Utilizing My Creative Talents in PR
Hi! When I was 34 and living in Montreal, I had been working for 5 years for a renowned PR company. While I was very good at my job, it did not speak to my creative talents at all and was gradually dimming my light. One day, through my brother who was working there, I heard of an opening for the position of creative scout at Cirque du Soleil. I had never heard of such a job which basically involves researching various forms of creativity all day long to inspire the artists at Cirque.
The interviewing process involved preparing a big presentation on the theme « orange ». During the three days that I had to research this, I found myself in such an intense state of flow, intellectual challenge and creative thrill that I knew I had found my niche. I got to the last two people and didn’t get the job. I was devastated. I remember crying in my bed and speaking out loud to the universe, pleading for a job like that. I applied again for a similar position that opened two weeks later, again at Cirque, made it to the last two people again and still did not get the position. I decided to quit my PR job and look for similar jobs in advertising. I had never worked in advertising and did not even know if such researching jobs even existed there. I targeted the 10 best agencies and sent them my CV as well of examples of the creative writing notebooks that I have kept since I was 12 (mix of writing, photographs and collages).
I heard nothing for 10 days and then received one email from a very famous creative director at one of the agencies asking to meet me. When I went to the meeting, and after hearing my Cirque du Soleil story, he told me that he had been thinking about creating a similar position to inspire his creative team and that he was going to create such a job for me. This man basically saw me for my potential and abilities and created my dream job out of scratch. I worked there for 5 years, inspiring and collaborating with all the creative directors and writers on pitches and campaigns and they were the most exhilarating of my professional life. I have a feeling that it ended up being even more interesting and rewarding than what the Cirque jobs would have been.
I lost the sense of time, never looked at the clock for 5 years. It was an incredible, outwardly feeling. I had to leave this job when I moved to the U.S. to be with the American husband that appeared in my life through Instagram. But that’s another manifestation story altogether.
-Anonymous
