It’s so important, I think, to start planting seeds for your career while you’re still in school. Internships are a great opportunity to get to know work culture outside of the classroom, and, of course, put to the test what you’ve learned in your courses.

I interned at a newspaper and a concert venue, and then stumbled on a great opportunity to apply for a job as a part-time Sony Music College Marketing Representative. My soon-to-be boss then flew out from New York to meet me, and I was hired to market up-and-coming artists on the label throughout the campus and around the city. It was a lot of fun and a lot of work as OSU is one of the largest public universities in the country, but I learned early on that building relationships with people was critical when it came to public relations and marketing.

Two months after I graduated, and still adjusting to not being in school for the first time in 18 years, there was a job opening in the marketing department at Columbia Records in New York City. I drove overnight and interviewed with the VP of Marketing in the morning, and I was offered the position! Two weeks later, I moved to Brooklyn with three suitcases and spent my first month sleeping on an air mattress.

The days and nights were long and the job was stressful, but while I was there, I learned about advertising, sales, budgeting, tour promotion, art direction, PR, retail relationships, mobile technology, reporting and so much more. I learned quickly that “marketing” encompassed a lot of things, and to do it well you really had to be motivated. Fittingly, music had and has been my number one love, so I really couldn’t have asked for a better first job experience.

Writing is an immense part of PR and marketing, and my enthusiasm really began at an early age—13 to be exact. I was a total music junkie at the time, and when I discovered a love for writing, I decided to put pen to paper and launched my first music e-zine and website. I later sought out the student newspaper at my high school, which helped me break out of my comfort zone, and I determined that I wanted to go to college to study journalism.

Despite my major, I’ve never actually been a journalist like I had set out to be, but I realized when I began working in marketing that there is a storytelling opportunity in that profession, too; that point was most evident for me when I began working at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum after Columbia Records. The switch from working for a corporate record label to a nonprofit organization definitely helped me stretch my imagination a bit also, and I’m grateful that the museum let me do that.

My job at the Cleveland Museum of Art is to collect and communicate the incredible stories of our exhibitions, permanent collection and programs to the public online, and there is no lack of stories to tell. I use blogging, video, photos, podcasts, the web, social media and e-communications to not just get the word out about the museum’s offerings, but to listen to our online audiences, as well. I love that I get to do all of that.

Other than the job itself, what I love about working in an art museum is probably the same as anyone who loves an art museum, which is the opportunity to connect with the art itself. Wandering the galleries is both an escape and an inspiration for me, and what an exceptional feeling it is to work in an environment surrounded by some of the world’s most important works of art. They’re really reflections of our world’s history. Particularly, the collection at the Cleveland Museum of Art is one of the finest and most comprehensive in the United States—and it’s free of charge!

In addition to the collection, we really strive to exceed expectations in all of the work we do. It can be intimidating, but I’m thankful for those high expectations of the staff and our visitors and supporters. It really plays a part in motivating you to do your absolute best work.

I would definitely explore a little bit, at least within marketing and communications as a whole. Working in those fields can really mean a lot of different things. I feel fortunate that I’ve already been able to experience so many sides of the industry firsthand, from grassroots promotion to advertising, traditional media and public relations and to digital and social media. While I definitely have preferred the more owned and shared part of PR and marketing, it helps to understand and experience other facets of the field as each do really work closely together.

My iPhone and iPad are my essentials. I use them for personal and professional organization, particularly its scheduling features with iCal, as well as with apps like Wunderlist for list making, AnyDo for project management and Dropbox and Google Drive to back-up and access files that I can retrieve on the go. I also love my FitBit and app, which reminds me at the same time every day to get away from my desk and walk! On the iPad, I still adore the Flipboard app, which makes it quick and easy for me to get the news and stories I want to read. And although I do a lot of work from my phone, I still can’t live without my laptop, where I keep track of scheduling upcoming communications with an editorial calendar for the museum.

My days begin at 5:30 a.m. I ease into the morning with some coffee and a few minutes of catch up on the news, blogs and social media. I also DJ and blog independently, so mornings are great to tackle those side projects of mine, too. I spend about an hour of my mornings at the gym, and I start my day at the office beginning at 9:00 a.m. I like to schedule more of my meetings for the beginning of the day, as I definitely feel more creative earlier as opposed to later!

After lunch, I have more coffee and continue on my day-to-day projects, which could include writing and editing blog posts, zipping around in the galleries working on video shoots and updating our social media feeds and responding to tweets and messages.

If I’m not at an event after-hours where you can often catch me live-tweeting and Instagramming photos, I’ll usually head home to spend the rest of the evening with my husband to enjoy dinner together at home or in the neighborhood, head to the park for a walk and try to write a few last minute emails and catch up on my personal social media before the day ends. I try to be in bed by 10:00 p.m. to get at least seven hours of shut-eye. It might sound tame but, hey, late nights are for the weekends (or college)!

I think that having really strong creative skills is key, at least to start, since the fruit of those skills are more externally faced. Your potential audiences don’t necessarily see your fabulous budgeting skills, but rather how you positioned an important message. Nevertheless, it’s certainly important to at least understand or fine-tune those business skills—whether the numbers you’re dealing with are dollars or followers, you need to be able to track, analyze and report on what you’re doing so you can communicate results to your colleagues and use that information to inform decisions for the future.

I also have to say that though a lot of communicating we do comes from behind a computer screen or smart phone, stepping away from the screen and building relationships with people offline is really critical. One of the loveliest career tips I was ever given was that “it’s not just about who you know, it’s about who knows you.” I think that’s really important. Get yourself out there!

I launched and managed the social networks for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum while I worked there, which was a great responsibility along with the media relations part of the job. On one occasion, I was at SXSW in Austin, Texas for work, and from my iPhone, I had tweeted to our tens of thousands of followers that the Induction Ceremony would be broadcast on HBO that night, which was totally incorrect. My phone started ringing, a couple texts came in from my bosses and our PR agency emailed. All I could do in that situation was admit that I had screwed up and fix it immediately. Everything in social media is so instant and always seems so urgent, but I definitely learned to take a step back and make sure to copy edit and double check myself or information before I send it out!

Taking passion and using it as motivation to explore or even create a career is definitely not easy, because there is no one perfect plan that will work for everyone. But I have to say, simply owning that passion is such an important start and one to be proud of. Although I felt lucky that right out of college I got a really cool job, I was without full-time work for almost a year between Columbia Records and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I actually panicked that I would forget how to write! So, with my free time, I built a website and began to blog about arts, culture and music happenings in Ohio for fun. Little did I know that the blog would actually help land me my job in communications at the Rock Hall. You just never know when your passion projects will lead you to your big break. Never give up on those passions, and let them show you the way.

I think some of the essential abilities would have to be creativity, solid writing skills and a never-ending drive to learn. This field moves so quickly, and you really have to try to not just keep up, but stay ahead. Understanding how to use technology is certainly helpful, but digital communications is more about the message than the machine. No matter the medium, being able to communicate creatively and effectively—whether through words or multimedia—is key.

I look for inspiration everywhere—it can be all around us. I’m inspired by people doing creative and meaningful things, and some of my closest friends and peers are the people that most inspire me! Travel plays a huge role in where I look for inspiration, too. So often we can get lost in our day-to-day lives, and escaping to a new city or country always helps refresh my point of view. 

Professionally, I certainly look to other arts and culture institutions, but I think it’s also helpful to break out of your industry bubble and keep an eye towards innovative ideas in general, like in a great new design or the mission of a start-up. Attending conferences and panels is a great way to not only gain some new insight, but also to ask questions. Whether or not an idea pertains to your specific field, there can still be a relatable revelation there to uncover. For me, it comes down to looking for inspiration in those different perspectives.

I feel so incredibly fortunate that I wake up and go to a job that I enjoy doing, but more than anything, I look forward to trying to do better and be a better person each day. Looking back, I never could have foreseen the path that lead me to where I am today, so I couldn’t make a decent guess for what’s next in my career, but I’m excited for it to unfold. To me, success is being able to do what you love, and if I continue my lucky streak with that, I’d be so grateful. I feel like it’s just beginning.