first “big girl” job

This summer I had the opportunity to work for the Boston Sailing Center, founded in 1977, BSC is the largest sailing club and school in the northeast. I already had a background in sailing, and my name being Marina was just the cherry on top. When I responded to the Indeed post, the job title was Administrative Coordinator, a fancy name for front desk. My responsibilities included checking members and students in, scheduling, answering the phone, emails, setting up for events, basically any role associated with a front desk or office staff position for a business. While I was excited to be working in Boston and in a very cool setting, the role had no benefits for furthering my career in design.

So I made my own roles.

When asked in the interview if I would be a good fit, I explained my ability to perform the tasks necessary for my job, but also the extra responsibilities I would bring. I specified from the beginning I wanted to get involved in their social media, content creation, apparel and merchandise design, and essentially making lemonade out of lemons. You can check out my work for the club by clicking the button below:

I learned so much working here this summer and refined a lot of the skills I already had. Just a few of the things that come to mind:

• Scheduling

• Management

• Excel

• Customer service

• Content creation

• Social media

• Sales

• Event planning

• Overtime work

• Commuting

• Website design

• Memorization

• Constant contact

• Microsoft apps

• Google apps

I was really proud of the work I was able to create for BSC, and that I didn’t just accept a job that wouldn’t help me move forward, I made it into one that would. I intend to use all of the skills and knowledge I learned here to help me in my future professional endeavors.