Do work, son.

The March IComm meeting hosted an awesome panel of people and I wanted to highlight some of the advice they gave as I thought it was pretty good advice.  I mean, they're pretty successful so it must be good, right?  Joining us, we had Mike Mays, the owner of Heine Brothers’ Coffee, Will Russell, the owner of Why Louisville, Sean Bailey, the Social Media Manager for The Louisville Palace and the creator of Louisville MUSICulture, Stacy Owens from 91.9 WFPK and Louisville Public Media, and Jessica Murr, music blogger and Social Media Manager for Ben Sollee, a nationally-recognized folk musician.  Yeah, that’s a lot of awesome for one room.

While our panelists had many things in common both personally and professionally, the overarching message they relayed was one of making good connections and not being afraid to fail.  Essentially,  ”If you build it, they will come.”, at least according to Will Russell, who is not only the owner of WhyLouisville, but also the founder of Lebowski Fest and PeeWee Over Louisville.  As Will put it, “haters gon’ hate”, but finding your passion is important and chances are your passion is someone else’s passion as well.You can never have too many connections, especially when it comes to the professional world.  Making good connections has played an intricate part in making each of these professionals who they are today.  You never know when you’re going to need help or just a different perspective on something and having an extensive professional network is the best place to start when seeking assistance.

Not sure where/how to start networking?  Get to know your professors.  They were students once too and more often than not they’re more than willing to help.  Joining professional groups like YPAL(Young Professional Association of Louisville) and YAP (Young Advertising Professionals) is also a good starting point.  Groups like these exist for the sole purpose of networking and often host happy hours and special events for professionals to get together.  Everyone you meet has the potential of being a new connection, something to keep in mind when making first impressions.

Also, if you're unsure about what this "Icomm" I speak of is, it is a club I belong to at U of L for Communications students.  It's been a great resource for meeting people, networking and hearing from professionals who have been working in fields related to communications.  If you're at U of L I'd highly recommend checking it out...you don't have to be a member to come to the meetings, but it looks good on a resume :) I'd be happy to provide you with more info!