Summary
Wait…I can get paid to stay up to date on social media trends?
That was my initial thought when I came across the job description for Account Coordinator at Uppercase Brands. It’s hard to believe that I have now been a part of the Uppercase team for over a month, especially when I think back to where I was a few short months ago.
Background
Four months ago, I found myself stressed and anxious about my approaching graduation, because, like many seniors in college, I was overwhelmed with the many directions and paths I could picture myself taking careerwise. The one thing I was confident in was that entering a profession where I clocked in at 9, out at 5, and simply went through the motions in between terrified me. I was determined to find something that broke this 9-5 stereotype, and on top of that, I wanted to be surrounded by others who were passionate about the work they were doing as well as find a company that had an ambitious, yet fun atmosphere.
I double majored in Psychology and Media studies and the crossroads of these two majors allowed me to identify my passion in marketing. Advertising agencies stood out to me early on as I wanted the opportunity to soak up as much as I could about marketing and I loved the idea of gaining exposure to numerous different brands. However, as I brought up this area of interest in numerous networking calls, I was warned profusely about the harsh atmosphere that surrounds the majority of ad agencies - ones that stifled creative freedom and did not allow for people to build on the areas in which they were passionate. Despite those cautions, I applied for the position at Uppercase Brands.
First Impressions
From the very first step of the interview process I knew there was something drastically different about Uppercase. It’s very hard to tell the true inner workings of a company when interviewing and unless you have a personal connection to someone on the job, you are unable to get that first hand perspective. That’s why I want to share my experience as the “new kid on the block” at Uppercase Brands; something that would have been invaluable for me to have read while going through the rigorous and daunting application stage earlier this year.
The first thing that stood out to me was how passionate each individual on the Uppercase team is about the work they are doing. It's truly incredible the things a group can accomplish when everyone is fully dialed in, and I cannot describe it in a word other than inspiring.
You often hear people reference “startup culture”, and Uppercase, despite a tremendous amount of growth in the past few years, has maintained the gusto and invigorating environment that is typically associated with a startup company.
While I feel very supported by my team members, I also have the ability to own certain projects and this level of agency early on has both surprised and exhilarated me. In just the short period of time that I’ve been here, I’ve learned about the inner workings of Facebook Ads Manager, perfected the ad set up process on Facebook / Instagram, learned the creative process from ideation stage to launch, assisted in influencer initiatives, pulled together performance reports, communicated directly with clients and so much more.
I have always been a strong believer of the quote “It’s the people, not the place” and that could not ring more true these last couple of weeks. Uppercase is a completely remote and international company. For me, personally, this sounded daunting and I was wary of how a company would be able to create team camaraderie while being spread out geographically. I can confidently say that my assumption was way off, and although I haven't met my team members in person, I already feel incredibly welcomed and connected. Our daily check-in meetings are strategically timed so that the full team can join from wherever they are in the world to get face time with one another, share fun facts, do jeopardy questions and of course align on what is going on within each arm of the company. Uppercase truly has the air of a family with all the added perks of being able to work remotely.
Additionally, Uppercase prioritizes offsites to meet with your immediate team as well as a company wide offsite once a year because they recognize the importance of team building. Make sure to check out our social media channels for content from these offsites as well as tips and tricks on all things ecommerce related. Helping manage these accounts is just one of the many projects I am thrilled to be helping manage for the Uppercase team.
Summary
So, while staying up to date on social media trends is only a fraction of the work I’ve been doing these last 30 days, I truly couldn’t have picked a better place to enter both my career and the advertising world. I have learned so much within my first month and am so excited to see what is in store for Uppercase Brands.