Internet And Web Design—Creativity In
The Continually Changing Day
By Laura Carolan
It’s not in every career that your priorities and task list changes
throughout the day. For three professionals working in Internet and
Web design, they can that their day is never predictable. The unpredictable
nature of their day is what keeps them creative, continually learning,
and loving what they do.
James Andrews,
Vice President,
Ketchum Interactive
From an early age James Andrews,
vice president and director of Ketchum Interactive, had an understanding
of celebrity culture and the Hollywood scene. Born the son of a first-generation
Italian mother and a St. Thomas-born father, Andrews grew up in the
heart of Silicon Valley, in Palo Alto, CA.
A hard worker and young entrepreneur, Andrews discusses what helps
him to succeed in business, “The workplace is not a playground.
Always be a person of character and know that someone is watching you
all the time, whether they are senior or junior to you.”
After college, Andrews began working for a hip hop label and then went
on to work for an even larger one. At only 23 years old, Andrews proposed
an album, which he felt passionately about, and wanted for so long to
see made. His idea was to create an album that showcased well-known
NBA players rapping. Much to his surprise, Andrews was given $300,000
by the record label owner and given the go-ahead to put the album together.
He was given the opportunity and enormous responsibility to first, persuade
12 NBA players that this record would be a success and once approved,
negotiate the record with their agents.
Andrews’s dream soon became a reality—“B-Ball’s
Best Kept Secret” was created and released. He gained contacts
and established solid relationships in the sports industry that still
exist today. Most important, he not only proved that he could carry
such a large project at such a young age, but realized that with a background
solely in music, he could be stretched beyond what he thought his limits
had been.
Still working in the entertainment industry, Andrews then began working
for Columbia Records as a director of product marketing where he was
responsible for the exposure of upcoming artists such as the Fugees,
Maxwell, Nas, and Destiny’s Child. He continued to build on his
relationships and experiences in the industry. Several years later,
Andrews went on to work as vice president, marketing for Ecko Unlimited
where he created an entertainment-based newsletter with the purpose
to inspire young people.
He always felt drawn to help young people succeed, and he felt what
better way than to create a newsletter and music business program that
will speak directly to them through music and pop culture. He created
Soul Purpose, which was a children-run record label. When the college
students who worked for him went back to school, they became the eyes
and ears on their campus, and reported back to Andrews their findings
of the college campus culture. Most important, they began to gather
their friends’ and peers’ E-mail addresses. The list quickly
went from 300 to 6,000 addresses and immediately Andrews knew he was
sitting on valuable data.
After much consideration, Andrews decided to sell the E-mail database
and newsletter/media property to Urban Box Office, and began forming
the company into the “MTV of online space,” and marketing
it as an urban mindset—uniting the similarities between “urban
mindset” Americans. The company purchased a building in Harlem,
New York City, and watched the company develop in the midst of the dot
com boom. During Andrews’s time at Urban Box Office, the company’s
founder, George Jackson, suddenly passed away, leaving Andrews to become
the public face of the company.
It was during this time that he leaned on his mentor, Clarence Avant,
a well-known figure in the recording industry. “I have had many
mentors throughout my career. It’s about figuring out how they
can add value to my career, and how I can add value to theirs’.”
He urges everyone to find a mentor, someone who can help shape his or
her career.
When asked if he had ever been faced with diversity issues during his
career, Andrews replies, “There have been times where it was blatant
that people were trying to keep me down, but at the end of the day I
know my stuff. People make assumptions all the time— thinking
I’m transparent and know whom I am. That is from lack of exposure,
and so I take the opportunity to expose you to me, to dispel what you
think of me, and show you the true me. As African Americans, we have
a lot to deal with, but if you let that hamper you from going forward,
you will waste too much energy and won’t be able to go forward.”
Advice that Andrews gives to college students just beginning their career
is to find a mentor and to value networking. “I went out and ordered
personalized stationary with my name on it. I found it more personal
than sending an E-mail. This strategy helps me even today because it
is all about people wanting to work with people. If it is one agency
versus another, it comes down to the fact that people want to work around
people they like,” says Andrews.
Andrews also finds it important, if not essential, to understand technology
and how it changes the world. Young people don’t know enough about
interactive media and the impact it has on a global scale. He suggests
anyone with the opportunity to spend a semester abroad. Studying abroad
will not only help them to understand how technology changes the world,
but it will persuade them to look at the entire world and everything
around them, differently.
Andrews moved to Atlanta after his time with Urban Box Office to start
his own agency, just before joining Ketchum Interactive. At Ketchum,
he continues to draw on his entertainment background as well as his
past career experiences to push Ketchum and its clients forward in the
interactive media space.
Ketchum Interactive, a unit of Omnicon Group, Inc., is committed to
continually broaden its diversity policies for the benefit of its employees.
Tom Watson, former vice chairman, Dean, Omnicom University, and a member
of Omnicom’s Diversity Development Advisory Committee, says, “Diversity
is essential in the communications and advertising industry that must
continuously reach different audiences with creativity and ideas that
are conversant with all. At Omnicom Group, Inc., we’ve developed
a collaborative approach to ensure the diversity of our employees and
the industry through the creation of a Diversity Development Advisory
Committee. Launched in December 2007 through a commitment of more than
$1 million from Omnicom and time from internal and external senior counselors,
this committee is one of our most recent examples of developing initiatives
to enhance diversity.”
Andrews is on the advisory panel of Digital One and is an active member
on the Young Executive Board of Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theater
Company.
Vaughn Jackson,
Creative Analyst,
Hilton Hotels Corporation
Vaughn Jackson, creative analyst for Hilton Hotels Corporation, knows
that in the Internet and Web design field, personality is what makes
the employee. He states, “Employers want to see your persona come
out. Bring something to the table that is different that makes that
company better.” Jackson is a member of the Hilton Hotels content
management and landing page team.
Jackson attended the University of Texas (UT) in Austin, TX, starting
out as a mechanical engineering major. Undecided about what career he
wanted to pursue, he decided upon computer science. During his time
at UT, he enjoyed designing the flyers for his fraternity’s parties
and getting his hands on anything creative. Jackson took a break from
college and after a few years enrolled in a two-year program at the
Art Institute in Dallas to study multimedia, Web design, and Web development.
There he learned various Web design programs such as Adobe Flash, Adobe
Illustrator, Adobe Dreamweaver, and Adobe Photoshop. It wasn’t
until he began working after college that he was able to develop his
skills and truly get to use the programs he had learned for only a brief
time during his coursework.
After graduation, Jackson began working for CI Host and worked on small
business Websites, developing and creating Webpages to fit into templates.
Shortly thereafter, he moved on to FUNimation Entertainment where he
was able to use his creativity to work on a number of different projects—from
banner ads to creating Websites and cutting multimedia pieces. He spent
time digitizing movie trailers to place on the Website. It was during
this time that he discovered his passion to work with videos.
Now at Hilton Hotels Corporation, Jackson enjoys the creative aspect
of his job. He is able to work on different hotels’ Website- landing
pages each and every day, and every day is so different from the last.
Jackson works with the hotel brand managers to provide a unique page
that will showcase their hotel. For Jackson, working hard has its immediate
benefits. He notes, “The work I do is immediately seen by others—someone
is going to see it, touch it, read it, and be affected by it. It’s
out there for everyone to see. I like that even someone in Germany can
watch it.”
When asked if he had ever been faced with diversity issues in the workplace,
Jackson responds, “I’ve been fortunate enough that I haven’t
had to deal with it in my career. I’ve always worked with a diverse
and eclectic group of people.” Diversity training is a mandatory
part of Hilton Hotels’s new hire program. As the company opens
more branches internationally, the diversity training becomes even more
essential to educate employees about the different cultures from country
to country.
Jackson adds the best piece of advice he could give someone just beginning
a career in business it is to always be you. He advises, “Sometimes
on a job interview people will try and sell themselves, but when they
show up for work the first day they aren’t the same person who
was interviewed. As long as someone has an excellent skillset, employers
want to know that you are someone with whom they can work. I always
suggest taking someone out to lunch. If they are false, it’s hard
to act that way for too long before their true personality comes out.”
Jackson enjoys the constant change of working in multimedia. “Multitasking
and multimedia go hand-in-hand,” he comments. “In the morning
you could be working on a banner ad and by the end of the day you could
be cutting up an image for the Website. One thing is for sure, you never
work on the same thing each day and the requirements for that day will
change instantly and continuously.”
Working in an environment that is fast paced, fun, and challenging each
and every day is what makes Jackson happy to have found a career in
multimedia. One last piece of advice Jackson wants to pass along, “If
you do anything interactive, make sure your links work.”
Philip Viljoen,
Data Integration Team,
Inter-American Development Bank
Philip Viljoen enjoys working as part of the data integration team at
Inter-American Development Bank because of all of the new challenges
he is faced with daily. He says, “I get bored quickly and so this
job is a perfect fit. There is no time to be bored; I always work on
new projects.”
Born and raised in South Africa, Viljoen attended Nelson Mandela Metropolitan
University and earned a bachelor’s of computer science degree.
After graduation, he worked as a computer technician, building computers,
then worked his way up to an information technology (IT) manager. He
then moved to the United States and attended ITT Technical Institute,
where he earned a degree in computer network systems. After earning
his degree, he went on to work for Accenture in Wilmington, DE, as a
junior developer.
Viljoen learned the foundations of computer science in college and learned
a lot on his own by reading several books throughout his career to expand
his knowledge of the IT field. He gained the majority of his experience
by being part of various projects and tasks at work. In addition, Viljoen
has had the opportunity to attend several trainings and conferences,
such as an SAP Conference, to learn about related updates and new features.
He also attended Oracle University where he was able to sit in on, well-known
in the IT world—Ralph Kimbell’s class—where he learned
best practices of data warehousing and how to present business strategies.
When asked to compare the culture of South Africa to the culture of
the U.S., Viljoen responds, “The culture is only a bit different.
There is more pressure in the Northeast in America to move quickly and
complete tasks. Another cultural difference is that Americans have stronger
personalities and can sometimes be more aggressive in the workplace.”
The role of Internet and Web development has changed considerably over
the past several years. As Viljoen states, “People stereotype
developers as people who just sit in their cubes and code all day long,
but this is no longer true. Interpersonal skills are extremely important
since developers are instrumental in any and every project. They work
with the client to document the requirements and then do the developing.
They are there to translate ‘English’ into ‘development
language.’ You need to be confident when talking to people and
you need to be able to generate a relationship with colleagues.”
He never preferred talking to people, but now he gathers project requirements
and works with people over the development work. He finds himself to
be a people-person who enjoys speaking with others. In his spare time,
Viljoen supports his favorite charity The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
Viljoen offers this advice to anyone beginning his or her career in
Internet and Web development: “Stay up to date with technology.
You must constantly learn and keep up with technology.”
