Melanie Lewis ‘17 Integrated Marketing Activation, Nickelodeon, Public Communication

In today’s episode, Melanie Lewis ‘17 joins me to share her story of early leadership and internship positions in school, studying abroad and challenging herself, and her push to land a full-time job in New York City. As a recent grad, Melanie brings a lot of detail to her story and I’m so excited for students and other alums to listen. Melanie is a rockstar reflected by her career thus far, and while she held internships early on in her college career, her path to full-time work in New York City was humbling. She talks about having to effectively take on another internship post-graduation to help get her footing and eventually find her way back to Viacom after holding an internship there while in college. The most important advice Melanie gives in this show is about the distinction between college and the real world. For the most part, college is fairly formulaic - the more work that you put in, the higher the grade you can expect. While hard work certainly pays off in your career, you may find times where you are putting in the work and doing all of the right things, but it’s just not happening for you. This is where you want to stay strong, hit up your UVM alum network and be patient. Melanie went through about 19 interviews across 8 companies in 10 months. Ultimately, a fellow UVM grad she interned with at Viacom posted on LinkedIn about a job opening and Melanie reached out and earned the position on that team. Enjoy!