This is part of a series of interviews with everyday people like me and you. The goal of these interviews is to show you that life doesn’t take one form, that it’s different for everybody. As someone in your early twenties, I am sure you’re still trying to figure out what you want to do in life. You will be reading about people who have taken a linear career trajectory, and others who took a totally different route. These are stories about people from different facets of life.

If you feel like you’re behind in life, this is for you. If you feel like you don’t know what you want to do in life, this is for you. If you want some directions or guidance, then this is for you.

Let’s get to it!

Check out the previous interviews here:

1. Gabriela Shares What it Takes to Be a Software Engineer
2. Freelance Writer Camille Shares Her Tips on Spotting a Toxic Workplace and More

Can you tell me a bit about yourself?

My name is Lynn, a long-time advertising executive (30 years!) turned entrepreneur. I launched MASAMI, clean premium hair care, with my co-founder, James, in February 2020 and Isle de Nature, a bee-powered luxury home fragrance, in September 2020. I have taken up beekeeping primarily for Isle de Nature, and I’m looking forward to traveling again to Japan and Dominica both for business and pleasure.

What do you do for a living and how much do you make per year?

When I first started, I was making much less than I do now, but as I worked my way up to become an Account Director, a mid-level position, I was making about $120K. Many agencies give bonuses based on business results—and of course, you will get health care, a generous holiday schedule, and some even offer four-day workweeks or virtual positions.

MASAMI is brand new—just over a year—so we are not taking any salary out; we’re reinvesting everything back to the business! However, I can tell you that my career in advertising prepared me well for this. You can expect to make about $50K starting out in advertising these days and can make around $500K for a management position at a large agency.

What do you enjoy and find the most difficult about your job?

The beauty of what I do now is that every day is different. Some days I’m working on content (social media, website copy, or blog posts) and other days I’m focused on distribution or finance and operations.

We do a lot of partnerships with other like-minded brands like The Sexiest Beauty, Access79, or Romer Skincare, so that’s a fun part of my job. We spend a good amount of time lining up the details and doing everything to ensure these partnerships are a success.

I love using both the left and right sides of my brain—leveraging creativity as a business tool. I don’t love the tediousness of QuickBooks because it’s torture and not easy to use or figure out!

How did you end up where you are today?

I went to Indiana University and majored in English and Criminal Justice. I was hoping to go into the FBI, but there was a hiring freeze at the time so I ended up getting a job as a receptionist in advertising, and I loved it. 

I realized that you don’t need to have a specific degree to work in advertising. In fact, having different perspectives actually helps—and you definitely don’t need an MBA, which in my opinion, isn’t worth the money.

I worked my way up and liked the variety because you get to work with many different types of businesses and clients. My salary for my first job was $17,000 at Jack Levy Associates working on Pizza Hut. I didn’t think it was terrible at the time; I was just glad to get a job! Keep in mind this was 1989. I got promoted to Account Coordinator, then to Assistant Account Executive, and eventually Account Executive in just over three years! When I left, I was making around $21,000 per year.

I loved the advertising industry and spent the last decade of my work life running agencies. I like transforming capabilities, building culture, and creating high-performing teams. In 2018, I was feeling like I had done everything I wanted to do in advertising. I was also spending much of my time on administrative tasks, not on creative problem solving, so I left to take control of my own destiny. Ultimately, I decided to launch my own brands with a strong focus on products that are good for you and the environment.

I knew I could apply much of my skills to build my own business since I had done it for years for other companies. It may seem daunting launching your own business, and there are certainly lots of unexpected “surprises”—both good and bad—along the way, but I feel like my advertising career prepared me well.

In 2018, I was feeling like I had done everything I wanted to do in advertising. I was also spending much of my time on administrative tasks, not on creative problem solving, so I left to take control of my own destiny

Lynn

What skills would someone need to thrive in your position? Are there any degree requirements for your job?

Having a good understanding of marketing will be helpful in just about any job or career. You need to be able to define your positioning, your white space, why you matter and be able to translate that across a number of different channels. Much of marketing today leans on consumer behavior so that’s interesting as well.

Working well in teams is also a skill that translates across different industries. Understanding how to collaborate, how to lead, and how to partner are good skills to cultivate. Understanding people’s motivations and goals is helpful in ensuring a strong working relationship with your team.

Learning how to prioritize and focus on the things that matter is also a skill that you will need to hone over time. It can be easy to get sucked into the weeds, but ultimately you need to find that balance to move forward.

Do you have any tips or advice to help someone break into your industry?

If you’re looking to get into advertising, the good news is that agencies are always looking for entry-level roles. Most agencies require a BA/BS but there’s no need to specialize in advertising as a major. In fact, I always liked hiring people who had different experiences and interests. 

You can google ad agency contacts and reach out to a bunch. It’s a bit of a numbers game—there will always be one or two looking to hire at any given time. You can also reach out to contacts at agencies who are in your specialty (e.g., planning, analytics, etc.) and ask for an informational interview. You don’t need to only rely on HR to get in the door.

If you’re thinking of starting a business, the best advice I can give is to network like crazy. Find people in the industry you are looking to get into, find peers, people who have done it already and pick their brains. My network has been invaluable in terms of knowledge sharing, advice, and resources.

What piece of advice would you give to someone who doesn’t really know what they want to do?

If you’re not sure what your passion is, the best thing you can do is try out different jobs. I didn’t know I would love advertising until I did it. You have to start somewhere, so find a job that seems somewhat interesting to you. 

There may be things you love about it and things you hate about it, but you can take those learnings and use them to make your next move. Look at every opportunity as a learning experience and take the pressure off yourself of having to find the “perfect” job right away.

Share your project or website you are working on!

MASAMI is a pro-ocean brand. We get our main ingredient, Mekabu, from northeastern Japan so we set up the MASAMI Institute to give back a portion of our proceeds to help support ocean education and research in Japan. 

To this end, we just launched a large size sustainable, refillable bottle so we can start to eliminate plastic. We are continually looking for new ways to be more sustainable and are open to suggestions. Reach out to us at MASAMI or send us any questions you have to customerlove@lovemasami.com. 

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So, what do you think? Comment down your thoughts and reactions. I personally think it’s very interesting to hear about what other people are doing and how they got to where they are today.

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