By Jalyn Hamilton
At the October meeting of the Media Management Association, Rachel Blank, a UM media management alumna from Long Island, New York, and presently a senior programmatic account manager with ShareThis, shared her insights, knowledge, and advice about her journey through the media industry and how she got to where she is now.
In 2014, Blank graduated from the University of Miami where she used her network and experience through internships to secure her first job as an assistant media buyer at Horizon Media. There, she helped strategize and plan pandigital, mobile, and video campaigns. She also helped manage optimizations strategies for performance once these campaigns went live. Her accounts included Lindt Chocolate, Buffalo Wild Wings, Unify, Kipling Apparel, and Helzberg Diamonds.
Although she was able to take a lot away from this first job, she realized this setting wasn’t exactly what she expected for herself in the future.
Blank then transitioned to a new position at Amobee, an ad-tech company that delivers digital advertisements programmatically. She served in three roles: sales planning coordinator, client services manager, and account manager. She assisted with campaign preparation and activation (i.e., execution), as well as post-sales monitoring to accomplish the goals of the advertisers. She emphasized that “everything [should be] in writing; otherwise, it [would] not really exist.” In the same vein, a presentation is not synonymous of a valid contract.
Blank loved these different functions and stayed with the company for three years, but she ultimately left because she was ready for a new challenge and noticed a lot of turnover within the firm.
After leaving Amobee, Blank was promoted to a higher role as an account manager at ownerIQ, an ad-tech and retailer data company that has access to retailers’ data and sells it to advertisers for audience targeting. Her role consisted of managing client relationships and growing existing accounts into larger partnerships with clients such as Allergan, Office Depot, Dell, and Macy’s.
Currently, Blank is a senior programmatic account manager at ShareThis, the largest independent source of online, real-time interest, and intent data. She helps manage account books for various brands such as IKEA, L’Oréal, and Nestlé. She loves her current position and hopes to rise through the ranks of the company as she learns new skills and roles.
Through her career journey, Blank has been able to expand her knowledge and skills through various positions and companies. These job opportunities have helped her learn what she does and doesn’t like. Blank believes that research and preparation are the best resources for job searching and interviewing, adding “you can never be too prepared.” Her biggest piece of advice to students is to follow their passion by doing something they love, but also be in a space that they love. She also believes that a team sets the tone for the rest of the environment. Unhappy workers should not be scared to move on. Finally, job applicants should always thank the employer after the interview and never assume that the position is theirs until both parties sign the contract.
