Mrs. Hasan didn't just come to me one day and come to life. Mrs. Hasan was a journey down a very windy road on a very confusing path. Here is the shortened version!
It all started in elementary school when my Asian-American mother told me that being a teacher is a waste of energy and resources. She insisted that if I truly want to teach, I should be really good at something, master it, and then if I must, go teach it. She went as far as to say that while she supported my need for a college education, she would not finance this education if I wanted to major in Middle School/High School Education. So, like any good daughter, I pursued my newest passion: Business. I was enamored by marketing, the study of why people buy, and how to manipulate data or allow data to tell a story. Business & marketing go hand in hand and I was proud to be a business major. I was interested in Journalism as well but after learning about the course known as "Info-Hell," I decided to forego the major and stick with a minor in Journalism. During college, I got cozy with the idea of having glamorous internships so began my search sophomore year for a summer internship. I got the call at 7:30AM from the Warner Bros. office in New York City about an advertising internship with their division known as DC Comics. I was ecstatic and when I had my phone interview, I had no idea what I said, how I did or what was happening but somehow, somewhere, God was smiling down at me and I was offered the opportunity of a lifetime. I spent a fabulous summer in New York City scraping by (did I mention it was an unpaid internship)? It was amazing and exhilarating. Like any good intern, I made copies, filed client information, compiled competitive reports, got coffee and set up informational interviews with anyone and everyone who would talk to me. After the summer, I hand wrote thank you cards to each person who gave their time and energy to me with the hopes of landing a job after graduation. It didn't happen right away. But it did, eventually. Six months after graduation, I got the call that there was an opening in the LA office. All I needed to do was to get physically down there on my own. I packed a car with as much stuff as I could fit and headed down. Little did I know this would be the beginning of my advertising career. Fast forward a year, I had mastered the Los Angeles market helping grow the business. I loved entertaining clients, presenting information to advertising agencies and managing relationships with decision makers to help their business grow. It was exhilarating. From DC Comics Los Angeles to DC Comics New York City, I was working with big brands like Atari, Activision, Got Milk and PlayStation. The print business was dying, however, so I needed to start considering opportunities in the digital space and, after six months of moving around to all the wrong places, I got to the right place: GiantRealm (formerly Games Media Properties). It was a tiny little start-up with good VC backing and the intelligence and management of some amazing people. In a short time, I went from Account Executive to Sales Director closing deals with major clients like NBC, Gillette and Slim Jim (see fun YouTube video here: Slim Jim Video). I took an opportunity to move back to Los Angeles and grow the territory there and before I knew it, I was sitting in meetings with the CEO and VP of Operations brainstorming marketing strategy, account management plans and thriving in my role but fading in my passion for the job. I was an unstoppable as a sales machine knowing how to get meetings, identify client needs and close deals. I even helped educate and train others at the company to be successful. All signs led to an opportunity in management to run the sales team. The day I seriously considered taking the next step in my career to run sales was the same day that the guy I was seeing wanted to move to another city to finish school. My mind raced. This guy was the one but he was going to another city. WTH! After some soul searching, I realized that my passion still lied in teaching (from when I was a little girl). In addition to that, I wanted to be with this guy for the rest of my life and the thought of living in a hotel/plane/different city on a regular basis no longer seemed appealing. So, I shifted my career ambitions to being a six-digit salary sales rock star to returning to school to get my Master's in Education and becoming a teacher. And this, my friends, is how Mrs. Hasan was born.
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