Recently, I had the honor of being chosen as my niece's hero as part of a class assignment that she had. Her second grade class all had to chose someone important to them; write a couple of sentences about why that person was their hero; record the sentences; and draw a picture. To the left is my hero picture and you can click on the bar below to listen to the accompanying audio.
What does a second grader think you do?
Besides knowing that I dress up every day and head to work with a laptop computer in a bag over my arm and an iPhone in my purse, she really had no clue what I did for work every day. Her mom e-mailed me to get a brief job description so that she could complete her assignment. Trying to describe product marketing for a high-tech company to a seven-year-old is no easy task. It's easier just to say, "The marketing work that I do helps my company sell more computers and the software that makes them run."
Being a Hero Involves Lots of Shopping for Me
The truth is, I'm a hero because she and I share a lot of the same interests. We both love clothes, reading books, shopping, and spending time in fancy places. What I do for work, while it may become important to her some day, is just the thing that funds all of the other activities.
Will My Niece Be A Marketer Too?
One of the great joys of my life is watching my niece grow up and learn about the world. She's very creative in art class and with her writing assignments, just like I was at her age. Will she end up in marketing? Quite possibly. She's been memorizing ads on TV since she could speak and can repeat them back to you almost verbatim. It will be interesting to see all the ways to get a message out to your audience by the time she's out of college and ready to dress up for work and head out the door with her computer devices for a day of work. Hopefully, I'm still her hero and she still looks to me for advice whether it's fashion tips or career decisions. I think I've got a good shot at it!
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