Seattle: Publicis Groupe
It was a gloomy morning in Seattle, but the complimentary breakfast at the hotel and the conversations about everyone’s adventures lightened my early start to the morning. A bunch of us early birds were able to squeeze in The Museum of Pop Culture into our schedules. We walked down the Hall of Fame (Hell Boy’s right hand was on display), saw the David Bowie and Jimmy Hendrix exhibit and enjoyed the many interactive games and movie references. Once back from this trip, our whole group departed to eat lunch at the Lunchbox Laboratory where the interior of the restaurant was decorated with old tin lunchboxes and I was told the Nutella shake was amazing (You’ll have to try it for yourself). The walk to this lunch destination was no joke though- we passed a variety of cozy and colorful neighborhoods along the way, but the journey also required some major uphill climb. From here, we took the shuttle to our first company site: Publicis Groupe.
Publicis Groupe is a French multinational advertising and public relations company which houses big name subsidiaries like Leo Burnett Worldwide, SapientRazorfish, Spark Foundry and MSL to name a few. As a senior majoring in Marketing, I was extremely excited as this was the type of agency culture that I definitely wanted to learn more about. The company representative, Greg Eppich (Senior VP at MSL) was a very approachable and elegant person who made the whole tour and panel discussions immensely engaging and enriching. The people on the panel, Sam (from SapientRazorfish), Candice (from Sapient), Barb (from Spark Foundry) and Vicky (from MSL) were also very open and transparent about their experiences in the professional world as they shared their views and advice for all the college students in the room. They reminded us of the importance of networking and building connections, being open to different opportunities and jobs that may not align with our majors and being able to adjust and work with each style that a person may offer. One of the pieces of advice that really resonated with me was this quote from Greg: “You alone are responsible for your own career”. This really made me re-think about how we have the chance to change and shape our lives in any way that we want at any given moment in our lives. I’m certain that many of us left the company visit with a new drive and determination to further our careers.
After the visit, the whole group decided to make use of our City Pass and visited the Chihuly Garden and Glass where we saw stunning glass sculptures and saw the whole process of glassblowing as two experts made a stained-glass bowl from scratch. Following a few photo sessions with the exhibits and a short rain shower, it was already time for dinner. A few of us went to the International District and had some traditional Vietnamese food in a small local restaurant. Our day ended with a stop at a Japanese market called Uwajimaya and some purchases of face masks.
I look forward to seeing the other adventures and memories the rest of the week has in store.
Rotluangpuii Ralte (BBA ‘18)
Marketing, Finance
