Spring Break Recap

I need a vacation from my vacation. In all truth, there was very little "spring" or "break" in my spring break. The Florida weather was rainy, cloudy and cold, and I packed my schedule so tightly that I exhausted myself (but for good reason!). Now I'm back in Boston and anxiously awaiting the weekend so I can do nothing, except maybe treat myself to a mani/pedi and my new favorite drink, the Starbucks Dark Cherry Mocha (YUM!). In the meanwhile, I have had many requests for a spring break recap, so here it is!

With a few potential job-related things in the works, it's hard for me to go into too much detail about my break just yet. What I can say is that I had a really fun time meeting with all sorts of people throughout Walt Disney Parks & Resorts in Orlando (my old stomping grounds!), hoping to get a better sense for the variety of roles that exist within the marketing organization and the company at large. In the process, I met with people in brands, Yellow Shoes (advertising), PR, sports, WDPRO (online), operations, CMR (Disney's version or CRM), DCL (cruise line) and more. I also had more than 5 networking phone calls over the week with folks at Madison Square Garden, HBO, MTVN/Nickelodeon and more. Phew! I'm tired just writing it all.

On the positive side, everyone I met with at Disney really seemed to love their job. Most have stayed for many years and consistently reference the plusses of a Florida lifestyle and the ability to come to work everyday and market "magic" and "pixie dust." I also get such a wonderful, homey feeling every time I walk into one of Disney's buildings. I just resonate with so many of these folks because we're all so passionate about the Disney product, the family-friendly imagery and the idea of fantasy and escapism. There are so few brands that pull this sort of emotion out of people of all ages that it's hard not to see this company as a marketing goldmine!

On the negative side, most of my meetings were met with a similar response: "We love your resume and you're a strong candidate, but...there are no jobs." My favorite response was probably: "Well, things are going to be much better a year from now." That's great, buddy, but I'm graduating THIS MAY, not next May, not this fall, or next spring, but NOW. And since a massive car payment, two chihuahuas and a storage unit full of crap officially become mine again on June 1st, 2010, I need an income and FAST. Dear Economy, please recover soon. Thanks, Gabby. I digress.

As I hinted, I did leave Florida with a couple of "seeds planted" so to speak, so some interesting opportunities could very well present themselves in the next couple of weeks. I'm trying really hard not to get my hopes up, but as all of you who follow my blog know, at the end of the day, I'm a total and complete Disneyphile and would be thrilled to go back and work for the Mouse. Now, this is not to say AT ALL that I am giving up on my New York/DC/Atlanta job search, as talk is cheap and I will not stop searching until I have an offer letter in my hand; more so, I'm just excited at the possibility of maybe being employed sooner than I expected. We shall see!

For now, it's back to the grind, finishing up the last few weeks of classes and getting moving on all of my papers and projects. Talk to you all soon!