I recently read an article on LinkdIn written by Lilly Singh, a YouTube personality with close to 11.5 MILLION subscribers. I myself have never much gotten into YouTube, but even I’ve heard of her — and Lord knows I love inspiration ladies!
Photo Courtesy of www.lillysingh.com
You can read the entire post at the link below, but what it did for me was inspire me to share my own similar story.
Immediately after college, I was feeling pretty aimless. Against my parents’ wishes, I took an internship at Walt Disney World, having already completed their College Program a few years prior. And I was fortunate enough to be hired on full-time when my internship ended. Truth be told, I knew pretty quickly that it wasn’t the job for me, but without much direction, I stuck around for three years — until I was in a car accident that totaled my car.
Rather than trying to figure out a way to replace her (my first car’s name was Fandango, and she was adorable), I decided it was time to follow another dream and move to New York City.
As luck would have it, my move coincided with the grand re-opening of the World of Disney store on Fifth Avenue. It’s still not completely clear to me how it worked, but that Midtown store was considered part of Walt Disney World, and such it was what amounted to a transfer.
Photo Courtesy of www.nytimes.com
Funny how a raise from what I was making in Orlando meant I had to get myself a second job in New York City… Plus, since I decided to pursue a career in theater, I also threw in an internship at a small theater company in so I could get my foot in the door of that world.
It took me very little time to realize that Disney in NYC was not the same as Disney in Florida. People’s attitudes weren’t the same, I felt like I was being policed all the time, and there was zero ambition to be found.
And I was heartbroken.
Luckily, the magic was still in me, and even though I knew this wasn’t the place for me, I still had a love for the company. So, I did something kind of crazy.
I still had access to my @disney.com email address, and I used it to send an email that changed everything — to Lee Cockerell, the then-Executive Vice President of Operations for the Walt Disney World Resort (AKA, The Boss).
Photo Courtesy of www.leecockerell.com
Imagine my surprise when he not only responded, but agreed to meet me for coffee a few days later since he would be in town for the NYC Toy Fair.
Over coffee, I laid it all out. I loved Disney as a company, but I hated my current job and wanted to break into the theatrical division. Fast forward a few months, and I was moving into my cubicle in the Disney Theatrical Productions office.
Seriously – that happened!
I’m not saying all it takes is an email to get whatever the heck you want, but I am saying that I would never have gotten that job had I not had the guts to reach out to someone I thought could help.
So, your turn! We all have dreams. Who do you know that can help make yours a reality? Why not take a chance and reach out? Send out an email (or ten), invite people to chat over coffee, know what you want and go for it!
Don’t you worry; I’m working on my next move, too.
Oh, and here’s the link to that article I mentioned up top.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/know-your-worth-whats-time-lilly-singh
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