Alumna talks job success

GCSU alumna Kim Martin returned to campus on Oct. 3 to present students with insight into her career experiences and to offer advice on becoming successful.
Martin graduated in 1982 with a degree in political science, and is now the executive vice president and general manager of the Women’s Entertainment Network (WE TV) in New York City, N.Y.
Throughout her presentation, Martin urged students to seek out opportunities throughout their college careers.
“Try as many internships and jobs as you can while you’re in college,” Martin said.
After graduating, she went to work for Atari, the company responsible for Pac Man, and then a pharmaceutical company, before going to Georgia State University and getting her masters of business administration.
One of the life lessons Martin shared with students stems from an interview she had after completing her MBA.
    “I interviewed for a job at World Book Encyclopedia,” Martin said. “The interviewer said, ‘The words you used were articulate and intelligent, but not the way you said it,’ referring to my southern accent.”
Martin began her television career by taking a managerial position in a startup company, now well known for the Discovery Channel.
She packed all her things and moved to Washington, D.C. where she did not know anybody and became the 34th employee at the company.
“My feeling at the time was that I had the time to take a risk,” Martin said. “You need to do your research and your homework, so you have a sense of what kind of risk you are taking.”
Martin’s time with Discovery turned out to be a risk that rewarded her well.
She eventually became the senior vice president of the company, and when she left after 12 years, the company had grown to 14 channels with over 5,000 employees
Martin left the company to pursue an opportunity to make more money in order to support her family.
“I never sought to be rich,” Martin said. “I just wanted to make a good living.”
Rainbow Media offered her that opportunity.
Initially Martin took a job in sales, but had higher ambitions and sought the general manager position.
“I didn’t really have the experience for this job,” Martin said. “But I was very persistent.”
After six months of interviewing potential employees, Martin was hired and has held the position for nearly two years.
Martin has transformed the network from a primarily movie-based network to a mostly original programming network.
“People don’t have time to sit and watch two-hour movies every night,” Martin said. “We wanted to change to programming for younger people, mostly reality TV.”.
In her tenure at WE TV, the ratings have increased by 29 percent, a drastic escalation in viewership.
“I knew what women just like me wanted,” Martin said. “So I came in and made some changes to improve an already promising network.”
Martin told students, that in order to succeed, they should try as many jobs as possible, make a lot of contacts and find something they are passionate about.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Oct 13 2006. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry