Networking isn't as hard as I thought!

Heather Hale was right - you really are only about 5 contacts away from reaching the person who can make your dreams come true! I'll explain...

I had a week off so I worked on scheduling informational interviews. At first no one paid any attention to me and I got a lot of answering machines. I was feeling really defeated and ready to give up and then things changed....
Each week University of Dreams has a guest speaker. First it was Emannual Osofu Yeboah (see previous blog post about him), then Heather Hale, then Oprah's exec. producer Candi Carter, and most recently Kevin Adler. Kevin is a sports marketing expert and talked to us about how he found his passion and how his dreams changed throughout his life. During his speech he mentioned that he worked for Leo-Burnett! I had actually called there earlier in the day and they could care less about me. So after the speech I introduced myself to him and asked if he could help me get an informational interview there - he gave me his card and told me he would love to help me out! I just e-mailed him and I'm waiting for his reply. I was so excited I could've hugged him!
Then my mom sends me an e-mail with a link to an article. My uncle's ex's brother works in Chicago in the ad industry but I never knew which agency....the article was about how he just won an Effie award and that he is the Senior VP for Cramer-Krasselt, another place I called and no one answered. So I contacted him today and he had the head of HR call me and I have an informational interview scheduled for Wednesday at noon! Now that wasn't even 5 contacts and I've already got an in at the company!

Aside from my awesome networking skills, I've been quite the tourist. I saw Batman which was filmed in Chicago so it's a big deal here. Then some of us dreamers went bowling where I was high scorer of the evening. My roommates and I checked out the Planetarium, the Aquarium, the Zoo, and the Museum of Science and Industry. We also went to a Cubs game yesterday - ironically against the Florida Marlins. The Cubbies won though and it was a good time in Wrigleyville with everyone celebrating and going crazy. Hope everyone else is having a great summer. I'm so sad mine's almost over!