eJournal #2: Kareem Perez

With a variety of different speakers to choose to write about from the subsequent seminar classes, I felt spoiled for choice! Ranging from depth looks at agencies, career collectives, specific industry market factors and customer relationship management in the education sector, it’s been quite the information superhighway! The seminar I chose to highlight today was the one given by Kareem Perez an experienced digital marketer with a healthy desire to help others succeed in the industry. 

I had read the brief bio that my classmates had left on the class webpage and was very much interested in learning a little bit about something called “The Tech Effect”. But way before talking about that, Kareem recounted his interesting journey to the position and place he is in today.  

I enjoyed hearing his anecdotes about being such a strong student that he was able to skip a grade, and then subsequently having such confidence in his academics that it caused a detrimental effect. I really related to that because I was recommended to be in the gifted program in the middle of my elementary school career, and how that inflated academic ego my initial year of high school to not go very well. Then again, I felt a small kinship when he mentioned that he went to Ryerson University through a connecting college program, as I went to Ryerson myself. 

So as someone who wants to get into digital marketing, I took note of his career path and of the ways he was able to move up in his career. He talked about being bold and trying new ideas. It was cool how he talked about being the first at his then-company to embrace a new system of automated portfolio reporting and explain it to clients, and how that optimized the work they did. I think Kareem tied it up nicely by saying it is very important to think of ways we as individuals can add value to our environment, and how that mentality is one that can motivate you to be the best you can possibly be. 

I learned a few valuable tidbits about digital marketing as ultimately, I found that what Kareem does is not necessarily what I could picture myself doing. What was slightly more interesting to me was the knowledge imparted upon us about being a modern professional. Things like acknowledging how your values line up with that of a potential employer, professional relationships and reputation, and being frank with non-negotiables. I really like this last point because as a candidate for a potential position, you are interviewing the organization to determine whether this is a place that you feel would provide an opportunity for both personal and professional growth. 

Perhaps the most engaging part of the seminar for me was the Kareem’s suggestion that we should have a scorecard to measure our progress to help gage skill sets and improve. As someone who firmly believes that knowledge is power, it is a fascinating idea not just keep continuously learning, but looking back to see how far you have come, and assessing where else and how much farther you can go!