Meet Jamie Sullivan, one of our Spring semester interns. It's always nice to work with someone who is looking to expand their knowledge of different industries and who recently got interested in stepping up his own skincare routine! We all need a routine to keep our skin and ourselves healthy. Whether it be sunscreen, moisturizer or cleansing your face. It's been a great to work with Jamie and see how he approaches skincare.
What got you into Health, wellness and skincare? and how do you think about it?
I’ve been into health and wellness ever since I started playing sports, and not only have they kept me in shape and healthy, they also still teach me invaluable lessons about teamwork, leadership, and perseverance. I’ve transitioned away from organized team sports like soccer and cross country to the occasional ultimate frisbee game and the gym, but I still never leave the field/gym in a bad mood. Getting outside with friends and taking care of your body is such a positive feedback loop and I try to let it infect every facet of my life, from growing plants to practicing mindfulness to taking care of my skin. Ever since I started working for RECESS, I have tried to seek out better, more natural skincare products.
Growing up was there something you were particularly good at that you look at and think it helped shape your work ethic or how you approach a project?
I hate to repeat myself, but I do really think team sports have shaped my outlook on a lot of things. I was a captain on my high school’s Cross-Country team and played soccer throughout elementary school, and I think my success and the encouragement I received translated to my ability to be independent and (hopefully) a role model. Sports taught me that it is crucial to learn from mistakes, be accountable, and be resilient in order to grow. I challenge myself to be a leader, and my experiences in team sports taught me to trust in myself. This is maybe more of a fringe answer but growing up I thought I would 100% work in the film industry and make movies. This interest has come and gone over the years, but I think the really dumb movies I made when I was a kid and everything I’ve made since and learned about movies throughout the years have made me a better designer. I’ve learned how to take inspiration and to “steal” the right ideas, to explain complex concepts visually, and to ultimately tell a compelling story.
What interests/excites you when it comes to marketing, branding, content creation?
I think marketing combines my passions of design and visual storytelling with my educational experience in architecture. As I mentioned before, the lessons learned from film translate to design, and so on onto architecture. It’s about how a certain material or color choice can translate into explaining a concept, determining what strategies to follow when designing an apartment complex, etc. However, what sold me on the architecture path is how it is marketed as a “design degree” and how you are encouraged to pursue other passions and other career paths post-graduation. So instead of designing houses or office buildings, I would rather be deciding on, for example, a creative direction for New Balance or developing an ad campaign for Ace Hotel. I’m not fully sure what I want to do after graduation yet, but I’m so thankful for opportunities like these that let me experience new things and grow as a designer and person in order to make those big life decisions. What ultimately excites me about marketing is the chance to work on new projects and be inspired constantly.
What support from mentors do you wish you had? Or questions you'd like answered?
I have been very fortunate to have a lot of mentors and role models in my life whose advice I may not have applied right away but was instrumental in making me the person I am today. I wish I knew more people who were once unsure of what to do following an architectural degree, but through the advice I have received, I’ve learned to trust in myself and to not be anxious about the future. I heard once to “not be anxious about the future. Be furious.” I don’t wake up in the morning pissed off at the world, but I do think this is pretty sound advice to live by.
If you could give advice to yourself a few years ago what would it be?
This builds off what I previously said, but if I could talk to my younger self, I’d just simply say, “you got this.” It sounds a little corny, but that’s all my younger self would need to hear. I spent so much of my adolescence anxious and worried about “what-ifs” that it kept me from doing more and being the best version of myself. If I saw an older version of me who had gone through it and come out fine, I would’ve started trusting my gut a lot earlier. So all I would say is, “calm down, you’ll be fine, trust the process.”
What's your RECESS?
My RECESS really just depends on what I’m feeling that day. A walk around Audubon Park or a game of frisbee at The Fly can completely reset my mood and make my week. Sometimes it’s a movie binge (working through Paul Thomas Anderson’s filmography currently) and other times it’s a day at The Drifter in NOLA (The Drifter embodies RECESS). Ultimately it’s about balance and listening to what your body and mind need at the time.
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