Christina Vecchiato
Degree: Bachelor of Arts (English)Graduated: 2008
Current Position: Publishers' Representative
Current Career: Publishers' Representative - basically what I do is visit independent bookstores across Southwestern Ontario and present them with new books for each season of book selling. The company I work for represents a wide variety of publishers who do not have their own nation-wide sales-force.
Why I think I'm living a great life: I get to talk to great people about great books (and they actually try calling this work!).
How I got here: I had a teacher at the Centennial Book & Magazine program who taught sales and marketing. As part of the course we were required to do an internship, so I asked the teacher if I could intern with her company. Little did I know that after my internship that she would hire me on full-time. After I graduated from York, I worked full-time for a year, and then went and did a post-grad certificate program at Centennial College.
What I did when I felt unsure/lost about my career direction: After graduating from York I didn't have a clue what I was going to do. I initially went in to university to be a teacher - that obviously didn't happen. So, I started asking around to a few people about what I could do with a BA in English, and someone mentioned publishing. Ever since then I haven't looked back.
Thing that made the biggest difference: The single, most important thing that made the biggest difference was my boss' willingness to give me a chance to prove that I could do the job.
How I'm using my degree in my career: If it wasn't for my York education, I would not have even been eligible for the Centennial Program. Taking English at York makes my life in the book biz a heck of a lot easier, since I know about/have read a lot of the world's greatest writings in my courses at York
What I've learned: Figure out what you want to do before you get stuck in a dead-end job trying to pay off your OSAP! It almost happened to me, and I am so happy that things worked out.
