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

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 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

Industry Networking Night

Recently, Sheridan College hosted their Annual Industry Networking Night for advertising students that are graduating in the Spring 2015.  There were representatives from more than 30 companies from all areas of the media, marketing and digital communication industry that participated.  


Nights like this are worth attending as students can learn about the different positions that are available in a company, possibility of internships and even connect and learn from industry professionals. At this event, students could even have their portfolios reviewed. As if that wasn’t enough – there were door prizes! Each student got two tickets that could enter them in a draw to win, ‘ A Day in the Life Of’ for different companies.

The night itself is important but leading up to the event is what I found to be the most crucial and a tad stressful. You need to prepare! I had my Resume reviewed by a career counsellor at Sheridan College and I also prepared business cards, did my research on the companies in attendance and even (in advance) put together my whole outfit. I wanted to make sure I was really ready – being prepared gives me the confidence I need to get the job done.

On the actual night, I found the representatives to be very easy to talk to. I did have a game plan going in. I had chosen a few companies I was eager to talk to and one by one, I made my way through the crowd. Side note: It can get really crowded, I am not a clumsy person, but I managed to bump into students a bunch of times while trying to move around the room.

When the night is done, please don’t forget to connect/contact the people who met within 24 hours. I did send out emails but there were 2 people that I felt I really connected with, so with the business cards they gave me, I actually called them to say thank you for talking to me. They took it really well and were pleasantly surprised to hear from me.  

I believe there is another networking night coming up in February. I usually find out all the details via Sheridan's SAA Facebook page. So if you are reading this and have any suggestions or advice on how to make the next networking night even more successful, comment below!