- September 22, three years ago.
My future is in LA at BuzzFeed.
I honestly feel my future there.
That's where I fit professionally, like my skills
and interest and personality.
I am dedicating my time and thought to being there.
(melancholy music)
- I started here at BuzzFeed very interestingly.
- Before I was working here, I was a morning
show reporter.
- I actually went to culinary school and while
I was in college I made, like, dumb little, You Tube
videos and as I started to kind of play with that,
I really started to enjoy the process of editing
and filming.
- So I started as a small You Tuber.
I used to make cause play videos, animated videos,
and actually two years ago, I applied to BuzzFeed
but I didn't get it.
- I moved to Montana to do the news which was sort of
what I thought I wanted to do but I was
really unhappy there.
I hated doing the news; I hated the cold;
I was always alone.
- I had just lost my job; I got fired to be more precise.
- I was at Sephora working and what I really loved to do
was helping people find confidence in themselves
no matter what.
So I was doing my little makeup at Sephora
and then I started seeing a few videos on
body-positive stuff coming from this BuzzFeed thing
and I was like "What the (bleep) is that"?
- And I remember when I was still in Montana wishing
I could move back to LA but wasn't sure what I wanted
to do so I eventually realized I want to make videos
that make people forget what their going through.
- A friend of mine that was working here gave me the
suggestion to start writing just on BuzzFeed.com.
He was like "You want to work at BuzzFeed?
They hire people from the post that, you know, anybody
posts."
- There was a point in my life where it was really
hard to find a job.
I would apply to all these places and for some reason
I would never get hired and I wondered if there was
something wrong with me, like, if I'm not doing it right.
- When I looked into it and I applied for a position
that I wasn't even qualified for.
- I was sitting up watching a lot of late night tv and
I watched this episode of the Jimmy Fallon Show
with Christina Aguilera.
I was watching and she did this impersonation of
Brittany Spears.
- This little piggy went to the market.
- So I was quickly, like, "Oh (bleep), let me write
this article real quick" and next thing I know, like,
it was on the homepage the next day and it got a
million views.
- Two weeks later I got an audition.
And, my audition, sure enough, was here for BuzzFeed.
And I didn't get it but the person signing me in
at the desk asked me my name and he was like
"Wow there's something about you; you have a look,
you have the sounds".
So, I give him my head shot; he tells me that I should
meet someone so right after my audition he introduces
me to the team lead for Better Like.
- I was writing a lot of these and a lot of my posts
were getting, like, a million hits before I was even here.
- Two years passed and I remember BuzzFeed again and I
just had this random thought, like, oh BuzzFeed, that's
something I really wanted to do; might as well try it.
- And then within two weeks, I heard back and they were
really interested in all the cooking competitions I had
done, my professional experience in restaurants.
- A few weeks later they call me in from my head shot
to film a video.
(foreign language)
And, I did an amazing job, I guess because they called
me again and they called me again and then they called
me again.
- I was going into an interview actually that morning
and I get a phone call from this number and I answer
my phone at that point and now I don't answer any phone
calls but if its a 310 number, I'm answering it because
I don't have a job.
- Well it turns out they took me for an interview to be
a fellow which here that means you have to have actual
like, technical skills and I had zero technical skills.
So, I came in for an interview with Eugene of all people.
I was just like yeah I love fashion; look at me; I'm
fashionable; I love fashion.
And, then they're like "What about your technical skills".
And, I was like technically I love fashion and then
I just moved on.
- So Dave from HR was on the other line and he was like
"Is this Nick Gillery and I was like yes, this is Nick
and he was just like so we saw your community post
and Macie who runs the curation team would love to
have you in for an interview.
Are you available to come in this afternoon?"
I said yes so fast before my life, I was like absolutely
yes.
- And that was that!
- After I was graduated I got a call like two or three
days later and they offered me the job officially.
- They gave me a shot and three months in after that
they offered me a BuzzFeed producer role.
- It was really funny coming across that journal entry
because that's exactly what I did; I moved home with the
intent of working at BuzzFeed; I interviewed; I didn't
get it and I was devastated.
But I knew it just a matter of time and so I applied
again and I interviewed again and I got it.
- The day that I got the phone call from BuzzFeed telling
me that I was hired was the most amazing feeling that
I have ever had.
That day, I remember checking my bank account and I only
had like six dollars in my account and it didn't matter
because I was just so happy.
- I didn't book the job that I initially came to audition
for; I don't remember what it even was but I ended up
where I needed to be.
- Regardless of whatever road blocks lie in your way, if
you feel in your heart that you belong somewhere, you
belong doing something then keep chasing it.
- You should keep fighting for, keep doing the things
you love.
- Whether you want to be a doctor, whether you want to
be a lawyer, an athlete, anything you want to do, you
can do.
You are the God of your own universe and you can
create the path that you want to be on so put you mind
to it and you can do whatever you want to do.
Trust me because it worked for me.
(melancholy music)