TheCareerKitchen

november/december 2011

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Meet Tiffany and Matt…

A husband and wife team, they currently live in Jersey City, NJ. They run Inception to Exhibition (ITE), New York City’s newest, groundbreaking, cross-discipline artistic support community. Their goal is to provide a holistic arts experience from start to finish (hence the name!) by supplying low-cost, high-quality rehearsal, performance, archival, gallery and retail space to local artists. They’re also working to provide community-based activities that serve every age group. They want to strengthen, enrich and unite the NYC arts community.

Education…

Tiffany is a graduate of SUNY Purchase where she received her BFA from the Dance Conservatory. In addition to acting as artistic director of ITE, she serves as associate artistic director of Elisa Monte Dance, works as a guest teacher at SUNY Purchase, NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, Peridance, Steps on Broadway, and Dance New Amsterdam. She was previously a principal dancer for Elisa Monte Dance, resident choreographer for the Shirley Winter’s Ballet School, and created, directed and curated “Dance at the Tank,” for the non-profit arts organization, The Tank.

Matt, executive director of ITE, graduated from Carleton College in Northfield, MN with a BA in Economics and a minor in Environmental and Technology Studies. He spent two years on scholarship at The Ailey School in NYC, and danced for a number of companies, including Elisa Monte Dance. In addition to working to build ITE, he is part owner and manager of DiJiFi, a media digitalization business based in Brooklyn, NY.

The idea…

“I knew I wanted to start an interdisciplinary arts organization in college,” says Tiffany. “I started by interviewing members of the arts community about what they felt was lacking in the way of service to artists. Then I started thinking about how I could address those issues.”

She researched other organizations that had both succeeded and failed to get an idea of what worked and what didn’t.

“Once I had enough information I found another person in the field who had a complimentary skill set and we started working on a business plan and feasibility study. My husband then joined the team after a year and a half. From there we took our idea to DanceNYC to get advice. We then sought out fiscal sponsorship, joined the Arts and Business Council of New York, started a volunteer advisory board and an executive board.”

“My first task was building out the budget for the business plan,” says Matt.  “In our first iteration we went through the process of incorporation with the state of New York with the intention of registering as a non-profit 501c(3) corporation, but on further examination of how we wanted to move forward, it made more sense for us to become a sponsored organization of Fractured Atlas.  The full process of becoming a registered non-profit takes several years and the IRS wants you to show how you have been functioning as a non-profit organization before designating you as such, kind of a catch-22,” he says.

Fractured Atlas, a national, non-profit artist service, put ITE under their umbrella of organizations. Matt says the larger non-profit essentially vouches for ITE’s non-profit worthiness to the IRS, “allowing us to begin our mission without all the hoops we would have had to jump though if we had gone it ourselves.”

The hard work…

Tiffany’s job as associate artistic director of Elisa Monte Dance typically has her working Monday-Friday, 9:30am to 8pm. She says she spends about 20 MORE hours per week on ITE.

Matt puts in 45-50 hours per week at DiJiFi, then about 15-20 hours on ITE with Tiffany.

Passing along the wisdom…

“It is really important that you have confidence in yourself. You should be incredibly hard-working, be able to take rejection with grace and always be gracious no matter what the situation,” says Tiffany.

Matt agrees: “I second the confidence idea. [Also], constantly moving forward is important.  If you get hung up with every detail getting a whole organization moving will be near impossible.  Graciousness is a strong second, since non-profits rely on volunteers and generosity, and you really can’t say thank you enough.”

-Katie O’Connell

april/may 2011

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Meet Tiffany…

A Newark, NJ native raised in Westfield, the April/May Young Professional to Watch travels all over the state teaching financial literacy to communities and individuals.  Tiffany Aliche is living her dream, and even has a book: The One Week Budget.  Recently featured in Essence magazine, Tiffany is on her way to becoming a financial phenomenon.

Education…

Tiffany’s a Montclair State University grad with a degree in Business Administration and a master’s in Supervision in Education from Seton Hall.

After graduation…

Instead of heading into the corporate world, she went on to teach underserved youth in Newark.  Afterward, she became vice president of FP YOUTHOUTCRY, a Newark non-profit.

The idea…

During this time, she realized she could do more than just give advice.

“[My business] began out of necessity because so many people reached out to me asking for help with their finances,” she says.  “As a result, my expertise grew as well as my client base. I began getting paid for my services and started working with larger clients like American Express, Columbia University, Princeton University, Newark Housing Authority, The Boys and Girls Club and the like.”

She provided a mix of seminars and workshops for these big-name organizations on topics ranging from basic financial literacy, budgeting, debt and credit, to small business development.

“After stepping down from [my position at FP YOUTHOUTCRY], I became a full-time entrepreneur through my company, C.L.D. (Control, Lead & Develop) Financial Life.”

The result…

Tiffany currently specializes in teaching engaging financial literacy as The Budgetnista.  She has conducted seminars in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and is currently booked for locations in Maryland, Ohio and Georgia.

SocialJersey.com exclusive: She’s also in talks to become a national spokeswoman for a financial literacy program geared towards children and young adults!

“I recently wrote, completed and published the first (of many) books, The One Week Budget. With book in hand, I’ve increased the number of my speaking engagements, seminars and workshops. This has enabled me to be able to do ‘The Budgetnista’ full-time,” says Tiffany.

The book, a step-by-step guide on how to create and automate your own personalized budget, began as a pamphlet for friends five years ago.  She went ahead and self-published, a move that has apparently pushed her brand to new heights.

The hard work…

“Each day brings its own set of adventures,” she says.

Tiffany is constantly connected to the web and updating her personal site, thebudgetnista.biz,  as well as her social media channels on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr. “I continuously stay connected throughout the day,” she explains.

When she’s not conducting seminars or reaching out to her followers on social media, she’s promoting her book or writing articles for various publications and blogs, including her own.

She has some help: “I have a very small staff that includes one intern, my PR rep, Dreena of WhitPR and my accountant. I also have a great support system in family and friends, and a small group of advisors.”

What’s next?

She’s currently working on getting her book into stores everywhere and hopes to write more in the near future.  She’s booking more workshops and seminars and looking to trademark some of her products.  She also has her sights set on the national stage (The Budgetnista talk show?  We see it happening!).

Passing along the wisdom…

Tiffany’s nine tips for other entrepreneurs and young professionals:

1)    Actively seek balance. Lonely success is not success at all.

2)    You get in what you put out, so give it your all.

3)    Surround yourself with like-minded people. The company you keep is a direct  reflection of who you are and will be.

4)    Make entrepreneur friends. No one understands the entrepreneur struggle more than another entrepreneur.

5)    Find a mentor. You’ll make fewer mistakes, and learn invaluable lessons.

6)    Get a GREAT accountant, and learn to bookkeep ASAP!

7)    Use social media. It’s free and can promote you and your business worldwide.

8)    LOVE what you do, because you’ll be eating, sleeping and living it for a long time.

9)    Never forget your purpose. Why did you start your business in the first place? Your purpose will keep you going even when everything is stacked against you.

-Katie O’Connell

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Fiona Sarne is an editor for an international publisher, yet left Rutgers undergrad just a few short years ago. Read about her journey from intern to book editor.

Fiona Sarne, a Rutgers University alum, thought she was on track to become an English teacher, but that all changed her third year at school. “After taking an Exploring Teaching as a Profession class, where I spent weeks doing in-class observation, I thought to myself, this gig isn’t for me. At the end of my junior year in college—I thought, ‘Wow, I need to start from scratch…I don’t know what to do with my life!’” Then, at the suggestion of a friend, she began to look in a new direction. “By what I can describe as a serendipitous turn of events, I was thrown into the world of publishing.”

During senior year her first internship landed her at Kaplan Publishing, one of the country’s leading publishers of academic and professional development resources—but she still felt like she had yet to find her niche. “I decided to look into trade publishing. During my Spring Semester, I landed an amazing internship with the Atria Imprint of Simon and Schuster. This is when I decided I wanted to make books happen. I was resolved—publishing would be my thing!”

Two weeks before college graduation she was offered an editorial assistant position for McGraw-Hill Professional (which happened to be the first place she interviewed). “I was thrown into the world of nonfiction trade publishing—diet/health, self-help, and parenting books,” she says.  Today, just a few short years after graduation, Fiona works as an editor for World Scientific Publishing, a leading publisher in the areas of medicine, science and technology.

“As an editor, my day-to-day involves doing a lot of industry research and finding out what’s hot and what will sell,” she says, adding that she’s now working in a sector she had never anticipated she’d be. “I stepped away from trade publishing [and now] my current role [is] acquisitions editor for World Scientific,” says Fiona.  “I attend conferences in the areas of mathematics, engineering, and computer science [and meet] with potential authors.”

How did she climb the ropes so quickly?

“As a fresh graduate I would work 11-hour days, sometimes from 7:45am to 6 or 7 at night,” she says.  She’d arrive to work before her manager arrived and leave work after her manager left for the day. “It’s small things like this that get you noticed.”  She also says she’d volunteer to take on every task she could, sometimes resulting in work on Saturdays to get the job done.

She acknowledges that she had a supportive mentor during her first job, a McGraw-Hill manager, an asset while starting her professional journey. “She didn’t see me as just her assistant, but she actually took interest in my success and cultivated my talents. [She] showed me how to get ahead in publishing.” Not only does Fiona recommend finding a mentor but also becoming a mentor. “My whole ideology is—you’re never done learning, and the more people you expose yourself to, the more you learn! Especially when you create relationships with people who are in your profession.”

Networking is key. In her current role at World Scientific Publishing, part of her job is to persuade industry leaders to publish books with her company. As a result, networking is a tool that not only helped her progress, but something she utilizes on a daily basis.  She highly recommends that other young professionals to practice this skill as much as possible. “Networking is critical in any business that you’re in,” she says. “When I first got into publishing, I joined certain networking groups, like Young Publishing Professionals.”

She utilizes Linkedin to stay connected to the people that she meets. “You don’t want people to forget your name, so it’s always important to leave a unique and lasting impression especially with key people in your industry.” She thinks it’s the little things that can make a big difference, like sending something as simple as an ‘it-was-nice-to-meet-you email’. “But the most important thing is to be genuine about it! People can see through insincere networking,” she says.

Fiona’s on her way in the publishing world, but she can’t help but emphasize the amount of work it really does take to advance.  “I think a lot of people have a romanticized view in terms of getting a career in publishing,” she says. Although she feels that publishing has become an industry that’s becoming harder and harder to break into, she feels anyone with a dream and the drive to pursue a publishing career can make it.

Her tips to other young professionals interested in a book publishing: immerse yourself in the industry through internships and talk to other people who are already in the field.

-Katie O’Connell

february 2011

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Gabriel Scott-Dicker is only 26-years-old but already known as President and CEO.  He runs PPX Hospitality, a boutique restaurant, nightlife and hospitality consultation firm.  A NJ-native, Gabriel tells us how exactly he was able to turn his dream into a successful reality.

Gabriel was raised in West Caldwell, NJ, currently resides in Manhattan, and has a business office in Montclair, NJ.  An NYU grad, he studied finance and business management.  While in college, he snagged a job with a successful NYC restaurant, which lead to a stint running his own restaurant, eventually leading to his formation of the PPX Hospitality consulting concept—the realization of a childhood dream to assist in the exciting process of planning and launching new venues.  “All I wanted to do was start my own restaurant group and own a bunch of nightclubs,” he says.  “I always had the entrepreneurial spirit and was [constantly] thinking of new ideas or restaurant concepts that I wanted to open.”

In just a few years, with a dream and determination, he worked to expand his network of contacts while also gaining expertise in the restaurant and nightlife fields.  The result is his two-year-old company that has already worked with big names like Starr Restaurant Organization, PepsiCo, Subway, Todd English Restaurant Group, Top Chef, Food Network, and many more.

His company is committed to the financial success and big-picture growth of prospective and current restaurateurs and business owners.  PPX assists businesses with a number of functions in the areas of concept/brand development, marketing management and human resources.  “We will be happy to tailor a business plan to fit any establishment’s needs.  We are able to accommodate any budget and projects of all sizes,” he says.  “We have anywhere from five to 10 clients at any given time.”

He runs a staff of 10 people and works anywhere from 10 to 12 hour days (possibly more).  “For now I am very excited and happy with the successes that we and our clients have achieved, and direction that PPX is going in,” Gabriel says—but he’s not done yet.  “We eventually plan on turning PPX Hospitality into a restaurant group.  We will maintain our consulting sector within the company, [but] we will be operating our own concepts as well.”

For other young professionals hoping to start their own business, Gabriel has three words: “Go for it.”

“At this point in our lives, it’s all about taking risks and finding what our true passions are,” he says, adding that if you sincerely believe in your vision, you shouldn’t give in to the pressures of working a typical 9 to 5.  “It’s important to step outside the box, challenge yourself and chase your dreams.  If you will it, it is no dream.”  Just like Gabriel, you’ll turn it into a reality.

-Katie O’Connell

january 2011

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Please meet our first YPW, 25-year-old Caseen Gaines.  A native of Hackensack, NJ, he’s a Rutgers University graduate currently preparing for the release of his first book, Inside Pee-wee’s Playhouse: The Behind the Scenes Story of a Pop Phenomenon (ECW Press), on sale this September, 2011—coinciding with the 25thanniversary of the show’s inception.

When I speak with Caseen Gaines, a friend I’ve known since high school, before diving into the details of his book I congratulate him on recently completing his master’s in American Studies at Rutgers University.  This was no ordinary feat.  In addition to being a full-time teacher at a Northern NJ high school, Case (his nickname) has been attending Rutgers Newark about two days per week since September 2008, while also directing full-length musicals as co-artistic director of Hackensack Theatre Company (an organization he co-founded in 2005 while working on three majors at Rutgers, New Brunswick), while also finishing the book he started in August of 2009.

At just 25, Case has already achieved a lot more than some people do in an entire lifetime…and he’s not done yet.  “I guess I just don’t like to sit still.  That’s really what it comes down to,” he says as I try to discover the magic to his multi-tasking success.  “I like to work.  I like to create.  I like to do.  I like to feel that I’m moving forward and doing new things.  I like to be kept busy, or else I get bored.”

Case is not the type to brag about his achievements (we went to the same college and I didn’t realize he was a triple major until we graduated, and only because someone else told me), nor is he the type to complain about how stressful his life is.  In fact, if you meet him, he’s so laid back you’d probably never guess he’s working on so many things at once.  That’s why when I call him up to talk about his new book, my jaw drops as he tells me the amount of work he’s actually accomplished since graduating from Rutgers undergrad in 2007, and I beg him to spill his secrets.

I discover that it really comes down to three things: his natural affinity for taking on challenge, his life philosophy, and the fact that he’s doing things that he loves to do.  Plus, he follows through, something that those of us coming to terms with our failed 2011 New Year’s resolutions are realizing we need to master.  “I try to not be a quitter.  I’ve only quit maybe one thing in my life,” Case says.  “If I say I’m going to try and do something, I try to do it.”

In the summer of 2009, while preparing to direct Hackensack Theatre Company’s musical version of “Willy Wonka,” he came up with an idea to write the first book to ever explore the history and culture surrounding “Pee-wee’s Playhouse”—a groundbreaking, Saturday-morning television show for kids.  Case has always been a fan of the show, Paul Reubens, and the Pee-wee Herman character. Realizing that no one else had written a book devoted to the topic, he went ahead and said he was going to do it.  “If not now, when?” he says he asked himself.  He pitched the concept to a few places and ECW Press gave him the green light.  “My goal was to not make it feel like an ‘unofficial,’ [gossipy] book,” he says.  “I wanted it to be honest.  An honest look at what it takes to create a show that, I argue, really changed the face of children’s television.”

So, over the past year, despite his various other commitments, Case was able to interview over 100 people from the show who were involved in nearly every aspect of production—from actors and puppeteers to producers and stage crew.  How was this possible?  “The big secret is that this book is really the product of social media,” says Case.  He confesses that just about everyone he contacted was found on the web and interviewed via phone, email, and Skype.  The project is currently in final edits and is scheduled for release this fall.  Case admits that this has been one of the biggest challenges he has ever taken on.  “I can’t think of anything I’ve ever worked on for this period of time.  It’s kind of a weird experience to feel like it’s coming to an end,” he says.  “Or maybe it’s just a beginning?”

As with any goal you try to pursue in life, some people may not be one hundred percent behind you, something Case has also faced, even in his latest pursuit.  “To write a book about Pee-wee Herman I think…it sounds like an odd thing to some people, but I was fairly confident that there would be a publisher [and that] I would be able to get people interested,” he says.  “If you want something badly enough, someone saying it’s a silly idea shouldn’t be enough to stop you.”  There were other roadblocks and moments of uncertainty along the way, but he pushed through, and it paid off.  Case had no idea that Reubens was planning a career comeback when he came up with the book concept, something that will most definitely generate a lot more interest in it upon its release.

Nearing the end of our conversation, Case says now that he’s finished with grad school and Hackensack Theatre Company isn’t doing as much this season, he’ll have time to focus on promoting Inside Pee-wee’s Playhouse in the coming months.  He doesn’t plan on being idle for too long, however.  He already has another book idea up his sleeve, details to come. Still mystified by his ability to juggle so much, I ask him for a final piece of advice.  He has this to say to other young professionals or just about anyone else contemplating a dream they’d like to pursue:  “The best advice that I can give is that you have to trust yourself.  You know yourself better than everyone else,” he says.  With that, we hung up the phone.  And off he went, back to work.

-Katie O’Connell