Moments to Reflect On

      As part of my last post for this blog, I feel it is a good time to step back and just think for a moment.

My Post-grad journey at Sheridan College started last summer and to say that life has changed.. just might be an understatement. I think that coming to college has made me a better version of myself. For example: I thought that I was good at organization and time management, now I realize I was maybe okay at it, now with six courses per semester and endless assignment, I can proudly say that my skills have been taken to the next level. I sometimes, marvel at how I got through university…. the amount of work I have had to put in, these past seven months, makes my four years of undergrad feel like a vacation.

That being said, it hasn't been all work work work. There have been fun days and through out this journey, I was never alone. I had my professors, my wonderful class of eight students and then some :)

School isn't over just yet! I have got my notice of graduation and the countdown has begun - April 24th is officially my last day at Sheridan. There are a few things I would like to say to future post-grad students:

- For starters, don't be afraid to ask for help on assignments. I will admit there have been time where I look at an assignment and think… W T F….. once I am over the shock, I will do whichever sections I can and the rest, I have gone to my teachers or friends for a little bit of assistance. The catch here is - you have be proactive! Don't ask for help on assignments the night before…. we both know that isn't a good idea.

- Secondly,  CHILL OUT!! I know we have multiple assignments due every day of the week. So? You aren't the first to have this happen and you won't be the last. Stop Stressing and take a break. It is amazing what taking a moment away from your laptop can do for you.


Make the most of your year. It really does go by so fast - I am done in three weeks…. that hasn't fully sunk in.  I know that I will be telling people about my time at Sheridan College for years to come. As cheesy as it may be, these have been the best months - projects and all.



Massive shout out to my amazing professors and classmates and new friends :) Thank you everyone <3

Super Legit Press Conference

One of my favourite classes this semester is our IMC (Integrated Marketing Communication) Course. Even though this class takes place at 8am… ON A MONDAY!!!! I still like it, so that should give you a good idea on what the course is like.

This week, we hosted a mock press conference. For those who don't know what a press conference is - Let me break it down for you :)

It is basically an interview given to journalists (the media) by a prominent person/company in order to make an announcement or just to answer questions.

For this class, we held a mock presence conference because we (Nestle Purina) wanted to announce an event we are hosting in late august.

We wrote a news release and even compiled a media kit. This media kit is what we would give to members of the press. It was a Purina One branded backpack with lots of Purina One Swag like a water bottle, lantern, Purina products - just everything you need if you participated in our event :)

As fun as this sounds - the key component here is attention to detail. There had to be consistency across the board. Whether we were writing something on paper, to a pdf file on a usb, everything had to be branded and had to show our key message.

What made me smile - is the name cards we made for ourselves. I felt that is what made the press conference feel real. We were all assigned roles and that was reflected on the cards.

Check us out looking fresh as ever! not bad for 8am eh?

(from left to right - Migs, Me, Rebecca & Maria)

And the second half of our class - looking oh so beautiful :)

(from left to right - Rachele, Lindsay, Fredo & Bhavukk)

I wished we did more fun assignments like this in our post-grad year. It gives you an idea of the real world and it's fun! Isn't that what school should always be like :)

Break Week - Ha! I Wish

It is March Break, but as a post-grad, that doesn't translate to sleeping in during the day and partying it up at night. If only…. That was back in the good ole days!

As a post-grad, you legit have to work. Honestly, this break couldn't have come at a better time. Stress levels have peaked and personally I utilized this break to catch up and plan for the weeks ahead.

I want this post to be about how you can make the best out of your reading week! It wasn't all bad, I promise! I still made time for fun activities with friends :) 

But First! School Stuff - Take a good look at what is due in the upcoming weeks and make a list. 

Secondly, Make another list of things you want to accomplish this reading week and get it done! This could be everything from homework to side projects and everything in between!

Organization & Lists are OUR FRIEND! Make them your best friend if you need to, they are lifesavers that can school less stressful for you. I get an insane amount of clarity when I make a list :) Try it for yourself if you've never done it before! It is so satisfying to cross them off one by one.

Apart from a truck load of homework, Sheridan did let us sign up for agency tours! We had a choice of five different agencies, one for each day of the week. I chose to go to 2 out of the 5 of them - PHD Worldwide & Havas. I highly recommend going on these tours. It is a fantastic opportunity to network and also just to get a feel of the industry. An exclusive inside look at your possible future!

After Homework & Agency Tours, can you believe I still managed to hang with some friends! Betcha didn't think I had a social life! Jokes on you because I do :)

How did you spend your reading week? Any more productivity tips? Share some in the comments below :)

One Night: The Past, Present & Future Collide

                            Another networking night! Brought to you by Sheridan College :)

            This one, however, a different kind of networking that the one earlier in the semester. Tonight, graduates of the advertising post-grad program are coming back to Sheridan to meet with the current post-grads of the advertising program ( aka the awesome class of 2015! aka us!)

Photo Cred: Advertising Account Management 2015

From left to right (First Row): Lindsay, Maria, Rebecca, Fredo, Me & Rachele

From let to right (Second Row): Migs & Bhavukk 

            Since there are only 8 of us in this program, we broke off in pairs and each duo were seated at a table. The past grads would come up to us and we got to talk to them for 10 minutes before another round of grads came by our table. If you are thinking that this reminds of you of speed-dating, yep! it is exactly like that except more professional.

            I teamed up with Rachele and we basically tag-teamed our way to success :)  It was never a dull moment. We talked to A LOT of grads and personally, I found it really comforting to know that those who graduated from this program and doing incredibly well since they graduated, We even had a few alumni who finished the program back in 2014! just a year before us!

            I know that I want to get into Account Management when I get into the Advertising Industry, so I made sure to really do my homework and make it a point to talk to grads who have a position in Accounts. There weren't as many as I would have liked, most of them were in Media ( which Rachele was happy about since that is her field of choice!). None the less, I really loved hearing the stories of how they got their 'foot in the door.' Everyone's story is different, one grad actually got an internship from an alumni who attended Networking Grad Night the year before! can you say, HOLY **** ! and of course there were some that got their job through the contacts they made via their professors, applying on LinkedIn and these are just to name a few.

               Everyone I met were really easy to talk to and seemed genuinely interested to help us with all our questions or even connect us to other people. We even found out about internship opportunities! Check out my little video below, in all the excitement for tonight, I did forget to make a video! I remembered only towards the end, so there are a few people leaving and this is how our night ended :)

This may seem silly, but we got a booklet that had a list of all the grads that showed up tonight - basically consisted of their name, a photo, graduating year and a little paragraph about them. I smiled when I got to the back pages of the booklet, class of 2015 was featured and there we were. I know we were are going to graduate and we are the class of 2015 but just seeing it in there, in full colour just made it seems so… legit. Check out the pictures below, you will see what I mean :)

A Day In The Life At… The Hamilton Spectator - Part 2

Part 2, here we go!

      After the tour, I met with the Human Resources Manager, Kendra. She had a very unique approach to our meeting. She said she was going to let me take a few tests. Usually during a hiring process, potential employees are asked to take two of these tests: The Thomas Personal Profile Analysis & The DISC Personality Assessment. I took both tests and finished answering the questions in under five minutes. A few moments later, Kendra walks in with literally a stack of papers and that was basically the results of my tests that she printed.

      Holy Cow! I found it amazing how a short test could even produce all that information but there is was - in black and white. She did give me an explanation of my results and I got a chance to read it myself and I got to take it home! I found it to be scarily accurate. I think it is important to be honest and truthful about yourself - who you are, what you stand for, your strengths and weakness so the information that I read wasn't a surprise to me. If anything, now I am even more sure of myself and I know clearly what traits I need to work at improving.

     The fun part of today came after my meeting with Kendra, it was lunch time! I got to have lunch with Kendra and the Publisher of the Hamilton Spectator. We had reservation at Aberdeen Tavern. I have heard so many good reviews for this place but never had a chance to go try it out myself, so I was in very high spirits on the way there. I have included a picture of my lunch! That is a gnocchi and I even had some Relay Coffee. They are one of my favourites coffee roasters in Hamilton!


              My last meeting of the day was with Andrew, who handles Consumer Ventures & Partnerships for the Spec. I found him really cool to talk to. He was so chill and I found everything he said to be so intriguing, that I didn't want him to stop talking! He took me a presentation that was happening downstairs called 'Ad Impact.' The Spectator holds a few sessions and invites local business owners to this event and present why they should advertise with the Spectator. This was a real glimpse into the inner working of the industry I want to be a part of one day. So I took a seat back and just soaked it all up.

My day ended at 4pm where I was ushered again into the Publisher's office so we could just talk about how my day went. Today was seriously one of those days I won't forget. They made me feel so welcome, and just taking time of their day to meet with me was more than I could ask for. I am so grateful I won this prize :)

I made sure that on my way home, I bought thank you cards for each and every person I met with that day. I hand wrote my thank you cards and personally delivered it the next day. It is recommended that you send follow up emails to thank people but I think the people I met today deserved more than an email. A hand written note, I think just says more ( metaphorically and literally!)

A Day In The Life At….. The Hamilton Spectator - Part 1

        This week, I had the pleasure of spending a day at The Hamilton Spectator.

         During industry networking night a few weeks back, There were door prizes for attendees to participate in and let's just say I'm lucky #200 ! I had emailed my contact the very next day to schedule a meeting and a few email exchanges later, here we are. I arrived at 9am and was ushered right into the Publisher's office - Holy Incredible View Batman! My picture below doesn't do it justice but it gives you an idea. The meeting at the Publisher's office was a little welcome talk and he basically gave me a brief overview of what I could expect today.

Cool Fact #1 - They made up an itinerary for me (I think that's pretty cool!)


After the meet-and-greet, the next item on the agenda was a tour of the building. For as long as I have been in Hamilton (around 6 years), I have driven, bussed and even walked past the Hamilton Spectator building, so I am aware of how big it is. However actually seeing the building is just a whole different perspective. My God - it was incredible. Bill, who gave me the tour, was very knowledgeable about the inner workings of the sprinting press. He described how the plates are created, how it is pressed on to the paper, how inserts and put between the sheets and I even got to see where it is all dropped off and ready to be shipped. Literally everything from start to finish.

      The picture in the top left - what looks like a roll of paper - I literally froze when I saw it. THAT IS A LOT OF PAPER! I tried to be cool with taking pictures but all that went right out the window when I saw the paper roll. the center is all the ink and the right are the plates. This is what gets stamped on the blank sheets of paper

Bottom Row of pictures is simply how the paper is unrolled, stamped and cut. It was magnificent to watch, It was really loud but I was in total awe of everything so the noise didn't bother me.

After the tour, Bill handed me a copy of today's issue of the Hamilton Spectator and wait-for-it

Cool Fact #2 - He handed me an issue of Niagara News that had tomorrow's date on it ( so what I'm saying is that I got a paper from the future!) This may sound lame to some people, but when I got it, I couldn't stop smiling :)

Stay Tuned for Part 2 :)

Collaboration & Communication

One of the biggest and probably most important aspect of this semester is collaboration. I have the same group of four for 5/6 classes.

Luckily my classes are pretty small and I have had a chance to work with them previously. This has made me a bit more aware of their work ethic, their style and basically what I can expect. We got assigned into groups on the first day of class itself and I am happy to say so far everything is working out pretty well with my group!

We each have our own strengths, so I feel we can create something great together. As awesome as my group members are, there may come a time where you may not be happy with who you are with. Not just in class but maybe in life too and the best thing that you can do is COMMUNICATE!!

I love that my group talks about everything. We are always messaging over Facebook and talking in-person and we even have weekly meetings where we work on our projects. It is really great to know what everyone is up to, what you need to be doing and what is due and when!

There needs to be an open communication policy amongst your team or else, there will be tension and that is not a road you want to go down.

Check out my group members' blogs, They have some great tips and tricks for you future post-grads :)

Maria's Ads & Abs

Rebecca's Thursdays At Sheridan

Migs' Life In LED

That's Us in the front row :)

Photo Cred: Advertising Account Management 2015