Coming to Cleveland: Six years ago, Kimberly Sullivan moved to Cleveland from her small hometown, Williamstown, Mass., to attend Case Western University. Ultimately, she thought she would like to end up in a major metropolitan area such as New York or Boston. But those thoughts couldn’t be further from her mind now. After graduating from CWRU, Sullivan started with Beachwood-based online interactive marketing agency Brulant, which was acquired by Rosetta in July 2008. Fortunately, the acquisition was a good move for both companies and meant room for growth for the Beachwood team, not layoffs. But when Sullivan visits Rosetta’s New York office, she’s reminded of the reasons she loves Cleveland. “I love coming back to my apartment that’s not the size of a closet, to a city where people smile at you on the sidewalk and to a city that’s quieter,” says Sullivan. “Its just nice coming back to someplace I feel comfortable.”
The chosen ones: Rosetta hires people who “want to learn, want to push themselves and want to join this new area of business that really hasn’t been around that long,” says Sullivan. She says she feels lucky that the company saw those traits in her. She has been working for the interactive marketing agency, which helps clients define their online presence, for the past two years and sees herself staying at the firm's Cleveland office.
Team mentality: Sullivan is part of a team at Rosetta that’s in charge of staffing projects for clients. “My main goal is to make sure that everyone is working on projects that are good for their career progression,” says Sullivan. “I make sure everyone is fully utilized, that we are addressing all of our client needs.”“Look for a job that's going to help you grow and will help you invest in your career, in your learning and in making you a great employee.”
How does Cleveland compare to Williamstown, Mass.?
Williamstown is a pretty small New England town, and the fact that it is so small meant that I didn’t really get to interact with a lot of unique people, people who were doing really creative things.... I really enjoy Cleveland because I get to interact with a wide variety of different people on a day-to-day basis. I get to go to baseball games, I could go see the Cavs, go to Browns games, and everything is really accessible.
Do you see yourself staying in Cleveland with Rosetta?
I always thought that I would want to be in one of the major cities. When I was younger, I thought,I want to end up in Boston or New York City, or I want to end up in San Francisco. But I’ve actually had the opportunity to travel to our New York office quite often over the past six months, and I really love coming home.
Describe your role at Rosetta.
I work with the designers, information architects, user-interface developers (they do all the front-end flash [animation] on the Web sites, among other things), copywriters and content strategists. I don’t manage them; I am just there to staff them on everything, and once they are staffed on a project, the project manager takes over. I watch from a high level to make sure they are being fully utilized.
What is the hardest part of your job?
I love making people happy. I’m also the type of person who doesn’t enjoy giving bad news, and I have to give bad news a lot of the time. I am the person who has to tell people when their work isn’t going to get done. For example, someone could land a project with a new client, and I have to tell them that they can’t start for three weeks or four weeks because I don’t have the people to get their project rolling.
What is your favorite post-work ritual?
Definitely just cooking dinner and watching some dorky television — something that I’ve DVRed from the night before. I hate to admit it, but I am obsessed withDancing With The Stars and all those shows that no one really likes to admit that they like.
What advice can you offer to other young professionals looking to thrive in today's workforce?
Look for a job that’s going to help you grow and will help you invest in your career, in your learning and in making you a great employee.
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