More Info Than You Ever Needed to Know

Allison, Ms. Minneapolis, Jenn, and KLC all had questions about college and careers.

I'm just going to start at the beginning on this one. First of all, I was born and raised in Indiana. When I applied to college, the guidance counselor at my high school told me I was definitely not smart enough for a small, private college so she pushed me to apply to a very large Indiana school (Go Hoosiers!). And then she got my SAT scores and told me I could probably go to the small (all women's, Catholic) school that I wanted to go to. (Insert rant about horrible high school guidance counselors here. I mean seriously, discouraging a student to even aim high?).

I ended up at the Catholic, all-female school. Definitely not something I had envisioned for myself (I looved me some boys), but it ended up being perfect.

At school, I was a business major who has a concentration in Marketing. I love it - marketing, advertising, PR - it's totally up my alley. I compose pitches of products without even knowing it. If anybody has a job for a slogan creator - I'd knock their socks off.

At a pre-graduation ceremony, I was picked as the Marketing student of the class of 2009, so that was kind of a big deal. Even though my college was really small, it was super competitive.

But despite being very dedicated to the whole marketing thing, I had something else that was much more important to me. During my freshman year, a few of my friends started a program called Dance Marathon. This year-round fundraiser raised both financial and emotional support in the community for our local Children's Miracle Network hospital.

In our first year (my freshman year of college), we blew everyone out of the water and raised $21,047.42. My sophomore year, I took over fundraising and we raised $47,129.60. Junior year, I took over Public Relations and we made $85,296.33.

My senior year, I stepped into the role of President. It was the best thing that ever happened to me. I literally worked night and day for this organization. School completely fell by the wayside, but I was ok with it. Because of the economy, this year was extremely difficult; however, we raised $91,538.24. Still amazing, but just short of the $100,000 I really really wanted to raise.

So... how's that for a long story?? But I have a point, I swear.

All of this work with nonprofit fundraising has planted a love of service in my heart. Soo... to answer the question...

I really want to work in nonprofits. I would love to do nonprofit marketing, but I could probably do fundraising as well. I feel like I definitely have at least 2 years where I worked for Dance Marathon in a full-time capacity, so I feel like I have the experience.

Shifting that experience into a job... well, that's a different story.

On the other hand, I would love to work as a buyer for a clothing chain - I feel like I have a fabulous eye for clothes and fabrics. I don't really have any experience there, though, unless you count my closet.

Ok, I think I've beaten that topic into the ground.

Tamara B. wanted to know how many hours a day I spend on the computer.

This is definitely variable. There are days when I probably spend 12 hours on the computer, usually in a combination of blogging/reading/twittering and job hunting/researching.

There are other days that I don't touch a computer all day long. Admittedly, recently, those days seem few and far between. However, tomorrow (Nordstrom Sale Day!) will probably be one of those days. Go figure.

Julie wanted to know if I have a new favorite handbag designer.

To be honest, I still haven't bought a new purse. In fact, one of my friends loaned me a purse I had been admiring for a while so I've been carrying that for a while.

At this point in my life (read: broke college grad who is unemployed), I haven't really explored all the fancy brands I'd really like to explore. But I do have to say that I have always loved Franco Sarto bags - they aren't super expensive and they are still very cute. In my opinion.

So, I believe I have answered most of the questions you guys have asked me. If you still have any burning questions, go ahead and ask! (And also I need a post idea for tomorrow so ask away!!)

Remember, every comment you leave this week enters you to win some fabulous spa products!

I'm off to get a Dunkin Donut... they put a new little shop in not too far away a while back and I still have never had a Dunkin Donut. That's about to change.

Happy Thursday!