Finally Got a Piece of the Pie

My view everyday.

It’s a beautiful day if you are driving across the Julia Tuttle Causeway over Biscayne Bay towards Miami Beach where your dream job awaits.  That was me beginning in 1996 when I became employed at the famous Fontainebleau Hilton, where the likes of Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack once hung out.  I was fortunate to become the Executive Secretary for the Director of Sales & Marketing, with the goal of become the Marketing Manager.  I already established my skills in creativity and advertising, which promoted me from the Public Relations secretarial position I was originally hired for after three months.  I was utilizing the basic Microsoft Office programs to create in-house advertising items with simple manipulation of Microsoft Word. It wasn’t until a new Assistant Director of Public Relations was hired that my eyes were opened to the desktop publishing world. 



Heather previously worked for a magazine that used Quark Xpress for their publication.  The first time she demonstrated its design capabilities, I was hooked.  Being a Windows application in our office, I convinced the IT person to let me “borrow” the program for my home computer to practice (our little secret).  My husband and I had recently purchased our first home computer in 1997, a Compaq Deskpro.  Sadly, that would mean that I was almost 27 before my own home moved into the age of computer technology.  It came with a free scanner, too - score!  Nevertheless, I once again devoted myself into learning how to use a new software program with daily discoveries of what it could do for my creative liberties.  I went from getting basic projects where I stuck a photo of the resort in the corner of a guest room announcement, to designing full color resort brochures that were normally reserved for an outside advertising agency.  

Someone famous once said, “With great power,comes great responsibility.”  Don't I know it!  It wasn’t long before my services were offered to other departments within the resort.  I was creating menus for many of the seven restaurants, revamping the catering department’s menu, designing a new program and brochure for the kid’s activity center, and many other projects.  The biggest project I received was organizing the renovated spa’s advertising which included mailers, in-house pamphlets, photo shoots and video production. I worked with the advertising agency, but I had become the lead contact.  I have to admit that my learning a desktop publishing software program paved a career path I didn’t think possible.  Needless to say, I earned the coveted title of Marketing Manager within the first six months of my three years at the hotel, and free parking, too.