Mollie Goldstein

I’m Mollie Goldstein. I’m a Senior at The Florida State University. I’m currently studying Media & Communication Studies with a minor in Entrepreneurship and Film Studies.

For as long as I can remember I have been passionate about the entertainment industry. When I was young, I was obsessed with classic movies like Breakfast at Tiffany’s and The Wizard of Oz. I vividly remember saying to myself “That’s what I want to do.” I wasn’t sure what aspect of the industry I wanted to go into but since then I have been hooked.

Since then, I have been exploring the industry as much as possible! In elementary and high school, I was a reporter for our morning news programs. In high school, I wrote and produced the show, which went on to win multiple awards, even winning Best In Show one year at the Florida Scholastic Press Association State Competition.

Since I have began college, I have branched out and expand my knowledge of different aspects of the industry. I was honored to have taken part in an internship in the summer of 2013 with Clear Channel Media in West Palm Beach, Florida. There I worked in the promotions department. Working there helped me develop my event planning, marketing, and public relations skills. In addition, my writing skills have drastically improved since having that experience. Between writing blog posts and news articles, my skills have really developed. I also enchanted my skills on social media. As an intern we were in charge of running the radio stations’ Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Other internships I’ve had the pleasure of completing have been with 180 Communications and the Florida State University Football office.

Between the skills learned in the field as well as years of working in retail stores, I have really developed an ability to connect with people. After doing research, I have realized that my best fit within the entertainment industry would be in casting.

Casting is a business where you not only need to have an eye for talent and who would fit in what part, but it also has a business element to it. I am hoping through my entrepreneurship classes, I can learn the business skills, like writing up contracts and negotiation between agents and production studios, through my business classes.

One change I have seen in myself is in what I want to do. I came into this class and college in general with a one-track mind when it came to what I wanted to do as my career. I wanted to be a producer and writer for a TV show. It was the only job I wanted to do since I was six years old.

Right before the Spring semester of 2014 began, I saw a documentary about legendary casting director Marion Dougherty. The film was enchanting. It detailed the career of the woman who made casting what it is in the current movie and TV system. It also went into the business of casting. It spoke both the creative aspects and the business aspects. It sounded like my perfect fit for me and I hope to follow in this career path!

But this has opened my eyes to another world in communication, the development process. This also tickles my fancy and makes my range of job possibilities more open!

Another change I have seen in myself has been how I address conflict. In most aspects of my life, I had always been unafraid to jump head first into conflict. This caused me to even get into conflicts that weren’t even mine. I always had to give my two cents into every situation.

I have learned that sometimes the best way to deal with a situation is to let it play out, not push it along. Not getting involved in my friends’ or family’s problems is okay. Now when I am dealing with a personal conflict, my first instinct is not to confront it right away. I have changed the way I deal with conflicts with roommates, professors, and other people in my life and it has made a huge difference in my level of joy.

The final change I have made in myself is in how I set goals. I used to set goals by having a general concept and then tell everyone I knew that concept. I have now keep my goals to myself.

Motivational speaker Del Suggs spoke to our class about how to succeed. He taught us about setting goals and it completely changed how I addressed setting goals which will help me set goals throughout my career and even more importantly, my life.

In Careers in Communication, we have had the magnificent opportunity to listen to many accomplished people speak about their careers and their journeys to their success. The speakers have informed us about different industries and how different people get into their careers in different ways. This has been invaluable to my journey to narrow my career path. One speaker who had the most impact on me was Dr. Dale Brill.

Dr. Brill is the Founder and “Obsessive Thinker” of Thinkspot Inc. His career has been filled with changes. He’s been in agency life. He’s been in the corporate world. He’s started his own company. He even teaches at the university level. But even with all the changes in his career, he remains positive about everything and is absolutely inspiring.

The thing I appreciated most about his time speaking with us was his blunt nature. He asked us what we wanted to know and planned his speech around that. Most other speakers spoke about them than opened it for questions. It was a welcome change.

Any questions we asked, he gave us the real life answer. When some of the other speakers came in, they seemed to sugar coat the difficulty in aspects of finding a job or a career path. He laid it out that it is going to be hard and that your first job will suck. It made me feel more optimistic because everyone will go through that. It made me realize that sometimes you need a not so great job before you can have your dream job. And because of your time at a not so great job, the dream job will seem even better!

Dr. Brill’s candor with us made finding a job or figuring out what career path to go down seem less taunting. I really appreciated him coming in and speaking with us and taking time out of his busy schedule.