I just read an essay written by fashion designer Donna Karan about her first job.
I found the story fascinating, and it got me started thinking about first job experiences.
My first job ever was as a baby sitter. I did a lot of that in my 'tweens. I think I was somewhere between 12 and 14 when I took on my first babysitting job. Early on, began babysitting for a neighbor lady, who lived on the other side of our block. They had two boys, the oldest being 5 years younger than I, the same age as my brother.
Eventually I worked up to watching them for half days, five days a week, for a summer.
My most famous baby sitting experience was for a family who had 4 kids -- three boys who were highly intelligent, fun and entertaining, but quite willing to challenge any sitter's authority -- and a girl who was also bright and quick, but much more manageable.
Their mother knew they were a challenge, and would happily pay double the going rate for anyone who was up to the challenge.
If I told you those boys grew up to become Second City trained comedians, I would not be lying: They were Tom, Kevin and Chris Farley.
At age 15, I graduated from babysitting to clerking in a fun, funky boutique on Madison's State Street.
And my first professional job after college was as a media buyer for an advertising agency. That was a fun job, too. I enjoyed working out the annual advertising budgets for our agency's clients, placing the buys, and assuring that the ads and commercials ran as ordered. One of our clients was Hardee's, and my biggest challenge there was getting the ad slicks and commercial tapes to all of the newspapers and TV stations in time for their deadlines. As this was pre-FedEx, I had to learn a variety of fast ways to get my materials to the media on time. Though it sounds archaic, sometimes the answer was the Greyhound bus!!
One of my favorite parts of that job was meeting and working with the salespeople -- or media reps, as we called them -- who would call on me to "sell" me on why I should use their magazine, radio or TV station. A special perk of the media buyer job is getting taken out to lunch regularly by all of those reps... Yum. And I never had to buy!!
So what was your first job? And what stands out about it for you today?By the way, here's what Karan said about her first job:
My First Job
Donna Karan, chief designer, Donna Karen International
I lied about my age. I think you had to be 16 to work, but I was 14. An old 14. I was a customer at a boutique called Shurries, in Cedarhurst, Long Island, when I said to the owner, "Listen, can I work here?"
How much money I made, I have not a clue. But I vividly remember painting the wall in the dressing room—my first major fashion illustration. It was a model walking a dog. Is it still there, that painting? God, I want it.
We had contests to see who could merchandise the floor the best—how the hangers looked, if the pants and skirts were aligned. I took pride in how neatly I kept things, but all the "put this here, put that there" was too precise for me—my ADD would kick in. My strengths were working with the customer and styling the clothes. What I became quite good at was working with younger kids; parents used to call me on my days off to come in and dress their kids. I dressed them for socials; I'd send them off to camp. If a parent wanted the child to look a certain way, I'd say, "I'll take care of this." Believe me, if you put me in another job, I'd never have that kind of confidence. In fashion I'm secure.
I learned a lot working with those teenagers at Shurries. I learned how to listen to what they felt comfortable with, and to show them how to wear clothes they thought they couldn't. (To this day, I tell all my designers that once a month they have to work in retail for a day, though nobody takes me seriously.) But my first true job—my first challenge, the first time real emotion was involved—was at Anne Klein. It started as a summer job, when I was in college. I wanted to be an illustrator, but at the interview they said I wasn't good enough and I should try designing instead. So I went to work there, and when summer ended, Anne Klein told me I didn't need to go back to school. Nine months later she fired me.
Read more:
http://www.oprah.com/world/Barack-and-Michelle-Obamas-First-Date-Famous-Firsts/3#ixzz2Ui5XEWE1
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