This week we are very lucky to meet Jeanne Mau! Although she originally majored in Communications, she realized that the Entertainment Business was more her speed. We are very lucky to hear her Career Story and any advice she can give for college students.
“So my career story is I went to high school in Hawaii, and then I went to school at the University of San Diego and then after that, I moved home for a little bit. My internship transferred me from San Diego to Honolulu, and I did that for two or three years. It was in tourism, it was destination planning, then I realized I wanted to do something in entertainment, and that's really broad, like I didn't know what it was. So I cold turkey moved out to Los Angeles, not knowing anyone and just jumping in. I got my first job circling classifieds in the LA Times, and I found a job working for the in-house travel agency for Turner Broadcasting. That job led to another job, led to another job, and I pretty much had four or five jobs before I landed into this job for CBS.
It was a journey, and it still is a journey. It wasn't something that I knew I wanted to do until I started it. Like Tiffany said, unless it’s a specific trade in entertainment, you figured you wanted to do, television, features, or digital, or you want to be a representative, you want to be an agent or manager, or you want to go to law school to become, you know in business affairs, so like it really is this evolution process. Then I landed at CBS and I’ve been there for seventeen years. I worked for fifteen years in programming, and then two years ago, we expanded the diversity department and I transitioned over to help run the diversity department with Tiffany.”
What is a piece of advice you would give to college students?
The one piece of advice, is like, you don’t really need to know. That's the thing. You don't really need to know. You just don't. I mean, students think that the more jobs and the more internships you have will help you figure out what you need to know, like the better. It just makes you more well-rounded. It gives you a better perspective of what you want to major in, so definitely. Like I want to major in biology, I’m going to be a biologist, to hold yourself to that is great, if that’s what you want to do. I think that there’s also that understanding that you’re going to figure it out in your twenties or maybe in your thirties. I think that's kind of something we have to embrace in the journey of it all.
What were the defining moments in making the transition from college to your career?
I think the defining moment, was in the really hard jobs that I knew I didn't want to be there. It helped me better define, that I’m going to use the skills that I learned in college. The soft skills, more than the theories and all the other text books, it’s really the soft skills that helped me better understand, especially in those adverse situations when it came to jobs that it's not what I wanted to do. So I think there were certain moments in my career that helped me best define that I didn't want to be in features. I just didn't, it took too long, there was so much turnover and things just took too long to see into fruition. I wanted to be in television, where things happened fast and they moved and they evolved. So yeah, I think it really is kind of the overall art of that experience.
What were the biggest struggles during college and right after college?
I think the biggest struggle during college was the uncertainty of what was happening after the four years. “Where was I going to live?” I think there was also the notion that I was moving back home, and it wasn't because I failed, I was moving back home because I still needed to figure out what I wanted to do. And so the idea of leaving home to go to college and coming back to it, it was the best thing I could have ever done. I saved a ton of money, and realized I didn't want to do this. I saved my money and moved to L.A. and just kind of rode it out. So I think it’s really about jumping in and taking those risks.
What were your biggest challenges?
I think one of my biggest challenges was leaving Programming. It wasn’t a challenge but it was something. Change is hard. I was in it for fifteen years. So having to learn a new role, having to adapt to it, and having to make it more than it was, was a really good challenge. It forced me to have to use a different muscle, because I was so comfortable using the other one for fifteen years. That I think was a really good challenge for me, and it paid off.