Kimberlee Alexander is a bit of an oddity in today’s workforce: the 34-year-old has spent her entire adult life working for the same company, Vancouver Film Studios.
At the age of 20, she started working at reception and as an assistant to the president of the company before moving into the marketing department, where she eventually became the marketing co-ordinator.
“I just loved the idea of working for a family-owned business that was operating in many different industries. … I was able to recognize I would have many more growth opportunities, chances to expand my career into anything that was there for me,” Alexander said.
Alexander said she found her niche in marketing, and her boss encouraged her to build her “on-the-ground knowledge” and build up her own network of clients.
“It was at that point, at my 10-year mark, I decided that I wanted to do a check-in with the company and a check-in with myself to make sure I was still being challenged,” she said.
Alexander aspired to keep moving up within the company, so she met with the CEO to make sure that “the company was as interested in my growth as I was interested in growing with them.”
The upshot? She decided to go back to school and complete a post-secondary degree at Royal Roads University.
After completing her degree, Alexander was promoted to vice-president of marketing. Completing her education boosted her confidence, and she’s now planning to take other courses.
“It built up my ability to look at bigger-picture problems and decisions made on a daily or quarterly basis, and have a little more support and ability to analyze the situation [instead of] just relying on intuition,” she said.
On going back to school | “It’s intimidating to be an adult learner and go back to school when you didn’t think you’d be opening your textbook again, but it was a great experience knowing that we had a plan in place and a plan that was agreed on by everyone from my direct report to my other colleagues."
Has a work of life challenge taught you a key career lesson? Contact Jen St. Denis at [email protected].
