Welcome back to our “6 questions” series where we ask someone 6 career-centric questions about themselves.
This week we’re chatting with Monica Bedi, Social Media Marketing Manager at SEPHORA.
How did you know you wanted to go into social media and how did you get started?
I knew I wanted to go into social media once I identified that I had a passion for it, and then the rest is history.
Rewind to my teenage years and I was that girl, who was always on Myspace, sending invites to my friends to join Facebook and Pinterest (yes, when these platforms started you could only sign up if you were “invited”), and I was always chatting away with my friends on AIM.
Fast forward a bit, and I started doing every and any social media internship out there, building my resume with so many roles it was overflowing, and then finally landing a corporate social media job at a Fortune 500 company: Victoria’s Secret and then to SEPHORA. Connections? No, I didn’t have “connections”, I’m self-made and so proud of it.
If there’s anything I learned, it’s that building experience and a strong work ethic is everything.
Being the Social Media Marketing Manager, especially at a large company, comes with a lot of different task and challenges. What is an average day in your role like?
Spoiler Alert: I don’t just post pretty pictures on Instagram. In fact, I don’t post at all.
When people think of working in social media, many think it’s mindless and as stated above: “just posting pretty pictures”. In my day to day as a Social Media Marketing Manager, I focus on data-driven content strategy and work with different partners to bring beauty and strategic initiatives to our audience.
Best part about working at SEPHORA?
There are so many great parts about working at SEPHORA. One of many favorite parts is the brand reach. SEPHORA is such an influential brand with over 20 million followers (wow!), which is really a dream for anyone who works in social. I love that I get to help build the brand’s social presence and for that, it’s so rewarding.
You worked at VS Pink for over 7 years. How did you know it was time for a new opportunity and what was the process of landing your new job?
You will always know it’s time for a new opportunity as you develop throughout your career. You truly become older and wiser (cliche, I know!), but that’s when you’ll just know and want to level up.
In terms of finding a new role, it required an open mind. I was in my comfort zone, but there was so much more opportunity out there. As a girl who is career-driven, I applied everywhere in the USA. I got some up opportunities, but then turned them down because I was determined not to settle. Fast forward and I landed my current role at SEPHORA and a few weeks later, I sold everything I had and moved across the country to San Francisco, CA.
*BOOM*
Yes, to some it may sound crazy but when you’re serious about success, you don’t flinch..you just go for it.
Was it terrifying? YES. But was it worth it? 100% YES.
Favorite campaign or recent project at SEPHORA that has been exciting to work on?
My favorite campaign I’ve done at Sephora is tough because there are so many. However, I am obsessed with a skincare campaign I did where I leveraged a plethora of social platforms. Overall, it was so thoughtfully done and I’m really proud of that campaign as a whole. Plus the “cool” factor of working with some celebrity founders of some of my favorite brands was a win-win.
Advice for someone wanting to go into social media, specifically in the beauty industry?
My best advice would be to Keep Up With The Kardashians (seriously!) and immerse yourself in culture. Social media shapes culture, so it’s important to know what’s going on in the world. This means: watch different television shows, follow an array of brands and people on social, go to your favorite park and people watch, listen to that new Drake album and get some [fire emoji] instagram captions. Just do it. Every day. Stay connected. When you are so connected to the world, you can bring so much diversity to a social role.
More specific to beauty, I would recommend cultivating a passion for beauty.
Let out your inner beauty queen in interviews – share that you know the who’s who and that what’s what and own it.
Monica is a social media guru who keeps up with everything…including the Kardashians. She’s currently a Social Media Manager at SEPHORA, and was previously leading social at Victoria’s Secret. Her passion leads to her success and she looks forward to building on her success. Follow her: @monbreezy and DM her for more career advice!
