Name: Sabrina Son
Age: 28
College & Majors/Minors: University of Washington, BA in Creative Writing / Minor in Law, Societies, and Justice
Current Location: Seattle, WA
Current Form of Employment: Content Marketer
Where do you work and what is your current position?
I work at a start-up where I do content marketing. Just like any other start-up, I wear many hats on the marketing team, but the bulk of my day goes towards managing my company's blog, from content strategy, writing articles, and overseeing freelance writers. I also work on email drip campaigns, writing ad copy, and basically anything else related to words.
Tell us about how you found your first job, and how you found your current job (if different).
I got the chance to interview with Boeing for a technical writing position, but I didn't get the job because I didn't have enough experience. So I went back to school for a technical writing certificate, and from there, I discovered marketing writing, which I fell in love with. The classes I took helped build my writing portfolio, and I was able to use that to land a copywriting job for an e-commerce site.
I wanted to broaden my scope of skills, so I decided to escape copywriting and applied to my current company. I knew I was completely under-qualified for this job because I probably only met 10% of their requirements, but they took a leap of faith and hired me on!
What was another writing-related job that was important in your career?
For a while, I was a freelance associate editor at an ad agency that worked with magazines for Lexus, Holland America, etc. There, I learned how to do creative editing with articles from freelance writers and optimize copy for web, mobile, and print versions. It opened the door to the world of digital content for me.
What did you do in college to prepare for your post-grad life?
To be honest, I didn't do anything to prepare myself for the writing world because I was so set on going to law school. It's really all about how you can relate what you've learned or experienced to whatever job you're currently applying to — you're a writer after all, you know how to build sentences in your favor.
What is your advice for students and graduates with an English degree?
Don't just set your eyes on one dream job because you'll never know if you'll enjoy it until you get into the real world. Experiment with different styles of writing — copywriting, content marketing, social media — these all require more creativity than you'd think. Writing is such a unique talent that's difficult to pick up, and you'll find that it's also one of the most practical and rare skills out there.
