I highlight this story on my site to show my drive, perseverance, and adaptability to anything life throws my way.

Actually let's back it up a year. It was the summer of 2018 and I was working at the Nike Company Store as an 'athlete' aka sales associate. My recruiting class became really close since we were all college students home for the summer and bonded over the fact that we were all working odd hours with really no consecutive days off. So August 21st 2018, the day Tinder U launches, my co-worker sends me this announcement because everyone knew I loved Tinder.

It all began when I was #rejected

Fast forward a year...

This is where I get #rejected. I had applied to work at the NCS (Nike Company Store) for a second summer, but had requested a few days off in August. I was #denied because they rarely give employees days off in August (back to school + the NCS is the second top-grossing retail store in the world, so you can imagine how busy it gets). I was heartbroken and shocked, but realized that I really don't want to work somewhere where I get no time off and worked 4:30 am-1:30 pm or 3 pm-12 am shifts all summer- it was really challenging on my mental wellbeing.

This is where the glass half full comes in...

I went home for summer 2019 with no job or prospect of a job. I had never in my life not had a summer job, even at when I was younger I would nanny. Looking back, this was one of the lower points of my life because I was not only #rejected from Nike, but I was also #rejected from being a busser at the infamous Portland restaurant, PokPok. With two back to back rejections under my belt, and reaching out to just about every contact on my phone, I finally got word from one of my best friends who told me that her work, Evergreen Salads was hiring. I reached out, got an interview and was hired! I am honestly thankful for both rejections because I would have never worked at Evergreens which had amazing co-workers, but also offered a super flexible schedule and I honestly do not think I would have even gotten my first Tinder job without it.

A Flexible work schedule....

So what did I do with a more relaxed work schedule? Go on fun adventures and post them on Instagram! One day when I was swiping through some Instagram stories, I came across an ad to apply to be a Student Brand Marketing Manager for Tinder U. As we all know, I LOVED Tinder, and therefore spent over two hours on my application.

An email after paddle boarding...

After a stand up paddling journey with my best friend Amy, I checked my email. Above is a video that Amy took after I opened my inbox to a notification notifying me I had gotten the position to be a Student brand Marketing Manager for the University of Oregon.

I was known as the 'Tinder Girl'

I LOVED my job. Absolutely loved it. I loved it so much that I stored our gigantic 50-pound swag package under the bed of my TINY sorority room (to the left). I repped Tinder-like no one else, and it became to the point that people knew me as the 'Tinder Girl' instead of Emily.

Tinder.
Tacos.
Tailgate.

I had a note sheet on my phone for all the different ideas I had for possible Tinder U activations. One of them was to hire a taco truck and collab with a few fraternities for a huge tailgate and give away free tacos to those who enrolled in Tinder U. Now this was a great idea, but it took a TON of planning.... We're talking everything from budgeting, finding a reasonable decent taco truck, in Eugene, OR, to networking with fraternities to collab with, even down to the venue and getting power out to the taco truck. But if there is a will, there is a way. And in my world, there is always a way... especially for tacos!

Hundreds of people showed up for the event. It was a HUGE success and created a buzz on campus for months to come. I had frat bros thanking me for collabing with them and my parents even drove down and passed out beer to other parents telling them 'my daughter did this'!

Hundreds Of People.

Tindership?

Part of being a Student Brand Marketing Manager for Tinder U was having the opportunity to be the Marketing Intern at HQ in West Hollywood, CA during the summer. An internal position that was only open to other Student Brand Marketing Managers around the country. I applied, but given how talented my fellow colleagues were, I honestly did not think I would get it.

02.04.20

532 days after the launch of Tinder U and my Nike coworker texting me about it.

154 days after receiving my offer letter to be an SBMM.

And 13 days after interviewing...I got a call from my then-boss at the time, Ann Marie, offering me the position to be the Tinder U Marketing Intern. I of course accepted the position to be the marketing intern for 14 weeks starting June 15th, 4 days after my last final.

If I am being honest here, I didn't sleep that night because of my level of excitement.

The Rona Hit...

Once COVID-19 hit, it was unclear to me if The Tindership program would still be available to me. I had already envisioned having a summer in California, and truly wanted to live outside of Oregon for once in my life. Therefore when I got word that the internship was going to be virtual, I knew I still wanted to move to CA, and to experience something different. I found a sublease in San Luis Obispo (SLO) four days after getting word my internship was a go, I road tripped from Eugene to SLO the day after my last final. I knew one person in SLO, and had no clue what my sublease even looked like, and I took the leap. To add to this journey, I started working 40 hours a week for Tinder while living 800 miles away from my friends and family and while taking 12 summer credits. This was truly just the beginning and I have learned more than I could have possibly imagined since then...