school and a new job

As if going to see Dinosaurs Live wasn’t big enough for one week, I got a new job and decided to start going back to school too.


The new job is still with Nielsen, but it’s in a newly formed department that researches and publishes papers on problems and information related to the local television markets. This can vary from the type of equipment and procedures used, to how residents of the NY market differ in their views towards new technologies from those in Salt Lake and Seattle.

I will go back to working under the boss I interned for, Steve McGowan, but I will be reporting to a really great woman named Jackie Bergeron. Her Local Insights team consists of a part timer based in Atlanta named Tara and a guy name Sam who lives in Philly and only comes into the office once a week. Jackie just had a baby and is only in at most two days a week. So it’s probable that I’ll be able to hop on the work-from –home bandwagon at some point in the future.

While the details are still a bit hazy, we kind of side stepped HR, the facts are these:
I’ll be making more moola
I’ll start officially in September
I’ll be doing more writing

Color me excited about all that!


As far as school goes, I have been talking about the Professional Certificate programs offered by NYU since I was an intern. The ones focusing on Global Affairs, Public Relations, and Fundraising for Non-profits always caught my eye.

After looking into the requirements and courses offered, I decided Global Affairs is the best match for my interests. I have four years to take six classes, but my plan is to do it in two or two and a half years, depending on how life and classes go. According to the website, “a certificate in Global Affairs provides a foundation in international affairs, preparation for graduate school, and context for a complex and evolving world.”

Essentially, the classes can later go towards a Masters degree in anything from Global Affairs, to International Relations, to International Economics.

I chose to start off with a certificate for a few reasons, the main ones being that it is shorter and less expensive that a graduate degree, I’m not entirely sure where I want to go with professional things right now, and it will give me a chance to see if I like NYU and if I want to continue going to school there. Further, when I started looking for new jobs in the non-profit arena a while back I realized that I needed more than just an earnest interest in the humanitarian efforts.

Cassi is a great example to me and she’s helped cultivate my interest in international refugee crises’, civil wars etc. We’ve shared books and articles over the years, and while my interests often lie with the plight of women in the Middle East, she leans toward refugees in Africa. Our readings and discussion have made me realize how global these struggles really are and how, as the saying goes, all it takes for evil to prosper is for good people to do nothing.

In my attempt to be a good person who is doing something, I believe the first step toward making a difference is being educated. Thus my first class, starting September 23rd is Africa and the Politics of Humanitarian Aid “Do you give much needed food, clean water, and medical supplies to civilians displaced by war when you know that a significant portion will be used to support a brutal militia? How do you respect state sovereignty when the state has an active role in perpetuating human rights abuses? What does it mean to remain “neutral” in such scenarios? Explore the politics of international intervention and humanitarian aid in Africa through the complicated interests of the donor, recipient, and NGO communities. Examine the evolution of the aid community from the Biafra Civil War in Nigeria to the present crisis in Darfur.”

Wish me luck!!


Jon, of course, is super supportive and excited for me for both new paths I'm on. Starting this month he'll start studying and taking classes for the second level of the CFA exam in June. If he keeps up working like he is and adds studying to the mix, I think the man might explode! We are hoping and are confident he’ll pass it the first go round so that the following year, 2010, he’ll be a full fledged CFA. And who knows? At that point he might also be interested in going back to school himself for an advanced degree in economics or finance and the CFA is a great thing to have in addition. He loves his job though and is learning so much.

We are grateful we are where we are right now. Currently, our life is perfecto!