Luck Is Preparation Meeting Opportunity

(Me, helping set up an event for my internship)

In my last blog post I mentioned how I got an unexpected internship interview through a networking mixer. Well I got the internship! I am the new paid intern/social media manager at Fiestah, a startup. Fiestah is an online marketplace that connects people planning events and parties with merchants. I write their Tumblr blog posts, manage their Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn all while creating, researching and implementing social media strategies for their brand. This is all in preparation for their website launch in the next two weeks.

The great thing about this gig is that I am in complete creative control- something I have never experienced in school or at a job. That is a great freedom. Also, I am learning how to market a startup from the ground up. This is an invaluable learning experience. They have even promised me a job after graduation. Let’s just say it was a good decision to go to that mixer. The icing on the cake is Fiestah was recently  selected to go to the International Startup Festival in Montreal for free (tickets are $1500) and I get to go FOR FREE! If you know me, you know I live for travel. One of the perks of the business I am in is that it allows the flexibility to travel.

Getting this internship proves that hard work pays off. It also proves that chance plays a role. I could work as hard as I want but if I didn’t go to that mixer, it wouldn’t have happened. And the only reason I went to the mixer was because my internship ended prematurely. And the only reason I got the email for the mixer was because I saw a flyer at my college, The New School, for an ny creative interns event. I went because I had no social life on a whim and then signed up for their email list. And the only reason I even applied to The New School was because during my senior year of high school my mom and I were watching the movie Music and Lyrics and it mentioned The New School. I asked her if she heard of that college. She said yes and encouraged me to apply.

Now I could do this all day and it wouldn’t prove much. But Oprah did say, “luck is preparation meeting opportunity,” and I hold on to that. There are some things that are just coincidental. Like the monthly unlimited metro card I happened to pick up on the ground the day after I got my internship. It was perfect timing because my new internship is unpaid for the first month yet I still need to be in many places. That metro card has saved me $50 so far. But getting the internship was not coincidental and it was not straight luck. During and after my last internship I prepared myself for other job/internship opportunities. I knew that it wouldn’t last forever so I wanted to be in a constant state of readiness. I bought books and subscribed to newsletters so I would be updated on the happenings in my field. I was on every job board and craigslist looking for opportunities. And I constantly updated my online profiles and made sure they were professional. So by the time that mixer rolled around I was prepared and qualified. And, when I met one of the co-founders of Fiestah, I already knew how to verbally present myself because I had studied and practiced. Then, when she interviewed me two days later, I knew what I was doing because I had researched, studied and practiced.

I was prepared and that mixer provided the opportunity. I guess if you look at it, I am one lucky girl.

And now for some shameless self-promo. We all do it in this social media world.

“Like” me on Facebook and get a free air high five.

Check out my LinkedIn profile and get access to my accomplishments.

Follow me on Twitter and a bird will come to your window.

Check out other projects I am working on.