True story: I found my dream job through Pokemon Go. 

Pokemon - we all know it, either fondly from our childhoods or as a resurrected augmented reality game released in 2016. I jumped on board the Pokemon GO train from the get go, but I never thought it would lead me anywhere significant. 

I was wrong.

My boyfriend and I found ourselves playing the game quite a bit in the past year. If you’re unfamiliar with the game, there are things called ‘raids’ where you can join up with a group of people to defeat (and hopefully capture) a high-level Pokemon. One day, my boyfriend, Bryan, stumbled upon a group of players doing a raid and decided to join them. 

The story according to Bryan:

“The raid ends and everyone’s standing around trying to catch the Pokemon, and I hear 'Graphic Design' from two people a little in front of me. Shamelessly I go over and ask if I heard them correctly, and when they explained they worked at the building right next to us, I pulled out my phone and showed them Kristin’s Instagram page with all her artwork. After five minutes, I’m standing at the owner’s desk showing him her website. He said to have her contact him, and next thing I know, she’s going in for some training!

I’d love to tell you I did something special to pitch her, but I got extremely lucky with a right-place right-time situation. I’ve always felt Kristin is better with design than I am at anything (and I don’t suck too bad!), and I simply was able to show him her work and her ability/work ethic took it from there. I’m glad to see how happy she is at Olive & Ash, and I’m glad I ran into those people when I did.”

My place at Olive & Ash Design

I encourage anyone to put themselves out there, either with Pokemon GO or other means; I'm equally as happy that Brian connected me to Nat and the rest of the staff at Olive & Ash. I’ve always dreamed of working for a company that gave me a balance between being creative and overseeing my own projects, but also helping me improve as I moved forward in my career as a graphic/web designer. My experience here has been everything I could have hoped for.

It’s been less than 6 months, but from day one, I’ve been comfortable and thriving in this environment. Nat and the rest of his staff have been so accommodating as I’ve learned the ins and outs of web design, and at the same time they’ve given me so much creative freedom to run with projects and design as I see fit. I appreciate the balance between building my confidence on what I do well while continually pushing me to improve and be the best designer I can be.

As good as the beginning chapter of my time at Olive & Ash has been, I’m confident the best is yet to come! 

Takeaways: 

1. Never underestimate yourself - have confidence and be bold.

2. Opportunities are EVERYWHERE - seriously, it's not just a cliche, you have to be willing to put yourself out there.

3. Pokemon GO changes lives.