When You Know It’s Right
Everyone knows that feeling of waking up in the morning and dreading the thought of going to work. You hear the alarm and you cringe as it beeps in that loud, screechy tone, and then you lay there thinking of as many reasons as possible to not go to work. Last summer, I used to have to wake up at 6:30 AM, drive an hour to work, and then an hour back to get to my second job, Monday through Friday. I was fortunate to have good jobs, and was gaining a lot of experience, but neither were a passion of mine and both were rather redundant. Everyone knows what that feels like.
This summer, I don’t feel like that. This summer, waking up is easier, the commute is relaxing, and I love the work. Working at Sony Music is the first job I do not dread waking up for, and that is how I know it’s right. I have even stayed late many nights, even though my boss always insists I go home. This first month of my internship has been on of the best experiences I could have asked for and it is far from over.
Now, as much as I love my job, it’s not because I spend my days going to shows and hanging out with celebrities. I have yet to do much of that actually. I spend my days making reports for our department to send to Sony’s umbrella labels, I attend brainstorm meetings, I do projects for the director of the department, and sometimes I simply log inventory. Nothing super special, but I love every moment of it.
Managers, executives, and sometimes artists see the work I do, and that is really cool to me, and makes me want to do my best. My boss let’s me sit in on meetings with labels and different companies he works with, and encourages me to speak up and voice my opinions. At one of the brainstorm meetings I attended for a band called Life of Dillon, I brought up a campaign idea, and the Product Manager really liked it, and it’s now being considered as a real campaign for the band. I sat in on a meeting with a web design company who is redesigning our website, and I got to see the prototype and share my thoughts on it. Just last week, I was asked if I could attend a CD signing for one of the artists, Miguel, who had dropped his new album “Wildheart” that day, and I got to go to a record store in Brooklyn where I met Miguel’s team and Miguel himself. I met a distribution employee who had worked in the Music Industry for over 35 years, and later got to have pizza with her and hear about what the Industry was like 30 years ago and how much has changed. It was incredible. Yes, I had to walk around Brooklyn for an hour and hand our fliers, but it was totally worth it.
That’s just some of the experiences I have been fortunate to have so far. Now, I realize that I am just an intern and this is all new to me, and that probably adds to the excitement, but to work at Sony has been a dream of mine for a very long time, and to see it finally starting to happen, is an incredible feeling. More importantly though, the reason why I wanted to work in the music industry to start is because of how music can affect it’s fans, and I have already had a chance to experience that. When I was at the CD signing for Miguel, there were fan’s there that had real stories and connections with the music Miguel made, and to see their reactions to meeting him was really touching. Another time, I was at a video premiere for a new artist named Tink in Times Square and three little girls, probably around 10 years old, saw Tink and got so excited and told us how much they looked up to her. That’s what makes all of this worth it to me, and why I know working for Sony is right for me, and why getting up for work every morning isn’t all that tough.
Not everyone feels the same though. Most people I have met love their jobs and as long as they’ve worked there, they still are motivated by the work they do but one day I met a man who worked on my floor. I asked what he did and how long he’d been there. He worked in the analytics department, which is actually a very important department for Sony, and he’d been there for about 20 years, and to me that sounded really cool but he was not as enthusiastic. He said he didn’t really love it but it was a good job. I found that really unfortunate. The music industry is amazing, but it’s not for everyone, just like anything, and to spend to spend so much time doing something you don’t love is sad to me. I understand people need to pay bills, and having a good job is enough for some, but after you pay your bills, what else is there?
For me, Sony has been an incredible experience and I am learning so much, and meeting so many people and I know that I made the right choice to come and work for them. I think everyone should strive to find the work they don’t mind waking up for in the morning, because it makes the entire experience so much more meaningful. When you know it’s right, you’ll love every moment of your work.