Career Path of a Brand Strategist and Business Consultant at JessKimia Consulting

I'll rewind a little bit to high school because that's where I really discovered my love of writing. I was the feature editor of the school newspaper and had a ton of internships related to writing. I actually started interning at a local newspaper when I was 14.

Starting then, I really knew that storytelling was a big part of what I wanted to do professionally. When I was at Boston University for my undergrad, I studied mass communication with an emphasis in PR. I wasn't sure if my writing was strong enough for journalism, and PR seemed like a more practical application for what I wanted to do.

While at BU, I spent two summers interning. One was for an Abraham licensing company, a boutique brand licensing company. This showed me a lot of the business side and what it's like to act as an agent between brands and vendors, making those relationships happen. The following summer, I worked for a PR agency, rotating between their departments, all entertainment-related. I ultimately ended up going back there for a full-time job a year after graduation.

At the PR agency, I was there for about three years working in entertainment PR. My focus was on independent films, many getting ready for theatrical release. I worked at film festivals and with studios to get publicity and coverage. It was super fun, super grueling, and perfect for my early 20s, but I didn't really see myself there long-term.

I took a year off between the PR agency and business school. I got my MBA from UCLA. During that year, I took time to chill out, reflect, decide what programs I wanted to apply to, and study for the GMAT. Then, I went to France and lived there for six months, doing an internship and volunteer opportunity.

When I returned to start business school, it was extremely challenging because I was always on the humanities side in terms of my skillset. It was great for me to try to boost my analytics and quant skills, but it was definitely like a boot camp. I did my summer internship between my first and second year at Mattel, and then ultimately took a full-time position with them upon graduation.

After three years at Mattel, which started in brand management, I quickly learned that wasn't the right fit for me. Brand management means something different at every company, and this was very product development-focused and analytical, which gave me anxiety. So, I ended up in a really cool niche role that was brand partnerships for Barbie and some of the other girls' brands.

This then parlayed into a social media and digital initiatives role, which was really fun. It gave me the opportunity to work with global teams and agencies on brands I loved growing up. Ultimately, I just didn't see myself in the corporate environment long-term. That's when I put in my notice and started freelancing, about 10 years ago.

I got my first client before my last day at Mattel and have been working on my own ever since. My initial client was a dating app; I helped put that together over two years. Since then, I've had clients in tech, wellness, medicine, CPG, and fashion. It's been super fun. Somewhere along the way, I incorporated my business, which is now Kaiya Consulting.