Yes, there are a couple of things down there, but they were old posts unrelated to what the future holds for me and SoSaic.
Many people who know me are aware of my many quests and downturns... But what is important right now is the celebrations I will share through this tiny spot in the Web.
Moving on.
Back in Decemeber, my advisor at USF shared this great internship opportunity from the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A's). I must admit, I was not aware of the level of importance and grandeur this internship held, but I pursed it anyway. After all, it is in The Constitution... ;)
(Pursuit of happiness... Get it? No? Alright, never mind.)
In two weeks, I had to refresh my book (portfolio) and resume, find two killer recommendation letters (thank you Mark Irby and Carol Osborne), write two essays and create a three-page ad campaign for Dentyne gum. Yes, two weeks. Crazy, huh?
Well, thanks to some amazing USF friends and my always loyal Lesha, we shot and produced the ads. Then, my incredible friend Mattias, who lives in Sweden, put it all together.
Incredibly enough, the 4A's never got my stuff... files were too big and the e-mail kicked it to my spam without telling me. Yes, I cried.
At any rate, I was able to submit my work and the Multicultural Advertising Internship Program (MAIP) committee got to finally see it. Lucky me.
Next thing I knew, around January or February, I was a semi-finalist in this nation-wide competition, which meant that a local agency was going to interview me to make sure I was not a lunatic Hispanic student.
That's me feeling good after my interview.
Clearly, I am not a lunatic since I became a FINALIST!
The MAIP team then submitted all of my information to the ad agencies playing along for the summer. And long story short, McCann Erickson gave me the opportunity to live my dream of becoming a copywriter.
This summer, I will be working with one of the best ad agencies in the whole country, which is still pretty surreal to me. But, I am going. I already know where I am living and working (thank you Google Maps), and I am loving every single second of it.
Sadly, my wife and son will not be able to accompany me, but nature's sense of humor is always on my side, so this story will be that much more dramatic since I am quite literately leaving everything I love behind... but only for the summer.
I owe many people gargantuan thanks, and I am doing this for my family, myself and for all of those who have been supporting and believing in me all these years.
I love you. And I hope everyone plays along with me while I attempt this blogging thing while in San Francisco.
Peace and balance,
Alex Santiago
twitter.com/SoSaic
