Her Story
About Jessica
I've been in my field for around 5 to 6 years now. My main area of expertise today is personal branding on LinkedIn, where I create content for college students, new grads, and people in their early career. I provide them with resources that help them land roles and get experiences that build their resume and career. A typical day for me starts with strategizing what kind of content I should create - what's working well, what people are asking for, what they're responding well to. I have my own creative process where I usually write on my own, and then I use AI to help me format everything. I also use Canva to create infographics and graphics that catch people's attention on LinkedIn. After I get my posts up, it's mostly just a lot of engagement, replying to comments, and answering questions. My greatest achievement that I'm most proud of is deciding to take a gap year post-grad to pursue content full-time, and then hitting 10K on LinkedIn within a couple of months during this gap year. I graduated from UCLA where I studied psychology, which played a huge role in where I am right now. Being in LA in general, there are a lot of opportunities in the social media marketing world and the creative economy, and I got insight into that, which is why I ended up taking a gap year post-grad. I also did a lot of college ambassadorships at UCLA, which became my thing and really got me into the influencer world. That's one of the resources I provide on LinkedIn - I help other people land college ambassador roles and I have a newsletter on that too.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Jessica
01What do you attribute your success to?
I would say definitely my parents. They're immigrants, so they immigrated from Vietnam to the U.S. I would say that they shaped a huge part of who I am, just because I think they taught me a lot about work ethic from a young age. I started working when I was young, since my mom had a little nail salon that I helped out with. I've always been working, but they've always worked, and I feel like growing up, seeing how many hours they worked a week, working blue-collar jobs, it kind of really inspired me to want to do something a bit different and take more risks with my life, because I am very privileged to be in the U.S. where I do have more opportunities available, and with the internet, too. So I feel like it's a waste if I don't make the most of it. I feel like they really inspire me to do that, because they didn't come to America for nothing, so I feel like I have to really try my best.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I've ever received is: you can never fail if you never give up.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would say don't be afraid of being judged. I feel like that's probably the most common pain point that comes up when people ask me for advice. It's like, oh, how do you get over the fear of being judged, or just being cringe? I feel like it's one of those things where if you spend the rest of your life letting other people dictate what you do, you're never gonna be happy. So I feel like it's important that you follow your gut and just do what excites you, because at the end of the day, your happiness is what's most important, and if you follow that, you're bound to end up on the right path.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Since I'm in the marketing creator economy world, I feel like the greatest opportunities right now are that a lot of people are starting businesses, especially in tech and AI. There's a lot of businesses, but the biggest differentiator is distribution, which is where marketing is the key thing. So I feel like if people want to get into marketing now, I think it's a great time. Also, content in general - this is probably the lowest barrier to entry to get into content creation and the creator economy right now, just because there's so many tools out there to help you make content, whether that's editing software or AI to help you script videos and teach you how to edit or do certain effects. It's really easy right now to just get started. It's never been this easy. So I think that's where there's a big opportunity if people want to get started with that.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
I feel like one of my biggest values is working with people, and this includes brands or just even getting hired at a 9-to-5 job. I would say making sure it aligns with who I am as a person and what I believe in. For example, I talk a lot about mental health and chronic burnout, and I would want to work for someone who also values those beliefs and having balance in life and not overworking yourself. I feel like that's pretty important. Also, helping people who need help instead of hoarding resources, if that makes sense. If you have an upper leg, you should give back to those who are struggling or trying to grow themselves.
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