Name: Abby Williamson '18
Hometown: Northbrook, IL
College/Major: Northwestern University; Theatre and Psychology double major
Pre-Business School: Co-Founder, Storybook Princess Parties; Paralegal, Chubb Insurance
Summer Internship: Summer MBA Associate Marketing Manager, Disney Pixar Cars - Mattel
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PRE-ANDERSON
Childhood dream job: I wanted to be a Singer, Actress, Dancer, Teacher, and Computer Programmer (in that order).
Why business school? I came to business school to transition into entertainment marketing and gain a solid business education to supplement my less-traditional undergraduate majors.
Why Anderson? I was attracted to Anderson's collaborative culture and strong ties to the entertainment industry.
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ANDERSON
Anderson Activities & Leadership:
Executive Vice President, Anderson Student Association
VP of Alumnae Relations, Women’s Business Connection
VP of Entertainment Career Night, Entertainment Management Association
Class of 2019 Orientation Director
Parker CMC Social Media SWAT Team
Parker TA
Favorite class and why? The core Marketing class with Hal Hershfield. Professor Hershfield is an incredibly engaging lecturer and I looked forward to going to every class.
What is your Applied Management Research (AMR) Project? We are working on the business plan for a new Broadway musical.
Favorite Anderson event/trip: Going to Sundance Film Festival with the Entertainment Management Association. It was incredible to see four film premieres with talk-backs from the director and stars. It was so much fun bonding with my classmates in Park City.
Hanging with my classmates in Park City at Sundance Film Festival.
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RECRUITING
What did you do the summer before business school to prep for fall recruiting? I watched the Parker videos and followed their advice for how to start thinking about the career exploration process.
How did you utilize Parker in your job search? I did a bunch of mock interviews with Parker, which can be terrifying but extremely helpful. It becomes very apparent very quickly what you are good at and what you still need to work on. I did a few general mock interviews, then came in again once I found out I had gotten interviews and did more company-specific mock interview prep with Jessica Christopher.
What helped you the most in interview prep/career search? My Parker advisors Jessica Christopher and Emily Taylor and the ACT Coaches.
How many informationals did you conduct? 30-40
Describe your internship. I worked in marketing at Mattel on the Disney Cars team. I had an individual project, a group project, intern events (i.e. Meet & Eats with the C-Suite at Mattel, field trips, MBA 101 sessions about the different departments, etc.), coffee chats, and day-to-day work. It was extremely busy and never boring! My manager gave me a lot of responsibility in my day-to-day work and really made me feel like I was part of the team. We would check in every morning and she would give me things to do, from supervising TV Commercial shoots to working with the digital marketing team on our fall social media campaigns to helping with research to plan our 2019 line. She invited me to every meeting she attended, from meetings at Disney with the franchise team to meetings with our team VPs at Mattel. I also attended fun events with my team, including Comic-Con, D23, and an all-day brainstorming event with Disney and Pixar at Disneyland where we got to ride all the rides in Cars Land before the park opened. I had an amazing summer, and this all barely scratches the surface - ask me for an informational if you'd like to learn more!
Me and my group project team right before our final presentation.
What was your offer timeline? I applied to Mattel in December over winter break. I received a first-round interview invitation on January 30. My first-round interview was on February 3 on campus - it was two back-to-back 30 minute interviews. I received a second-round interview invitation on February 7. My second-round interview was in person at Mattel on February 8. I received my offer on February 9.
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