I have always been eager to want to start my own life- create my own schedule, get a job, and schedule plans with people. Once basketball had ended, I knew I wanted to start working. For the most part, I never had a legit job before April of 2022. I have done some odd jobs for my parents, helping my dad work at his store, babysitting, and basketball lessons and camps. But besides that, I never had a legit job, where I am required to come in on certain days and hours. It was just impossible for me to do that when I played basketball. Basketball was my job. It paid for my entire education, but at times I had felt insecure from not having a legit job.
I knew right away once my season ended I wanted to have some experiences I had never had before. And working was definitely one of those experiences. My boyfriend’s mom saw an ad in the newspaper about a new part-time graphic design position opening up at my local town newspaper, The Coast Star. I immediately emailed the Coast Star and a few days later I got a call back saying they wanted me to come in for an interview. This job seemed perfect for me. It would be a great experience for my resume, and it was part-time which I needed. I did not want to work full-time yet because I was still finishing school.
When I walked in for the interview I was a little nervous, but I felt okay and confident going into the interview. The interviews for me were not intimidating. I had been interviewed my entire life for basketball; it seemed like a piece of cake. However, this was my first interview for a job, so it did feel a little bit different. Overall, the interview went great and the boss, Allison, said she would call me back in a week or two to let me know if I got the job.
One week later I was hired. They said they wanted to bring in someone new and fresh to help them maybe improve some of their designs and get a different perspective on things. I was excited.
As time went on at the Coast Star I started to learn a few new things. For one, I loved dressing up for work each day. As silly as that may sound, I loved dressing in more of a professional setting. It was like I finally had a reason to wear all these different pieces of clothing together, I had a purpose, and I felt good. The other thing I really learned at the Coast Star is that I have to advocate for myself. It was interesting the first couple of weeks. I felt almost like a robot or just some side assistant for this one other lady. She would hand me work and tell me what to do, and I did it. There was very little creativity in what I had to do. There were design decisions that I would entirely change, but I wasn’t allowed to. It was frustrating at first.
There was this one day at the Coast Star that I will never forget. I had an ad to make, given all the information required to be on it, and I began making it. Some ads I have more freedom with because the people buying them do not have a preference on the structure of the ad, mostly just what is in it. So as I made this ad, I printed it out for it to get proofed. I handed it to this sales guy and he looked over it. Meanwhile, just to mention most of the people who work at the Coast Star have been there for 20+ years. After he looks it over he comes up to me suggesting what I felt was a poor design decision. I personally felt like I had a better background in good and bad designs, and how to make ads more legible. As he suggested this, I stuck up for myself and I told him why my design decision was a better one to make than what he suggested. It definitely was not the easiest thing I had to do, but it worked. He went with my design and I felt amazing. I realized in that moment that sometimes it may feel scary to go against people you are working for, however, if you see something they don’t it doesn’t hurt to advocate for yourself.
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