Ploymint Staff Stories & Advice

My fellow Ploymint writers and I have all written fantastic articles meant to help you in your job search. I know I’ve learned a lot from reading their pieces, and hope you have as well. Have you ever wondered to yourself what our backgrounds are? Here are five Ploymint staff stories as well as some advice for you.

Brett Pucino: “My story is a messy one. I recently left my job as an assistant manger/administrative assistant with a direct marketing startup to pursue writing opportunities full-time. Writing has been my side-hustle for five years and I’m just now in a position to make legit career-type money. My advice to millennials with a side-hustle would be follow the people who are doing what you want to do successfully, and then study everything they do. Build a relationship with them through social media (yes, you can get a job from social media) and become an active member of their communities – it’s how great connections are born!”

Amanda Mester: “As I had several other times in my professional career, I was nearing a year in an office job that was sucking my soul; I had started the job after spending 3 years teaching college, which was really rewarding…. spiritually. I couldn’t take the office job life anymore and one night I celebrated too much with friends, which resulted in a nasty hangover and an impulsive decision to quit the job and never go back. Naturally, I started looking for a job immediately, and I stumbled across an ad for an Assistant Editor position for a brand new website, and I figured “what the hell…it couldn’t hurt.” It was a job that fit what I was dreaming about; it would allow me to use all of my years of writing and editing to good use, and I could work from home. It’s now been 6 months, and just this week, I joined the ranks as a writer for the site, as well.”

Emily Matras: “I’ve been freelance writing full time for about seven months. Before this, I spent several years in the marketing departments of a couple different companies, where I gained a lot of experience with copywriting — everything from e-newsletters to bios for company CEOs to fun blog posts. I realized I wanted to do writing full time; my previous marketing positions have given me a ton of experience to draw from. My advice to millennials would be not to burn bridges. I gave my company plenty of notice when I decided to leave so I could help them train a replacement. Now, that company is one of my freelance clients!”

Garrett Ettinger: “I worked in a corporate setting for three years, regular office 9-5. I hated it, always loved writing but never thought I could make money with it. At the same time I got into a lot of non-profit work and community organizing. I totally switched industries from corporate law/internet tech to a writer full-time. Best piece of advice to people is never give up on your dreams. Don’t let other people’s opinions derail what you really want to do. If it was always your dream to be an actor, go for it. If you want to be an artist, go for it. You’ll be happier and more financially successful if you are doing something you’re passionate about, regardless of what it is, because you are actually trying.”

Yours truly: “I’ve always had a passion for planning and helping others, so finding myself working for a nonprofit doing social media and event planning was a perfect fit. I love getting to compose social media posts, press releases, and more, however something was missing. I had always enjoyed writing, but I’m not going to lie – I had a bit of PTSD after the hundreds of pages I had to write during grad school. After about a year break, I connected via Twitter (sound familiar? yes I have already written about finding jobs on Twitter!) with Amanda, and joined the Ploymint team. Now in addition to helping those at my job, I can help fellow millennials through my own personal experiences, research, and general writings. My advice to people is to network everywhere. You truly never know who you’re going to meet, where you’ll meet them, or if they could be of benefit to you.”

We’ve all been there fellow millennials. We’ve been at jobs we didn’t like. We’ve been at jobs where we didn’t feel fulfilled. We’ve felt like there’s something we’re missing. Five Ploymint writers have shared their stories with you, hoping that you may take something from it. You learn from experience, and we hope you can learn from our experiences.