Ep10: Networking with LinkedIn and TikTok Secrets - Samantha Barkho

Today’s guest is Samantha (Sam) Barkho, a former intern of Jeannieys, who just started a hard-won position as a Junior Marketing Associate at L’Oréal, Maybelline DMI EYE.  Sam is fluent in Arabic, and loves marketing and social media content creation - especially TikTok.

She received her undergraduate BS degree focused in Marketing from Montclair State University & minored in business relationships and professional selling.

Sam shares stories from her intense networking job search blitz on LinkedIn, the frustration she felt getting ghosted repeatedly, being a self-described “Covid college kid” learning online, and her love of social media and tips for creating more relatable TikTok content.

Authentic, inspirational and relatable discussions with inspirational business leaders, gaining insight into what inspires them and how they got to where they are today. These conversations offer actionable tips for listeners to create their own path to success and shatter whatever glass ceilings arise and overcome any obstacles on their personal journey. Jeanniey Walden, Founder of Liftoff Enterprises, is the award-winning marketing, business & workplace expert and host of the TV show "LiftOff with Jeanniey Walden." Jeanniey dives into compelling conversations with incredible experts of all backgrounds to understand what makes them tick and expose how you, the viewer can learn from these experiences and start to "LiftOff."

Discussion points:

• Networking HARD to get her current position at L’Oreal
• Sam’s ambitions before and during college were focused on digital marketing
• Internships throughout college and a love for social media
• Hold out for specific internships, or get general business experience?
• Retail and what you can learn
• Sam’s insights into TikTok - more relatable content, keep up with trends, funny filters, not cool to have paid ads and influencers
• Management styles, team dynamics, leadership and communication
• The future for Sam 

Resources:

Samantha Barkho LinkedIn

Jeanniey Walden LinkedIn

Liftoff Website

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Watch the TV show"LiftOff with Jeanniey Walden"

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Meet Jeanniey live - see where she will be next

Transcript

[00:00:00] Jeanniey Walden: Hey everybody. Welcome to this episode of Liftoff Journeys. I'm so excited to have our next guest here. She is, Samantha Barco. We call her Sam. She was an intern from me when I was at Daley Pay. She's graduated and she's off to. Big job. We're so thrilled to have her on to talk about her journey through college, what she's done, where she's going, and how she's decided to make it where she's gotten to today.

So welcome to the show, Sam. Hey everybody. Welcome back. So Lift Off Journeys. I'm Jeanie Waldy, your Health, and I'm here today with one of my favorite people on the entire planet, Sam Barko. He is gonna take us through her. Which is very different than the other journeys that we've heard about on past episodes.

Sam has recently graduated college. Congratulations Dean, president. Like everything, she's gotten every accolade possible and she also had a great time looking for and finding full-time employment. I dunno if it's so great the whole time. But Sam, why don't you 

[00:01:10] Samantha Barkho: introduce yourself to every. Yeah, of course.

Well, thank you so much for having me on. I'm so excited. And yes, I did recently just graduate in December from Montclair State University. I studied business admin, concentrated marketing, and I had a minor in business relationships and professional selling. And yes, throughout my time, you know, I did. You know, do four internships and as well, you know, I was really involved in extra extracurriculars though at my time in Montclair's.

So it was definitely a big journey. And you know, of course graduating, you know, it took a while and a lot of networking and you know, just a huge process, just really getting a job and landing one. And now I'm currently a junior marketing associate at L'Oreal for the brand Maybelline. So it has been really cool so far.

I just started and I'm really excited to just kind of talk about everything today with. 

[00:01:59] Jeanniey Walden: Yeah. So I have so many questions for you, but first and foremost, did you switch 

[00:02:03] Samantha Barkho: to all Maybelline products? Yes, actually. Well, okay. So I've always been just so loyal to the brand in general. Like I literally was so excited when I got this job because I was like, I already used that.

I already used that. Like uh, they literally have some of my favorite like foundations, mascara's. We all know the I-team is just so great at Maybelline. So I am just so excited. And of course, like I have access to all the makeup now. So really great perk about it. You know, . That's 

[00:02:32] Jeanniey Walden: awesome. That's amazing.

And you like, so let's start at the end. You spent a lot of time and hard work getting this job. Yeah. You didn't just apply, you stalked people on LinkedIn. You networked like crazy. You called people that knew people. You called, people that you knew a long time ago. Tell us like everything you had to do to land this role because it's a story I think 

[00:02:57] Samantha Barkho: everybody needs to.

Yeah, of course. So, you know, obviously the job market right now is crazy tough. And just recently as a recent graduate, you know, you're gonna be dealing with, you know, really saturated market. You know a lot of people who are doing the same thing as you, who might have similar experiences to you. And for me, I really wanted to put myself out there, so I took the time throughout.

Basically all those times when I graduated and even while I was in school still too, just to reach out to people, network with them, and just set up like a time just to chat with. Learn a little bit more about their career journey and just get any advice I could, you know, get from them. Just that would really help me out.

Learn a lot more about the brand itself, you know, the company, the industry, the interview process. And I reached out to so many people on LinkedIn. I got ghosted so many times and it was, you know, it was tough and it took, you know, a. Following up a lot of, you know, just reaching back out to different people, people connecting me with different types of people.

And finally from there, you know, I was able to really connect with the HR people, but it took time. And I definitely will say when you are graduating, you really want to make sure you can have that recommendation. or just have someone connect you to someone because especially when it's a really big brand, you know, they get thousands and thousands of applicants a day.

So it's really hard to stand out in that sense. So it took, I think I messaged probably about like 50 people. And from even before that, you know, I set up like two different coffee chats with two people and you know, I reached out to cousins who had family and just all of this different stuff and friends and it.

It was a big process, but you know, obviously it was worth it in the end. And I feel like if you are really passionate about something or getting into a certain industry, you know, you've gotta work for it a little bit. And you know, I'm just really glad I took that process to network and just put myself out there and it's, you know, it's not easy to get a job, but.

At the end of the day, when you really take the time to get to know people and just really, you know, see and learn more about the industry itself, you know, you will go pretty far. It takes time. It took a couple months, but you know, obviously it was worth it. So, yeah, 

[00:05:08] Jeanniey Walden: absolutely. And but outside of this job, you had applied for other jobs that you made it all the way till the end too.

And then I think you said you were told that the jobs were no longer open. The company just 

[00:05:19] Samantha Barkho: changed their. . Yeah. And so, you know, while I was even going through interview process, cuz I had, you know, gone through multiple interviews for previous jobs as well, and this was even the month before I graduated and I was getting pretty far along in some interview processes where then I would find out the job was canceled due to the market.

And then I had another chance for, you know, a job opportunity. with also a very large brand and unfortunately they just decide not to go with me because of my graduation date. And I was, it was just always timing. So. crazy because every single time I got really close, you know, something happened. Um, and it just kind of brought me right back to square one.

And you know, definitely when you kind of go through, you know, either like denials or just, you know, the opportunity is kind of getting like taken away. Um, it's a little bit of a setback, but you have to consistently tell yourself. Okay. , I know what I did to kind of get that far along the process. I just have to do it again.

And you just have to really consistently remind yourself that it will be okay. Uh, it definitely was a very stressful process, especially, you know, when it's with. Things and you think you're getting so far with certain companies and then it just doesn't work out. Um, you know, that definitely I think was very like, hard on me.

Um, cause I was like, well, what am I doing wrong or what is, what else can I do? And it was definitely a setback. But, you know, at the end of the day, I think everything does happen for a reason. And you know, something will, Come out of anything and it's always a learning experience no matter what. And I took all of those interviews that I did as a learning process for myself.

So even after, you know, certain interviews and I got really far, I was like, okay, well you know what? Maybe next time when I have an interview I can change my pitch, I can change my elevator pitch by myself. I can, you know, do this instead. So, , even if you haven't interviewed and it doesn't work out the best, it's always just still a really good learning process for yourself and just, it kind of gives you a consistent confidence boost cuz now you know, you know what?

I've done this before and I can do it again. So 

[00:07:22] Jeanniey Walden: yeah, I, I think that's great and it's such great advice. But you were pretty strategic, like you even decided to graduate early. So that you could get a headstart on competition in the job market, and you did four internships while you were in school. Tell me a little bit about when you entered college A.

Did you know what you wanted to do when you graduated? B, did it change along the way and C, were you like straight from the beginning? I'm gonna have internships, I'm just gonna knock it outta the park. I wanna have every advantage possible. Or did something happen like first, you know, end of freshman semester, tell me.

How you ended up where you 

[00:08:00] Samantha Barkho: are. . Yeah, of course. So I like to call myself like a Covid college kid. Uh, it's kind of funny because I actually only had one full year in person in college, and so my freshman year was when Covid hit and I actually went online. And throughout that time when I first entered into college, I knew I wanted to do creative.

You know, the creative side of marketing or just anything in, you know, the digital space. I already knew that's what I wanted to do. Um, when I was looking into different majors, you know, there was the communication side and then there was the business side. Um, just for personally after reading an insight, you know, about.

what's more in the communication side and what's more into the business side? At the time, I decided that the business degree would be like a good kind of backup for me, just in case, you know, later on in life if I wanted to change career paths, there's a lot more flexibility with that. So that was kind of where I decided, but I knew I was a creative person in general, which is why I just knew marketing was gonna be for me.

Um, immediately when I got into college, I will say that I was like, your typical. Could not sit still type person. Like I always had to be busy. Um, I right away got involved with the marketing organization on campus, fell in love with it. I joined the executive board right then and there. And then throughout Covid.

That actually helped me out so much because I was able to network with so many students online because we kept our meetings and organization running throughout, you know, the lockdown. And it really helped a lot of students just connect and really give them a little bit more motivation for the school aspect because it was really hard.

You. Switching to fully online after being in, you know, in person. So I will say by doing all of that, it really kept me motivated to really just learn more about marketing, which is then when I figured that if I'm gonna go into a very, you know, Saturated type of market. You know, a lot of people study marketing.

It's, you know, pretty competitive for the most part. I knew I needed experience prior to graduating. Um, immediately during Covid, I tried to apply to so many internships just to try to see, I wasn't hearing back from a lot. . But I did get, you know, through networking, which it always comes back through networking.

I actually went back and I got a PR internship was the first one I did. And then from there on, you know, my junior year, I really wanted to step it up. I wanted something in person and I really wanted just to, to learn in-person marketing in a more structured type of way. PR was a great background experience just to have, and I'm really grateful I got to do that, but I knew marketing was more of the realm I wanted to.

So I feel like through learning different types of things, it kind of helped guide me to know what I liked about marketing, what I liked about, like the more communication side, business side. Um, and doing internships was what helped me learn that. So then I did a brand marketing internship with Daley Pay in this summer, and I learned a lot about brand marketing.

I learned a lot about, you know, the legal aspects, a lot more of the corporate side of it. And I feel like that was a really good learning experience for me, and it taught me a lot about you. How I would be working in an actual job, and I think that was a really great experience. From there on, I didn't wanna stop and I actually got a fourth internship from there.

You know, it was through Java of Coffee Co. I worked that throughout my junior year and I was doing social media marketing for them, and I actually helped block their TikTok, which is where I found a great love for social media in the digital space. I absolutely love it. I think that was what. Spike my creativity, you know, that type of thing.

I really learned from there. You. What I really liked about digital marketing. And then from there I ended it with Allied Global Marketing and I did a internship with Amazon Prime Video and that was really cool. We worked a lot with, you know, partnerships and I learned a lot, especially about that area. I did not dive into it, so now I know I like partnerships too, and.

So throughout that time it was a lot of a learning process, but I did want to have that motivation to do that. Not everyone wants to work, you know, a bunch of jobs. Not everyone wants to do extracurriculars on top of school work. You know, everyone has their different types of learning process. But for me, by doing internships and leadership positions, that was what taught me what I actually wanted to do.

Um, so I think that was really helpful. And it also taught me a lot about, you know, managing my. and it was really helpful just because, you know, in school we were online and then it was a big adjustment. So I will say by doing all that, it was well worth it. I, you know, I took the initiative to do that myself, and I would definitely recommend if you're going into college, you know, take that step.

There was a lot of it where I was like, can I handle it? Can I not handle it? There was a lot of times where it was just so stressful where I was like, should I just quit and give up now? But you know, at the end of the day it was worth it because I did find my love for marketing through that and you know, I would not take it back for anything in the world.

So, yeah. 

[00:12:55] Jeanniey Walden: That's great. That was great. So, you know, I have two kids that are still in college question that we talk about all the time. Do you hold out for an internship or a job in a field that you think you might wanna have? Or do you go get just business experience anywhere like Starbucks, target, Rite Aid, just to get business experience?

What do you. 

[00:13:17] Samantha Barkho: Yeah, I think no matter what experience you have is good experience. I worked in retail for literally four years, all throughout high school and the first two years of college, and I learned a lot about the sales side and working with customers and the in-person, you know. Factor of that. You learn a lot from that, especially in retail.

You learn about how to work with different people. You learn about how to work with a team. It teaches you a lot of people skills, which I think is a really great necessity that a lot of employers will look for. So that experience, let alone just because it's not, you know, a big name internship, it's gonna teach you a lot about hard work.

And working with a team. So I think that's still great experience to have no matter what it is. And just in general, you know, with internships as well, it gives you, yes, that foot in the door, but you can also do things on your own. So for example, I did freelance work on my time where I just worked with local businesses throughout my college and I helped them out with their social media planning because I knew I was good at it.

I knew I loved it. And you know, I worked on my own time, which was. And you know, it was a great way for me to get experience, but you know, on my own time. So there's always options I feel like, for anyone out there if you're not too sure. But I, any business experience you can get will still train you no matter what job you have, because it's all people skills, all necessary skills I think any employer will want from you.

[00:14:37] Jeanniey Walden: I love it. I love it. Okay, so next question. What is the secret to. Because my TikTok that I just started, when I started getting ready for the show, I was like, I don't know, not that many followers. And I have, this is what I've learned. If I try and post something that I actually think about, nobody likes it.

Yep. If I post a picture of Vince doing something funny or silly, it goes crazy and everybody like Harte and I get all these comments. So in your opinion, since you've been able to like master TikTok, what is the secret of 

[00:15:08] Samantha Barkho: TikTok? I will say that is so true. Every single person I've ever talked to always say it's always the videos like I put so much effort into, and then the random ones will blow up.

And that's even happened to me too, honestly. I'm not gonna lie, and it's so true. But you know, I will say when you're on the TikTok space, that is a much more relatable content space. I will say yes, there are a lot of. Creative people who put in very, you know, high quality videos in there. But that is their very specific niche.

And there's only a very specific type of group of people who would want to watch those type of videos. For the most part, when people are on TikTok, they wanna just see fun, relatable content. I will say there is a big difference from what I've just seen personally through like Instagram reels and TikTok.

I would say Instagram reels would be a lot more like professional and uh, more creative side type of thing. And then TikTok is a lot more of the relatable space. When you are on TikTok, you have to consistently make sure you're being updated with trends. If it's just your personal self, obviously that's pretty easy.

You don't have to worry about, you know, on the legal side of anything. But, you know, I would say keeping up with trends and a lot of people are really starting to like when big name companies or just anything that, you know, any product they start to use are starting to do like a lot more relatable and fun content.

So like a trend or just like these little. Like little silly filters that TikTok might have. There was like a random autobody shop I saw that like blew up on TikTok and it's just a like a small business owner and it was just because they used some random filter and then now because that blew up, all these companies are following it and people love it just cuz it's something funny to relate to.

And also just I think a lot more sitting down talking type of videos. People like just seeing routines, it kind of makes them feel motivated as we can see. The Get Ready with mes have blown up like crazy. And the reason being behind that is just because it all goes back to being relatable and funny and nothing serious.

When you're going on TikTok, you know, you don't wanna really see a bunch of ads, they don't want to see anything. People, you know, promoting too much stuff, you know, they wanna see it being relatable, which is why the influencer industry as well, from what I've. Whenever there's a lot of paid promotion, paid ads, there's always that joke like, oh, okay, yeah, go get that bag.

Which means like, oh, okay, go get your money, you know? But at the end of the day, when people see realistic reviews, um, just relatable content, things that will actually help motivate them, you know, that resonates a lot with a lot more people. So when you are going into that space, you just have to think of, how can I actually.

Directly connect to, you know, who I'm trying to connect to in the audience. So am I trying to really be relatable? Am I trying to promote my product? How can I use my product then in a more realistic way? Um, if I was the consumer watching it, what would I actually want to see? So, Definitely if you do that, obviously with the consistent posting times, the scheduling, the hashtags, the trends, the sounds, you know, the logistics beyond that content wise, that would definitely help you a 

[00:18:07] Jeanniey Walden: lot.

So awesome. I'm gonna put all that to you. So everybody that's listening you now got your first official creator advisor session for free. So you have to give all the creds to Sam after your TikTok blows up too. So, all right, so next question, to go back to what you learned through all these internship, Can you think of like one or two things that you learned about business?

Not about any specific company, but just about like what it's like to be in a business role that surprised you? I remember in my first job, I had not appreciated how important it was to, um, Be nice to everybody because you never know who's gonna end up being your boss or where you're gonna get transferred.

And building those relationships in the beginning is so critical. I also didn't realize how important my teaching background was to any type of leadership role that I had, and being able to just leverage those same types of inspirational tips to help lead teams and groups as I started to move up in my.

[00:19:13] Samantha Barkho: Yeah, I definitely, I would, I so relate to that. I totally understand that, and I completely agree with that. You really never know how one person you might come across one day will be such a great help to you later on. And I definitely think one thing I've learned and I've seen just like a pattern throughout my time is, Just the management style and like working with a team and what that means is that kind of transferred, you know, from me being a leader, you know, at Montclair State with my marketing organization and then into internships and working with the team.

When you're working with different people, there's such a great way to personally connect with them. Especially say if you are a higher up, you know, working, you know, with a manager. Anything along those lines. I think there's a. Great impact you can have on someone when you know, you make your connection a little bit more personable with them.

Not just, here's your work, get it done, get it, give it to me by a deadline type of thing. You know, when you really ask them about their day more, you know, you really build a little bit of that relationship to create more of a trust aspect. Um, I really think that it makes going to work more enjoyable. You know when you're working with a team and you are communicating with people, communication is such a big factor.

When you're listening to someone speak, you know, you're making eye contact, you're really listening. I would say the people skills have been definitely the most important aspect, you know, when working with a team for sure. 

[00:20:36] Jeanniey Walden: That's great. That's awesome. Okay, so last question. Do you have any idea where you wanna be in 10 years from now?

10 years is a long time away, , or, or do you just wanna go get more experience, figure out what you like and continuously take advantage of opportunities? Where do you see yourself 

[00:20:54] Samantha Barkho: going? . Yeah, of course. So, you know, obviously right now I just started my career journey. But you know, from what I've learned, I definitely see myself in a managerial position, ideally in the social or brand side.

I really like the idea of like looking over a campaign, um, or just social strategies on the digital side. I think I, you know, every single internship that I've had, I've noticed that's always my strongest interest. Interest, and especially now with just the digital age. Where everything in marketing is going.

I think being a social media manager or a brand manager will be definitely, I think one of the most top careers, I think in 10 years in marketing, just with how the digital space is really changing. Um, and you already see now how much brands heavily rely on their social managers too, as well. So I definitely would say for that aspect and just, you know, ideally Hopely working.

You know, for a big brand where I could do that and just put my creative eye in that space, I think I will not leave the creative side of the industry. I will always have, you know, that aesthetic eye people will talk about and I definitely could see myself going into that. And it's hard, you know, you never know what life might change or where my life might take you.

But at the end of the day, I think it's great to have, you know, that ultimate goal of where do I want to be and where do I wanna end up, and where do I wanna work myself up to? You know, having that goal set and that mindset, I think makes everything and all the hard days, the hardworking days, you know, just a lot more worth it.

Yeah. I 

[00:22:29] Jeanniey Walden: love it. This has been such a great conversation, Sam. Thank you so much for taking time out of your very busy day in your brand new career to chat with me and to chat with everybody who is watching Liftoff Journeys to get an idea of inspiration for the future. And so if you're out there and you're just looking for your first job or you're still in college and you're getting ready to graduate, this is great advice for you and watch it a bunch of.

If you're already in an existing business in your career, go back and re-listen to that TikTok thing and, and go start a TikTok account. If you don't have one , build it up for your brand.

later. 

[00:23:11] Samantha Barkho: Bye bye.