Hey, friends.

Having a total and complete blast in the UK so far. I'm in Manchester now--where I've never actually been before, even though it's only an hour train ride from Leeds. And it's been incredibly fun to explore the coworking spaces and techie hubs in both places, which is awesome.

This weekend, I head to the Jorvik Viking Festival (yes, really) and then it's down to London for some meetings and hangtime. Which brings me to what I'd like to chat about today: My Fancy-Sounding London Meetings.

I always make an effort to try and meet people when I'm in London (or any new city). It's just never a bad idea to have professional ties to a new place. And this time around, I decided I wanted to meet with recruiters.

Hey, friends.

Currently writing you from a backwards facing train seat somewhere between London and Leeds. I'm in the UK for the next two weeks, and so excited about it. For those who are a little shady on Alexa Shoen Life History Trivia, I did my Masters (in Jazz Performance!) at a conservatory in Leeds and it's a devastatingly special place to me. Though, from what I can tell, it's usually like that for anyone who traveled somewhere in their early twenties. It just... stays with a person.

So, I've been blabbing on for the last few weeks about soft skill stuff--which is terribly important, but I am forever aiming towards a mixture of motivation and legitimately actionable sh*t with these emails. Meaning this week, it's back to some good ole' Alexa-tested networking tactics.
 

Hey, friends.

The year is off to a rip-roaring start! I just fired off a proposal for what may be a very fun and interesting project, the album is finalized (and coming soon), and I recently bought a second-hand fur coat. So, moving strongly into February.

Today, my mind is on the concept of paying your dues. Specifically, should you pay them? To whom? What are they? When can you stop? Have you even started? Naturally, I've got some thoughts.

I had really shitty bosses in my first two "grown-up" jobs. They were either stressy, or power-hungry, or micromanagers, or didn't know how to deal with different personality types, or all of the above and then some. It's in situations such as those that you'll usually get the following advice:

Hey, friends.

Low-key vibes for my last full week in San Diego. I'm honestly not quite sure where my two suitcases are (under the bed?), but I'm sure I'll find them by the time I fly back to Berlin. And excited to report that the album release is marching forward, too. I highly recommend opening Snapchat right now to go follow me (alexashowtime) before you forget, because I'll be doing loads of behind-the-scenes stuff while filming new music videos in a couple weeks!

So, seeing as it's the start of the year and the start of spring semester, I thought it best to brain-dump a whole bunch of tips for getting internships today. This advice will also totally apply to some of you who are looking to switch up careers, but if not: forward this email to the college student in your life, please. So, may I please present...

Alexa's 5 Tips For Getting Internships (That Aren't Just Sending In A Resume And Crossing Your Fingers):

Hey, friends.

Solid start to January for me. Making big plans for the first six months of the year, but first and foremost is launching my album! At the moment, busying myself with planning more music videos and photoshoots for when I get back to Berlin.

And it seems like all of you are making plans, too! I've already been on several phone calls and email chains with people rockin' sweet ideas for 2016, and it's not even one week into the year yet. So digging it.

I'm already hearing some buzz from plenty of you that are looking to re-start (or start for the first time!) with the New Job Search thing. You've picked an excellent time of the year to start!

In order to help you get it together quickly, I have two tidbits of advice.