Two years ago, when I took on a job at a restaurant, I had no idea it would provide the experience I needed to help catapult my career into creative advertising.

Out of college, I put all of my energy into pursuing a career as a voiceover actor in New York City, to much success. To date, my clients include CNN, Comedy Central, McDonald’s, AT&T and Taco Bell, to name a few.

Like many people I know, I didn’t go into college wanting to do voiceovers. I went to college to become a filmmaker, and just so happened to stumble onto this world of entertainment marketing. But two years ago, I started to get this feeling that I could do more. I had just one problem. I didn’t know how to find out what that more was.

I walked away from my daily voiceover grind and held off auditions, and while taking time away to think things out, I took on a job at the NoMad hotel and restaurant, as a kitchen server. On my first day, I was given a mentor to help guide me through the training process. She taught me how to hold glassware, how to greet guests and most of all, how to think about my new role as a kitchen server. I was inspired by the pride my mentor took in showing me the ropes. She took great pleasure in teaching me everything she knows, in hopes that I’d make her proud, of course.

I ran across aspiring chefs in the kitchen working their way up, and ambitious managers who wanted to one day run their own kitchen. I collided with servers with master degrees from top hospitality programs and sommeliers, which I describe as people who got paid to drink wine. For the first time in my professional life, I saw people who love what they do for a living, and who were on a pursuit to achieve excellence. The restaurant has won top honors at every major distinction, yet the people of the restaurant didn’t take themselves too seriously. I wondered if I could find that same inspiring environment, but within marketing and advertising.

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It wasn’t long before my goals matched with reality, and I received an email from PromaxBDA regarding a mentorship scholarship program. I was accepted into the program and immediately bought a one-way ticket to Los Angeles. I knew I needed guidance, though. In the same way my mentor at the NoMad took great pride in bringing me through, I needed people who could do the same within my industry. I was seeking answers to questions such as “What am I good at?” or “What opportunities are available for someone like me?” or “Do I have a shot at this?”

It wasn’t long before I was calling myself a writer, and soon landed a coveted production internship at Troika, a creative agency in Hollywood. I didn’t know if I wanted a career in production. All I knew was I wanted to work with nice people and learn as much as I could, and it happened. In just a few months, I was promoted to production coordinator and finding success working in business development. It wasn’t long before a top executive there confidently said to me “You have a future in accounts and business development.”

Those words, though it does not sound profound here, hit home for me. It was the direction and guidance I moved to LA for. I yearned, and still do, for mentors to watch me work, see where I excel and make an educated hypothesis about what I can

do to help bring as much as value as I can to an organization. It’s no surprise that a little over a year after that guidance, I am now in a role where I’m charged with leading the business development and partnership strategy for Substance Global, a digital-first creative agency based in London.

In just a few weeks, I’ll be back in the Big Apple, sharing this story at PromaxBDA’s conference, to a room of executives and managers.

This story, though, isn’t just a success story. It’s really a story about the responsibility all of us have to help someone else get ahead. I just hope we see the value in it.

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