4 Ways Blogging Has Helped My Corporate Career

Any creatives who also work in Corporate America out there?

I belong in two very different worlds. From Monday to Friday, I’m a project manager at the Boeing Company. I’m leading meetings, calling into conference calls, auditing the factory floor, and walking in and out of Corporate America each week. My weekends and evenings, I’m a blogger, a writer, a content creator for my blog Emma’s Edition. I’ve balanced these two worlds since I’ve graduated from college – almost four years ago. I’ve worked in sales, finance, the consumer goods industry, aerospace, and project management and always created a space for my creative endeavors. While some people may challenge the idea of bringing aerospace and fashion together, I’ve used my experience from both worlds to make me a better creative and business woman.

I’ve shared before how I’ve taken business concepts into my blog and even how I balance grad school, a full time job, with blogging.

So today I’m showing how my passion for blogging has helped my corporate career so far!

Why I’m sharing this post: I want to encourage any new grads or young professional women out there to pursue their creative endeavors – regardless of their day job. Just because you work in tech or aerospace doesn’t mean you can’t love photography or fashion. And just because you’re a creative doesn’t mean you can’t put your technical hat on and understand financial data or how an airplane flies. I’m encouraging you take the leap and pursue your creative passions because it can actually help you in your day job/corporate jobs.

Here is how blogging has helped my corporate career:

Blogging has helped my corporate career by: Becoming a storyteller

One skill I’ve built up over the last few years is storytelling. While I’ve always resonated and loved telling stories, I really learned how to tell my personal stories with my blog. I’ve shared how I’ve changed my perspective on who can actually represent a major brand like AEO and I’ve also shared what I learned from my biggest failure. Storytelling has been a key strategy in creating content I’m passionate about on my blog and also connecting with my audience.

As a current project manager, former financial analyst, and former saleswoman, I’ve given a ton of presentations. I’ve presented previous grocery data while I was at PepsiCo. I’ve presented financial data to engineering and manufacturing leadership at Boeing. And I’ve presented everything from cost benefit analysis to labor costs. Presenting data can be extremely challenging and also very boring… However blogging has helped my corporate career by inspiring me to use story telling when I share data or a project. I’ve found that storytelling is the best way for the audience to consume my message.  Focusing on the why and leading leadership or my team through the data or experience in a story like sequence has helped me give better presentations.

Blogging has helped my corporate career by: Pushing me to think about how people consume content in the office

As a blogger and avid social media user, I’m constantly thinking about how people consume content on different platforms. For instance, I’m always thinking about readability on my blog. Reading long blocks of texts typically unappealing to potential readers/followers. So breaking up the text of a blog post with bullet points and headings actually help people consume the content easier.

I’ve taken this skill and this lesson into my day job as a project manager. One thing I do a lot (and I’m assuming most people also do) is write emails. So much work is done going back and forth between emails. I use the same lesson of breaking up long paragraphs of texts in emails by using bullet points and headings. Additionally, if there is a call to action in the email or something that needs to be signed off on, I will bold and highlight that section.

I do this because my coworkers, leadership, and other groups of people I work with are typically on the go. Most managers where I work consume most of their emails on their phones. By sending emails that are easy to read, you remove the back and forth clarification questions that tend to happen when people are quickly scanning their emails because they’re also on their way to the next meeting.

Blogging has helped my corporate career by: Making things visually appealing

While I spend an avid amount of time outside of work planning my Instagram feed or where I’m going to shoot next for the blog, I spend a lot of time at work creating presentations, newsletters, and writing emails.

When I’m building my organizations weekly newsletters or when I’m creating power point presentations, I always ask myself “how can I make this piece of content easier for the audience to read?” Typically I try to simplify slides, use less texts, and use more visuals like graphs or pie charts to create presentations.

Blogging has helped my corporate career by: Applying the Art of Reflection

I’m writing at least 2-3 times a week and producing 2 blog posts per week for Emma’s Edition. On top of that, I’m also writing daily captions, crafting an Instagram story, and completing writing assignments for class. I’ve always been a reflective person because that’s how I process my failures, challenges, and successes in life. Blogging has actually pushed me into a whole another stage of reflection.

The skill of reflection has surprisingly been very helpful in making changes and navigating my career. Three years out of college, I had experienced four different jobs, three different business functions, and two different industries. My career was moving at an accelerated rate and I had to make decisions about where I wanted to navigate next. I particularly struggled with a data focused financed role when rotated into my second job at Boeing. I had to take a step back, talk to my mentors, and reflect on why I was struggling and not enjoying where I was at. That 6 month rotation in finance ended up being a huge development opportunity for me. I realized I could use my skills of storytelling to improve how to present financial data. I also learned how to use excel – which was one tool I really wanted to learn how to use when I graduated.

Are you in corporate or day job that’s unrelated to your creative endeavors? How has blogging helped your corporate career?

What are some ways your creative pursuits have helped you in your occupation or other parts in your life?

Now introducing Artphere!

Thank you to Artphere for gifting this gorgeous red business bag! The New Dulles Touch F0 Leather Briefcase is a high quality bag with plenty of space to hold my wallet, phone, notebooks, my work laptop and more. I especially love the wooden handle! You can order your very own bag either in red or black on Amazon here.

Who is Artphere?

Founded in 2006, Artphere is a major bag brand located in Toyooka, Japan. They originally created bags for travelling artists who would come to Toyooka to sketch the surrounding landscapes. Artphere has continued to innovate their bag designs with 3D technologies and arch system engineering. Artphere produces bags for both work and everyday style. You can check out Artphere here!

*This blog post was made in collaboration with Artphere and all my opinions are my own*

Outfit Details:

Dress – Who What Wear Target Collection

Shoes – Nine West

Bag – Artphere

Thank you for reading!

Love,

Emma

Photos: Karya Schanilec

Pin It: