Why it’s Okay to Not Have Your Post-College Life Figured Out Yet

A Profile on Holly Wade, a Former CSULB Journalism/PR Student

By Katherine Shinno

    Holly Wade is the founder and editor of “Club Crafted,” a DIY, food and lifestyle blog and content creation company. However, her initial career path after college was very different.
     She had a variety of jobs before working full time on Club Crafted. After graduating from CSULB in 2013, with a journalism/PR major and marketing minor, Wade had a marketing internship, which she enjoyed even though it was not very exciting. By fall, she had an internship with a small PR firm specializing in healthcare. It was easy, but again was not very exciting.
    In 2014, Wade continued her internship while searching for a full-time job. She discovered PR was not for her and looked for marketing positions, but found it to be difficult.  
    “I went on at least a dozen interviews and ran into the usual problem of not having five years of experience even though it was an entry-level job and I had done internships,” Wade said.
    Finally, in May 2014, she landed her first job doing marketing communications for an IT solutions provider. Wade was thrilled the job required a lot of writing, which was actually the part she liked about her major.
    In 2015, she took blogging more seriously and bought a DSLR camera, resulting in better photography. After being forced to take on a more demanding role, she searched for a new job.
    “I really wanted to start a craft subscription box company, Club Crafted, and I thought starting fresh with a new blog would help me build up interest in the brand before launching. I focused the new brand around color and goofy ideas,” Wade said.
    In 2016, she secured a marketing manager position at an HR technology company. The job was flexible and independent, but she was isolated so it was hard to stay interested.
    In 2017, Club Crafted grew steadily, and since work was slow, Wade spent most of her time working on the blog. After leaving the company, she put herself out there with new brands and on social media, and relied on word of mouth from her first client to help her acquire new business.             
    “September [2018] marked one year of freelancing full time. My income fluctuates dramatically month to month, with no benefits, no vacation, no sick days, no excuses and I’m so much happier than I’ve ever been in a job,” Wade said.
    Although she did not “like” her previous jobs out of college, they taught her what she liked and what she did not like. Wade was able to apply everything she learned from those jobs to her current business. She realized that whether or not you know what you want to do after graduation, those first years out of college will help guide you to what you actually want.   
    “School and career teach you different things, so you don’t really need to leave school with a plan. Getting the first job will tell you a lot about what you want to do next,” Wade said.

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