Heather Edison, a 1996 College of Communication graduate, aspired to be a filmmaker while studying at Boston University. After graduating, she landed a job in Los Angeles, in the heart of everything.
But four years later, Edison changed careers and is now an occupational therapist. Filmmaking was just not right for her, she said.
“I had worked in the entertainment industry for a number of years and lived and worked in L.A. for four years,” said Edison, the recent subject of a Boston Globe series featuring people who have made dramatic career changes. “I was kind of disillusioned with it and wanted to do something different and a little more meaningful.”
Edison moved back to Boston as a therapist at the Boston Renaissance Charter Public School. She said her experiences in film programs helped her career tremendously.
“I was working under pressure and there were a lot of deadlines and a lot of ridiculous things I had to do, and a lot of the things I do now are nothing in comparison to that,” she said.
Edison is one of many college graduates who leave their jobs and pursue others in very different fields.
Brooke Garber, a 2001 COM graduate, also switched career paths when she changed her major from broadcast journalism to advertising. Garber consulted former COM associate dean Marilyn Root before making the decision to alter her path.
When it comes to people being unsure of their careers, Root said people need to go out on “the edge” to find out who they really are.
“To see a problem and work it through requires stamina and a lot of creative thinking,” Root said. “It requires excellent and clear speaking skills and excellent writing skills, so I always think that COM students, whether they go to BU or anywhere else, are well equipped to do almost anything they want to.”
After cramming an advertising major into her senior year, Garber graduated and began working for Kupper Parker Communications, Inc., a marketing firm on Newbury Street. However, Garber soon realized marketing was not what she wanted to do with her life either.
“I didn’t necessarily want to be stuck behind computers climbing the corporate ladder while having very few vacation days,” Garber said.
Garber and her business partner, Stephanie Nest, own a fashion store called Mint Julep, located in Brookline and Harvard Square.
Garber said her COM education was helpful to her career because little things she learned were helpful in the business world.
“Presenting yourself in writing and in communications [and] simple things about advertising and marketing are important,” she said. “People who didn’t come from that background might not know that.”
