Sometimes You Have to Take a Financial Loss for A Personal Gain

How Adell Coleman Landed Her Dream Job

Written by Natasha Eldridge, Office of the Chairman

Let’s start with when everything changed in 2007. You know that period of time that will go in the history books of when the market crashed, Lehman Brother’s closed their doors and AIG was stumbling, and the phrases mortal hazard, subprime loans and “Too Big to Fail” became part of the everyday lexicon. Seven years for many Americans, the residual aftershocks  from the market crash are still affecting lives.

One of the largest groups affected by the recession are college students. According to Accenture’s 2013 College Graduate Employment Survey

  • 41 percent of workers who graduated from college in the past two years (2011/2012 college grads) say they are underemployed and working in jobs that do not require their college degrees

  • The study identified a wide gap between the expectations pending 2013 college grads have for employer-provided training and what they are likely to receive when they start working — more than three-quarters (77 percent) of 2013 college grads expect their first employer to provide formal training, but fewer than one-half (48 percent) of 2011/2012 college grads surveyed say they received training in their first job after graduation

  • One-third (32 percent) of pending 2013 college grads plan to live at home after graduation, while 44 percent of 2011/2012 college grads currently live at home

Adell_SMX_01 (1)This is the story of how Adell Coleman overcame these odds and statistics to land her dream job as a producer at Sirius XM Radio.

Adell’s love affair with radio began during her 9th grade year at the Duke Ellington School of Performing Arts in Washington D.C. As a 9th grade intern  WPFW 89.3 she spent her Sunday’s at the station producing shows and filling in for the on-air talent.

After graduation and four years at the station, Adell attended Penn St. and decided due to the limited options to work in radio she would sharpen her journalism skills by focusing on her school’s newspaper.

Once Adell graduated from college the economy was in the tank minimal hiring in the radio industry, she had no choice but to look for a job somewhere else. That being Best Buy.

While at Best Buy, Adell understood her work situation as temporary and continued to apply for jobs in media. All it takes is one to make a difference. Finally, Adell heard back a year after graduation and nine months after applying to the position from Sirius XM as a phone screener for a psychic reading show that ran from 4am-10am. The position was only considered part-time requiring her to continue her job at Best Buy.  On the day Adell, would close the store shoe would catch a 2 hour bus ride home (sometimes 4 hours) to get a couple of hours sleep before going to her second job at SiriusXM. She was maximizing her sleeping time to four hours a night, but this was her dream job so it was worth it.

You would think after he job at the radio station she would be ready to fall asleep before heading back to Best Buy, but Adell understood the necessities to be successful in the radio industry and they are who you know, and getting your name out there so people will know you. She would stick around and see if anyone needed help with their shows and fill in where necessary.

Eventually, Adell left Best Buy to concentrate solely on SiriusXM. This decision of TAKE A FINANCIAL LOSS FOR A PERSONAL GAIN. Her previous years in radio developed her radio skills beyond phone screener and Adell wanted more so she stayed with the same plan she started while working at Best Buy stick around and help. She showed up on off hours and days off and would look for work that needed to be done at the station and made herself available and designed positions to help other shows.

313335_10104084634102404_1352382609_nThe big opportunity came once another producer quit and Adell took over those duties without the bosses knowing. Soon Adell was hearing accolades from senior management on how well the show was going, finally admitting she took over.

In July 2014 Adell became the official producer for the Maggie Linton Show. Well, she was the utility player which involved, producing, booking, developing social media sites and handling the show calendar.

Remember where we started, an internship in the ninth grade, college, Best Buy and finally The Maggie Linton Show. This was a 10 year journey for Adell and it had plenty of hiccups but through her tenacity, sacrifice and hard work, Adell beat the odds and reached her goals.

 

Pin It on Pinterest