00:00I finally got this paper, the degree, but now like how do I make some paper?
00:04When I graduated college, I applied for 150 jobs.
00:09It took me a year before I got a job.
00:11In my head, I'm like, I got all these internships.
00:14So I was like, I'm gonna get a job in like a day, like I'm gonna be good.
00:17And like, it was not like that.
00:18I was struggle bus for eight months.
00:21If you're looked at by your peers as seeming thirsty for the job, they're actually sleep.
00:26I graduated in 2009, which was the first full year of the recession.
00:31There was no like, how to survive post-grad 101.
00:34You might know long term you want to do something, but to actually have the steps and the structure to
00:39do it,
00:40you don't because school has taught you that they forced that structure for so long.
00:44My parents were like, we're not gonna pay for you to be in New York City and just like, you
00:48know, live your Carrie Bradshaw dreams.
00:50That's not happening.
00:50It took me three years, but then I moved to New York City in 2012.
00:58And I was able to get an internship here at Refinery29.
01:02And that was a hard decision because I had this really, I had two really expensive degrees from FIT.
01:09I was like, are you about to be an intern?
01:11I had this like, envisioning like, oh, I can't wait till I work, I'm gonna make money, and I can
01:17like, not be in the struggle, but not sis.
01:20Like starting like your first salary in a job and like starting salary, like I realized that I like actually
01:26had to scale down a little bit.
01:27Having less money definitely made me a bomb ass budgeter. Like my credit score is popping.
01:33I wish those two years, like I just did two years of like, not budgeting, spending all my money on
01:40like food, drinks, and Uber.
01:41Can't do any of those things because your bank account is on like $4.44.
01:47So I've gotten better at building a balance between like, okay, so these are your chores, you need to do
01:52this.
01:52And I've lumped work into that, budgeting, savings.
01:55I automate a lot of things, so it's not like even a choice at this point.
01:59I had an offer before I graduated.
02:03At the time, it was not necessarily the first company on my list.
02:06But after a lot of interviews and getting rejected and feeling like maybe this isn't the dream and I shouldn't
02:12be going out for this.
02:13But that was my very first job.
02:15My parents are baby boomers and I am a millennial.
02:18And I think that for a long time while they supported me, I don't think they understood what I wanted
02:26or why I couldn't just be happy with working a government job.
02:31Like I went almost a full year without having a job.
02:34My mom was definitely like, sis, what are you doing?
02:37When are you going to bring home some coins, some real coin?
02:40I just had to know that it was my life and I was 110% in control of it.
02:45And it was cool. It was a learning experience and very immersive.
02:51Internships for a lot of black women, black men, black queer folk, just black people in general, can be a
02:57fast track into the rooms that normally you wouldn't be allowed into.
03:01You don't just want any job. You need one that you enjoy.
03:04And it's like your passion point.
03:06And it took me probably like the same amount of time that I was in school to finally be at
03:11a job where I'm like, I love this. This is like what I want to do.
03:14I think it's really important as a postgrad to not compare yourself to others.
03:18You know, everything from like seeing them like on social media because they work, they can take all these like
03:22amazing trips and like do all these fun things.
03:24I'm still like in the stages of like on my path to getting there.
03:28At the end of the day, you have to get away from caring what other people think. That was something
03:34I had to learn and practice.
03:35We live in a world where it's like, I want to be the next Jay-Z. I want to be
03:39the next Diddy. I want to be the next June Ambrose.
03:41I want to be Beyonce. I want to be Swan. Boo, you can only be you. Period. That's it.
03:46You're loved from Simon Ambrose.
03:46After that, you guys knew yes and do that at home.
03:46It's good to keep them perfect.
