apparently scarier than vomit.
My parents and sister quickly grew tired of my combination of nausea and boredom, so they collectively bought me a [BLANK].
This is where the story gets interactive.
No, [BLANK] is not some hip retro product you’ve never heard of. It’s whatever product your company sells or whatever industry your company resides in.
You see, this “About Me” is really just my one-size-fits-all cover letter. It’ll take some imagination to insert your company into the story so just work with me here.
Whenever you see [BLANK], just imagine it’s what you work on.
Let’s try it together:
"Once my family got me my [BLANK] I would be transported to a new world. A world where I wasn’t getting carsick in the back of an obnoxiously purple Oldsmobile.”
If you work for a gaming company, the [BLANK] becomes a teal Gameboy color, where each new game I popped in became a nausea-free sanctuary.
If you’re in entertainment [BLANK] is a portable DVD player, and Everybody Loves Raymond kept me laughing rather than gagging.
If you’re in tech…well you get the picture.
What all of these [BLANK]s have in common however (and I would argue any product ever has this as well) is they are STORIES.
As I have grown up, telling stories has become my purpose.
I studied English at UC Irvine where I became obsessed with the craft of storytelling - getting published in the school creative writing magazine and winning the English Major Association’s Literary Essay Award my senior year.
After college, I worked at the online educational multi-channel network Elearnin’ and wrote and produced educational stories. I started the fashion startup OnePhyle and told stories through “positive streetwear”. I then found myself at Activision where I told stories through digital marketing, creative content, and marketing strategy for Call of Duty: Mobile.
I could go on and on about what stories mean to me, and how they have shaped my life. But ultimately, stories - and thus my work - are sanctuaries, the same as the ones I found in the backseat of my Dad’s obnoxiously purple Oldsmobile.