Written By: Maya N. Brown (IG: maya.aspire) 

Well…what can I say? It’s 2022, the world is still experiencing a global pandemic, and getting a job is still hard! My journey started back in April 2017. I had just graduated college and felt so established to the point, I truly thought it would be easy for me to get my dream job within the music and live entertainment industry. Whew, was I wrong!

Just within a few days of graduating college, I set myself to get up every day from 8 am to 5 pm and apply to job opportunities and so I did. Those days turned into weeks and the weeks turned into months and nothing. I was not only shocked at the amount of rejection or the amount of time that had passed on from the beginning of my job search but it was the fact that as a new graduate, I was sold by adults in my life this dream that if you go to college, you’ll surely get a career in what you love.

But that just wasn’t the case and my heart was broken. With the help of my mother, since I had childcare experience, I was able to get a job working at a childcare development center, which I thought would be temporary and hold this to help me right before student loan payments kicked in and surely it helped but life soon got in the way and I found myself being kicked out of where I was living at the time. Now, I was about to experience what the real world was about before I felt ready. 

So, I worked at the childcare center but it wasn’t temporary at all, it was 2 ½ years of my life where it did enhance great qualities in me and help me gain skills, however, I felt discouraged, burnt out, underpaid, and that I had failed myself somehow. I would always picture myself in my new role at a company in the music and entertainment industry and living my dream life.

In 2019, I had a breaking point and had come to my senses to believe in my dream again and fight to make it a reality, and so, I started on my journey again, secretly applying to jobs while at work and taking paid time off to go on interviews and it was still that process of apply, rejection or apply, gets an interview but the interview was completely untrue to what the posted job description stated online. Before I knew it, covid-19 arrived and I was struggling to heal from a relationship in my life that had ended. I had felt the lowest I had ever experienced in my life.

Everything in my life changed instantly and it felt messy and chaotic but through that time of everyone being on lockdown, I gained healing and my confidence again. I took every day to learn who I was and spend my life doing something I loved and made me happy. I soon found myself in virtual dance classes taking professional classes from entertainment industry choreographers in Los Angeles. I was becoming a content creator and garnering an audience on my social channels on Instagram and Facebook.

I felt that my life was on the right path and that everything was working out. Not long after, I surprisingly got a job working as a contractor within the federal government and that helped me accomplish some great financial feats but after 1 ½ year, I was let go because of work politics and had no idea how to handle all of what that was because realistically I had no clue on how to operate such a huge machine in the workforce and that it would have a huge effect on me.

So, currently, I’ve been unemployed for 4 ½ months, and during this time although it’s been another process of applying and a lot of rejection or apply and one or two interviews, I’ve received three certifications, I managed to save money for a trip to Atlanta to volunteer for a live entertainment event called Revolt Summit created by Sean “Diddy” Combs, and made income; I  was able to interview with the Kennedy Center in D.C. I experienced my first major dance project and even though I’m still not where I see myself, I’m very proud of myself.

Despite some of the hurtful negativity, I continue to receive from a certain family from time to time or dealing with work opportunities going sour quickly because they’re not what they expressed themselves to be in the interview and with no pay attached to them and a fight within myself to not believe the harsh words spoken at me to keep me down.

Now, I find myself as a paid freelance digital and social coordinator, a business owner of The Travelnista (travel agent),  a social media manager for Socially Creative LLC, and a writer of my music blog website highlighting music artists and will be coming soon.

Even though I still need to make rent payments, have money to support myself and things are so uncertain, I believe that God truly has a planned way bigger, and although I’ve been through constant hardships that the only way out is truly by speaking positivity over my situation, taking back my power and truly moving out of the stagnant frustrated place that I can find myself at times and work in my passions, where I can get back to when I was a kid.

Oh, how I used to dream so big and bright and envision myself as a contributor in the music and entertainment industry and had a beautiful, large windowed loft apartment in the city of my favorite place at the time that I’d never been…oh how New York City was that place for me. 

Now, what I envision for myself as a 27-year-old, working for one of the three BIG music companies as a digital and social marketer for tours and artists and handling brand sponsorships as well or working for a major live entertainment company like AEG, Live Nation, or iHeartmedia working as a talent buyer, booking coordinator or in tour management. While these are inspiring goals and can seem far from my reality, I know that all things are possible and the preparation process is key, so to keep steady and things will work out.

I have it written down as a reminder to see every single day giving me confidence and a promise that I hold closely with God over my life. So, I leave you all with this as I end my story of job success here, for now, no matter what you go through in this life, no matter the people that have been placed in your life that can speak hatred towards you because of their hurt, no matter the failed job opportunities that you thought were good and would propel you forward in some way but just left you stuck in emotional quicksand feeling insecure about your capabilities and yourself that YOU…Yes…YOU can make it and YOU WILL make it, just like me, you just need a little mustard seed of faith, grit in your soul for more, and a fight to have the right support system to keep you encouraged and knowledgeable about the true parts of you that they see that can help you when you can’t see them for yourself. Believe in yourself. YOU GOT THIS!