Rekindling a Spark

Immediately after learning about different types of advertising agencies and careers within them, I thought about my experience visiting AKQA in San Francisco for the first time.  In high school, I joined an academy called the Digital Safari Academy (DSA for short) that focused on career readiness within a multimedia/business setting.  Through several semester-long projects, I acquired skills without knowing where I could apply them, until we took a career explorations field trip.  I vaguely remember what happened during that trip, but it certainly influenced my career decisions up until this point in life.  Imagine a 15 year old with no direction in life entering the office of a CEO that has worked with famous brands such as Nike and Coca-Cola! What inspired me most was that one of the higher-ranked workers actually graduated from my high school.  It was humbling to see that a student from one of the poorest neighborhoods in the Bay Area rose above the stereotypes and statistics and made a name for himself.  I actually have my original blog post about my visit in 2009.  If you would like to read more about my experience as a high schooler, go ahead and click >>> here.

After five years, revisiting the past not only brings back the nostalgia of innocence, but also the realization of growth.  At fifteen, college was barely in the picture.  But after being at SJSU for a couple of years, that vision is being refined with each experience.  So far, I've worked with non-profit organizations that have promoted culture, community, education, political action, and spiritual awareness.  With a little bit of research (through google of course), I came across an ad agency that bridged my interests between creativity and awareness.

OneWorld is an ad agency based in San Francisco that focuses on maintaining a global perspective.  Their clients are mainly non-profits that promote things like going green and education.  What I find compelling is their drive to connect people through changing their cultural perspectives.  This agency has had international campaigns from South Africa to Belgium, emphasizing what really matters to people like family and health.  They are also more credible for their work because they travel around the world to help out disadvantaged countries themselves, rather than just promoting other companies that do so. Their company name alone has a powerful message - we have one world, we are one people.  I think this message empowers both OneWorld's team as well as clients to raise public awareness in what they see as the deepest struggles.

There are ways to tie your career around the things that you are passionate about, and OneWorld advocates that.  After the brief exploration, I feel a bit more hopeful about where I'm headed and what I have to offer this world.  These dreams we've had since our youth haven't left us, they've only been refined with time and experience.  They haven't been buried, only planted.

link to OneWorld:  oneworldsf.com