Is there anything Cassidy Brettler can’t do? She has written for Her Campus National, attended and worked at two Olympic games, managed her own YouTube channel, and she is even the “social media diva” for Boloco. Read our interview below to find out how this awesome Emerson alum is taking the Internet by storm.
Name: Cassidy Brettler
Class of: 2011
Major: Broadcast Journalism and Acting
Hometown: Seattle, WA
Current City: Boston, MA
What actives/clubs were you involved in?
Alpha Epsilon Phi, EIV, Emerson Channel, Emerson Sports TV, WEBN, and I dabbled in Rareworks and the Musical Theatre Society.
What was the most important thing Emerson taught you?
Going to Emerson taught me how to balance doing a million things. Every semester, I was always doing a bunch of different extra-curriculars. Every once in a while I would get super stressed out and think that I needed to quit one of the things I was doing, but I never did. Instead, I learned how to balance a bunch of things on my plate. I’m always doing other projects at the same time and that’s how I like it because I’m an Emersonian!
What do you miss most about college?
Not caring how tired I was! Now, I like to pretend I don’t need more sleep than I used to, but I do! It’s crazy how tiring it can be working at a desk all day! Also, not having classes on Friday was a great thing.
What do you miss the least about college?
Exams! And Papers! Just knowing that I don’t have to study or write a long paper (besides fun things, like blog posts and email blasts) is a wonderful thing.
What did you write for Her Campus?
I did all kinds of random things for Her Campus. I started a New Balance Campus Fitness Blogger, where I blogged and vlogged about a fitness plan for college girls. I was also a The Body Shop 3-Minute Shower Challenge Blogger, where I blogged and vlogged about conserving water and trying to take 3-minute showers. Then, probably the most random of all, I was a Real Live College Girl—who would’ve thought I’d be chosen to give relationship advice to college boys? So I learned lots of new things, and worked with fun people! I think HC is such a cool site—I still read it a lot!
How is it like working for Boloco?
I love my work at Boloco! It’s always something different, so it never gets boring. I’m the Social Media Diva—yes, it says that on my business cards. That means I’m in charge of running all of our social media channels: Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, Instagram, YouTube, and countless others. For YouTube, I shoot, edit, and sometimes host videos about all kinds of things related to Boloco. My newest project that we just launched a couple weeks ago is called the Boloco CIA: Culinary Investigation Assignment, in which I track down the origin of some of our ingredients. In the first video, I went to a farm in Illinois, where the corn for our tortilla chips is grown!
What’s your favorite menu item at Boloco?
Buffalo burrito bowl with brown rice, sliced tomatoes, and guacamole! Mmmm now I’m hungry…
So we’ve heard you have a YouTube channel. How did you get involved with that and what kind of videos do you make?
I’ve had a YouTube channel forever, but at first I used to use it as just a place to store videos, like class projects. I didn’t realize the whole community and career aspect of it until a couple years ago, in 2010, when I took a semester off from Emerson to report at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. I received a directed study credit for the semester, as a Journalism elective. As part of that, I had to make a blog about my Olympics experiences. But since I liked making videos, I asked my professor if I could make video blogs instead. My first vlogs were about the 2010 Olympics. Since then, I’ve vlogged at the past two Super Bowls, vlogged at the London 2012 Summer Olympics, make song parodies, cooking shows, or vlog about the Presidential debates.
How was working for at the London 2012 Olympics?
Working at London 2012 was amazing. I worked on the New Media & Website team, so I was tweeting, Facebooking, live blogging, and creating photo galleries for the London 2012 Organizing Committee. It was so crazy doing social media for such a huge organization! London 2012 has millions of fans/followers/viewers across the different channels, so posting a status on Facebook and having thousands of people “like” it within minutes is an insane feeling! When I wasn’t working, I was vlogging around London for my own YouTube channel, and doing some freelance reporting for Mashable.
What’s your best advice to collegiettes?
Um… don’t sleep, then you’ll have time to do everything? Just kidding, do sleep. Do everything you want to do! Sign up for as many organizations as you want—you can say “no” later! And, as cheesy as this sounds, know that anything is possible! If you try hard enough, you can figure out a way to do anything.
Subscribe to Cassidy on YouTube by searching her channel name, CQBrett!
Follow her on Twitter at @CassidyQuinn and @boloco!