Career Path of an Associate Counsel at JW Player

When I started as an undergrad at UCLA, the only thing I knew for sure was that I wanted to study history. I didn't have a specific career in mind, which is a very laid-back attitude compared to how I make most decisions in my life now. But I knew what I wanted to study.

The classic career options presented to history majors are usually professor or attorney. I'm not saying you have to be boxed in by those, but it's a starting point. So, I actually went the professor route first, thinking about that. I thought it was super interesting, but after talking to some of my professors, especially my younger professors and TAs, and learning about what that career path looks like, it sounded interesting again. It just didn't really align with my broader life goals and timelines, so it didn't sound like the right fit.

Then I turned to looking at being a lawyer. Full disclosure and transparency: my dad is a lawyer, but he spent my whole childhood discouraging me and my brothers from going into law. I think that really sent me back in the timeline deciding what I wanted to do. I didn't know what kind of law, as there are so many different types of lawyers.

So, my first summer after freshman year, I reached out to a local civil litigation firm. I just said, "Hey, I know you usually only take on law student interns, but do you want an undergrad intern? I'm free. I'll do whatever you need, filing the boring stuff." They were very accommodating, and I was very lucky to be able to do that. I looked at home with my parents and worked part-time at Macy's to try to make it work.

The lawyers were super nice and kind with their time. It was a lot of filing and clerical work, but it was good to see how a law firm runs. It's a great introduction to the law, but it was not a love connection. It wasn't like, "This is definitely what I want to do." But I wasn't totally turned off law.

The next summer, I thought, "What about criminal law?" Again, I just reached out to the local District Attorney's office. It was the same pitch: "Do you want an undergrad intern? I'm free. I'll work at Macy's again part-time." They were super nice, and the attorneys were very gracious with their time, telling me about their day-to-day. I spent a lot of time observing trials. There was even a serial killer murder trial going on, which was fascinating.

I walked away from that experience thinking it was a very cool job. I don't think I could take on the responsibility of deciding a person's fate, whether on the prosecution or defense side. So, I still thought about law, but I didn't know the area.

The next summer, after junior year, I interned for Senator Feinstein's home office in San Francisco. That was a more rigorous, actual applying and interview process. I think I found out about that from the pre-law group or society at UCLA, so definitely keep those groups in mind for internships. Again, it was super interesting. What I really liked there was working with constituents and answering their questions on how to navigate the federal government agency system. That's basically what we were doing: helping people find the right resources. I was really stuck on that and thought about that a lot that summer.

But when I came back to campus for my senior year, I still just didn't feel fully bought in and I started getting cold feet. That was the time that I thought I was going to be applying to law schools and taking LSATs and doing all that. But this is a huge commitment, law school. It's a lot of time and a lot of money. You have to go and decide what you want to do with your career. So, I just took a step back.

Again, it was very lucky to be able to do this. After I graduated, I moved back home with my parents. I was very lucky to live outside of San Francisco, in the Bay Area. This was 2015, so tech was the thing. I started working as an office temp receptionist to start applying to jobs, with no technical background, just a history degree. But I was able to find a niche in account management, which is kind of glorified customer service.

I loved it. My first job was at a WeWork. I was able to meet all these other founders and small companies and people that were really excited about what they were doing. Who knows if their company would succeed or not, but they were trying, and I loved that passion and that environment. Working in tech was great, but I just didn't want to do account management forever. So I was trying to find a future path.

I ended up getting a job at Uber, again in account management. I realized it was the first big tech company I worked for, but they had in-house lawyers, people who just focused on that. That's kind of where I saw myself. This would be so interesting. This would really help merge the things I'm interested in about tech, but also use the skills I really honed in undergrad, like reading, writing, and researching. So that's kind of the platform I launched myself on when I applied to law schools.

In law school, I focused on tech law and intellectual property. The firm I worked for when I first graduated was really known in the tech industry for working with startups. I worked in their tech transactions group, doing early-stage companies, financing, M&A. It was such a great learning experience. It was very fast-paced, a lot of work, very intense. But that's a big law firm, that's where you learn everything. I was very fortunate to have that learning experience.

After that, some family stuff came up, and I ended up moving where I am now, on the Central Coast, a couple hours north of Los Angeles, in Pismo Beach. It's not a major town, so the options were a little more limited. I ended up working for a local law firm doing kind of any sort of business-related law: forming companies, corporate governance, a tiny bit of litigation, which I did not like. It was great, but I really missed tech.

So then I started to apply to tech companies again, not a law firm, but actually in-house. I applied to JW Player, which is my current role. I didn't know anyone there; I just cold applied, and it worked out. Now I've been here for a year as Associate Counsel.