Today we’d like to introduce you to Nicole Solis-Sison.
Nicole , let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
My career path as always evolved under the pressure of proving to my family that the American dream can be accomplished. My parents along with myself and three other children moved from the Philippines to the US in 1999, with less than $100 dollars to our name. My mom and my dad at the time were both in their fifties and faced the harsh realities of nearing retirement and starting a new life in a new country were not synonymous. With nothing but hope that a life in America would provide a better future for their children, they instilled the importance of hard work and integrity in all of us.
This bestowed a lot of responsibility on me to ensure that their hopes, dreams, and sacrifices would be realized. At the age of eight years old, I declared that I wanted to attend the University of California, Berkeley for my undergraduate education pursue a career in media. I am happy to say, both came into fruition with much hard work and sacrifice. I’ve always loved the media industry and knew I wanted to create content around it. I dabbled a lot various modes of creating media such as videography, photography, graphic design, sculpture, virtual and augmented reality applications. Through trial and error, I stumbled into the role of creative director, a role that encompasses all platforms of content creation in our new age of digital revolution.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The road comes with a lot of uncertainty, failures, and insecurities. Most of the struggles that I’ve experienced had to deal with was lack of financial stability. In order for me to accomplish my goals, I had to work four times as hard as anybody else around me as I did not have anyone to fall back on financially and I was helping my family out in the process. I’ve always held more than three jobs at a time; one to pay my bills, another to pay my family’s bills and lastly a job to gain connections and experiences I needed in my career. My bottom line – I had to do whatever it took to ensure that nothing – not even finances would stop me from obtaining what I wanted. My advice to young women – assess your problems that are preventing you from obtaining your dream and tackle them head-on. You are the only one capable of opening the gates to your future.
Please tell us about Matter Media Group.
I am the creative director of a boutique media agency that manages digital content creators. I specialize in content strategy, ideation, conceptualization, production, and marketing for digital creators and their brand partners. Our personalized, nurturing approach to establishing relationships with talent, partners, and brands separates us from the rest.
There’s a wealth of academic research that suggests that lack of mentors and networking opportunities for women has materially affected the number of women in leadership roles. Smart organizations and industry leaders are working to change this, but in the meantime, do you have any advice for finding a mentor and building a network?
Growing up with very little resources established the need for creativity, resourcefulness, and grit that no education or job experience could have ever provided. Success comes within and does not equate to the amount of money in the bank or material possessions. The way I measure success is if I am able to navigate, pivot, and change my circumstances and outcomes of my life and others around me. This mentality has made it possible for me to use my resources at every capacity to find a mentor. For example, when I worked retail, I made the store manager my mentor as I understood that her role had a certain set of skills I would need to obtain a leadership role. Even though I was merely a sales associate working ten hours a week, I gained great insight from my store manager who was happy in instilling her knowledge and expertise my way.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.alexandranicole.
net - Phone: 6264043073
- Email: alexandra.solis.sison@
gmail.com - Instagram: nicolesolissison
- Other: www.mattermediagroup.
com
Image Credit:
Talent: Alisha Marie, www.shopalishamarie.com, Photographer: Brett Erickson, Talent: Daisy Marquez, https://fullscreenlive.com/event/gni-daisy-marquez/?utm_source=GNI%20Daisy%20Marquez%20Webpage&utm_medium=gni_daisy_marquez_tour_webpage&utm_term=gni%20daisy%20marquez%20tour%20webpage, Photographer: Your Friend Andre
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