Mirelle Tinker

I think success comes from a variety of factors. You have supportive family and friends who believe in you, who help you during tough times and listen to you when perhaps you're down. There's also a personal structure and determination there, a willingness to invest even in difficult times and pursue ideas even if you're not 100% sure, and doing things that scare you. So being able to act upon those aspects of my personality have been really helpful. And I've also had really great mentors and professors, and organizational support to give me resources to further my education and learning and continue to grow.

I had a mentor who told me that your network is your net worth, saying that who you know is incredibly important as you're developing your career, and this is what will eventually define your long-term value and longevity in whatever field you decide to pursue. That's important because even if you see yourself as a student or perhaps down on your luck in other areas, having the curiosity and openness to meet new people and develop that rapport and continue to check in on those connections - that is a unique and tangible value all of itself. I think it helps also give you a self-confidence and knowledge about the industry that you can't get solely through work experience.

My advice is to get to know as many people as you can and have an openness to new opportunities and experiences. Rather than focusing linearly on exactly what your career might shape out to in 10, 20 years, start to understand what you enjoy doing. Try different things out, learn what you like, what you dislike, and let those activities in and of themselves guide you. I think if you have a strong sense of self, what you like, and what environments don't work for you, that can be a better compass than one particular industry or role title.

I would say a big challenge in this field is that there seems to be a lot of uncertainties about the future. What does a career look like in this path in 10, 20 years? What does it mean to work in television in another few years, audio, this, that. So being able to plan strategically, in a way, is a challenge. One could also see that as an opportunity to continue to define oneself and what you have to offer and learn about the world. But that uncertainty can be difficult to navigate professionally, but also personally, and knowing who you are and where you're going and what security you can establish for yourself. So that would be, from my perspective, the biggest challenge.

I would say creativity, curiosity, and open-mindedness. Creativity allows you to be inventive, to dive into that imaginative side of yourself and remain consistently activated and engaged within the world. That also leans into curiosity and being able to ask questions and not being afraid of how one comes across, and being aware of the process of learning and educating yourself about all different areas of life. Sometimes you learn something about one area and it educates you about another in ways you couldn't have predicted. And then openness, in the sense of being open to perhaps a failure or a step back or things not turning out the way you'd hoped. Openness to new experiences, openness to how your career might end up developing. When I majored in television, I could not have predicted my path into gaming, into streaming, into audiobooks, but that openness has allowed me to make those new connections and take this journey as it is. And I think that will continue to be especially critical in our current media landscape.