Desirae Odjick

Desirae is an optimistic, outgoing person who sees potential in every situation. Her interpersonal skills lend themselves naturally to teamwork and presentations, as well as building client and customer relationships. Her energy, creativity and passion make her a natural choice for event marketing, social media and brand management positions.

About Me
My Blog
My Photos
My Feeds

Skills & Talents
- Interpersonal Skills I have played many roles in my work, volunteer and personal lives, all of which have prepared me to be an effective contributor to any team. I have experience leading and training, as well as developing and being coached. I love working with people in any capacity.
- Presenting I have had experience presenting in front of groups ranging from 5 to 150 people. No matter the subject, presentations energize me and allow me to deliver my message with enthusiasm and confidence.
- Creativity Whether it's designing an attention-getting PowerPoint presentation, creating a strategy to drive web traffic to a company's Facebook page or coming up with a visual concept for a marketing assignment, I enjoy creating innovative and interesting solutions.
- Writing I have extensive experience crafting written communications in various roles. I have written internal newsletters and external promotional materials at various jobs, as well as writing and editing numerous assignments. I was also chosen to blog for lululemon.com on the strength of my writing.

Education

Carleton University	Commerce (Marketing)	Sep 2007 to Dec 2011
Ottawa, ON
Desirae is a third year undergraduate student at the Sprott School of Business. When she graduates in December of 2011, she will have obtained her Bachelor of Commerce with a concentration in Marketing. Building on a solid foundation of business courses such as accounting, finance, organizational behaviour, information systems and economics, she is now focusing on marketing classes, including Marketing Communications, Business-to-Business Marketing and Marketing: New Tools and Approaches. Desirae is very interested in how companies use word-of-mouth marketing and social media to build their brands, and will be using her degree to help companies leverage these tools.

Experience

lululemon athletica	Educator and Facebook Co-ordinator	Oct 2008 to Present
Ottawa, ON
As an educator at lululemon athletica, Desirae has been heavily involved in her store's marketing activities. Since the company does not pursue traditional print advertising, she has organized local fitness events, generated media interest, crafted communications materials to support her events and built relationships within the community to support the brand. She is also responsible for the store's online presence, both on the company's website and through the store's Facebook page. She generates content and manages customer relationships through the Facebook profile as part of the company's overall Facebook marketing plan.

lululemon athletica	Blog Artist	Nov 2009 to Jan 2010
Ottawa, ON
Desirae was selected on the strength of her writing to create blog posts for lululemon.com as part of a company-wide team of fifty individuals. She writes posts for publication on the main company website as well as taking pictures to accompany these posts.

Sprott Marketing Student's Association	Vice-President, Internal	Sep 2010 to Present
Ottawa, ON
As the Vice President, Internal for the Sprott Marketing Student's Association (SMSA), Desirae is responsible for all internal communications within SMSA. She is also creating a new web presence for the SMSA to support event promotions. This presence consists of a newly designed website as well as establishing a Twitter and Facebook presence for the SMSA. By expanding the social media reach of the SMSA, she hopes to increase membership and attendance at events.

Sprott School of Business	Peer Helper	Sep 2008 to Apr 2009
Ottawa, ON
As a Peer Helper with the Sprott School of Business' Career Service Centre, Desirae researched, designed and wrote tip sheets for other students on topics such as resume writing and interview skills. She also assisted with other initiatives at the Career Service Centre, such as researching new job postings and maintaining the bulletin board.

First Nations and Inuit Health Branch, Health Canada	Junior Policy Analyst	May 2008 to Aug 2008
Ottawa, ON
In her role as a Junior Policy Analyst at FNIHB, Desirae evaluated research proposals according to specific criteria in order to provide feedback to her superior. She also organized materials for hiring competitions, meetings and publications, which included editing, filing and managing sensitive information. She also wrote and edited a newsletter for internal distribution within the Branch.

Carleton University	New Tools Briefing - Twitter	Sep 2009 to Nov 2009
Ottawa, ON
Working as part of a team, Desirae researched and evaluated Twitter as a marketing tool. She was responsible for editing the group's paper as well as creating the slide deck for the group presentation. She also presented her findings in front of her Marketing: New Tools class.

Carleton University	Starbucks VIA Marketing Case	Dec 1999
Ottawa, ON
In her Intro to Marketing class, Desirae and her team analyzed Starbucks' new instant coffee offering and how to mitigate the risks for the brand. They proposed taste testing and publication of the results, something that, when VIA was rolled out by Starbucks, was a strategy used by the company.

Accomplishments

GE Foundation	Scholars-Leaders Program Scholarship Recipient	Jun 2008 to Present
Missisauga, ON
Desirae was awarded one of fifteen prestigious scholarships by the General Electric Foundation's Scholars-Leaders Program in Canada. She was evaluated based on her academic performance in both high school and university, her extracurricular activities and her community involvement. As part of the scholarship, she was invited to participate in a conference for the award recipients. While attending the conference, she had the chance to network with GE executives while developing her leadership and presentation skills.

Carleton University	Renewable Scholarship	Apr 2007 to Present
Ottawa, ON
As a first year student, Desirae received a renewable scholarship based on her grades upon graduating high school.

Desirae has an ability to make any situation fun and inspiring. She creates a space for learning, communication, and success. I look forward to coming into to work when I know I will be working with Desirae. She is an asset to any organization.
Rebecca Barker Store Manager lululemon athletica
Desirae worked as our Career Peer Helper for a full academic year and she was an absolute pleasure to work with! Her consistently positive attitude and willingness to work hard on any given task made her a strong member of our team. She has a very approachable manner and helpful nature that immediately puts people at ease. She will be an asset to any organization she joins!
Dotti MacNeil Business Career Co-ordinator Sprott School of Business
To draw a comparison; Desirae is a mix between a basket full of kittens and the smell of freshly baked cookies. Her enthusiasm for every thing she is involved with is refreshing and truly inspirational. She was a pleasure to work alongside. She is a driven young individual who gets things done in an effective, and creative way.
Dominic Fegan Commerce Student Sprott School of Business

BBM and Early Adopters

March 15th, 2010

“Finally a member of the Blackberry nation! Send me your PIN!”

The above is one of several Facebook status updates I’ve seen over the past few months declaring that yet another one of my friends has caved in and gotten a Blackberry. And for those who are familiar with Blackberries, it also contains what I think is the deciding factor in the purchase decision my friends have just made. Can you see it?

Blackberry Messenger, or BBM, is a service that connects your Blackberry to the Blackberries of all your friends via a unique PIN code that you choose to share. Once you’ve established another Blackberry as a contact, you can send text and pictures for only the cost of the data transfer – which is much cheaper than sending actual text messages! BBM is also what I believe to be the key in growing Blackberry’s youth market.

Of the four people I’ve heard of switching to Blackberry over the past few months, all four belong to the same extended social circle, and I have added all four to my BBM contact list. One of the four is a close friend, and she openly admitted that a large part of her decision was that she wanted to stay in better touch with me on my semester abroad in Australia. In this group, BBM has pushed us towards a tipping point, and barring any cost concerns, I doubt whether any other phones have a chance when the rest of the social circle decides to upgrade.

So Blackberry, go for those early adopters – the ones who are similar to their peer groups and very engaged in many social circles. A few strategically placed BBM enthusiasts can have the rest of the group signing up in droves – I should know, I’m experiencing it!

Have you used BBM? Do you consider it important for Blackberry’s overall growth?

Tags: early adopter, Facebook, blackberry
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Dream mapping

December 7th, 2009

As an exercise to help clarify our personal brands, our Marketing: New Tools and Approaches class spent a morning creating dream maps. Dream maps are collages that represent what you want your life to look like in five years, and they’re incredibly helpful as a tool for visualization. This is an exercise I truly believe in – I’ve created dream maps on my own before, so I was thrilled when we got class time to do one!

Here is a short video taken of the dream map I created in class, so that I can share with you what I see in my life in the next five years.

What does your life look like in five years? Or ten? Dream maps, visualization and the power of goal setting can help you get there!

Tags: personal branding
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What’s your BHAG?

November 23rd, 2009

Confused? BHAG stands for Big Hairy Audacious Goal! Still a little bit confused? Let me explain.

The term BHAG (pronounced bee-hag) was first coined by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras in Built to Last, a comprehensive account of their empirical research on why some companies last and some don’t. One of their key findings was that successful companies were always in pursuit of big, hairy, audacious goals. For example, when Boeing decided to make the first commercial jet airplane, there was little commercial interest, they were viewed as a military aircraft maker, had a tiny presence in the commercial market and would have to invest a quarter of their net worth upfront to create a prototype. So of course, they set a goal of being a major player in the commercial aircraft market, built the aircraft, named it the 707, and the rest is history.

Let’s face it, most of us aren’t giant corporations, but that is just no reason at all not to set BHAGs for yourself! BHAGs are fun – lots of fun. To set your own, just keep a few things in mind! Whatever the goal, it should excite you every time you read it, and inspire you to take action. It should fall way outside of your comfort zone – you can’t have big, audacious and safe. They’re like spots and stripes, they just don’t go together. And lastly, it should be personal and fit with your core values, because it’s your BHAG, no one else’s.

Oh, and one last thing about Built to Last. Every company they studied was compared to a control company, one in the same industry that had not even come close to the same level of long-term success. Boeing’s control company, Douglas Aircraft, decided to wait and see what the future would be in jet aircrafts. They played it safe and didn’t set a similar big, hairy, audacious goal. And how many of us have heard of Douglas Aircraft?

One of my personal BHAGs is to run a half-marathon. What are some of yours?

Tags: jerry porras
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The Oprah Effect

November 20th, 2009

I love Oprah, and I’m not afraid to admit it. I think she is an amazing, powerful, inspirational person, and as my friend Nik Wood wrote on his blog, life-athletics.com, she has served as an example of how to be “the best in the world in the area of work.” She has created an incredibly successful media and lifestyle empire based entirely around doing what she loves and reaching people in a meaningful way. Not only that, but she has become one of the most powerful influencers in the world today.

We’ve all heard of the Oprah effect. The Oprah effect refers to the power Oprah wields to impact sales or interest in a product just by mentioning it on her show. The Oprah effect has crashed websites, driven book sales for everyone from James Frey to Leo Tolstoy, caused a spike in Twitter adopters and so much more. To get a product endorsed by Oprah is to have a product succeed. Now that’s influence. But as of September 2011, marketers will no longer have the option of the Oprah effect, at least in the way that we now know it.

Today, Oprah will be announcing that as of September 2011, she will no longer be hosting her talk show. The date will mark the 25th anniversary of the show, and countless products endorsed. The news might be tied to the creation of her own television channel, but one thing is for sure, I’ll be tuning in to find out.

I guess this is what she meant when she posted “Big Day… tune in my tweet friends.” on her Twitter account.

Tags: influencer
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Do I love Blackberry?

November 16th, 2009

I love hip-hop dance. I love it, but that’s usually a necessity in order to put up with the rehearsals, training, time and effort required to get good at something. Anyone who has ever played competitive sports, a musical instrument, studied a language or loved something enough to pursue it to that degree knows what I’m talking about. I remember spending three hours one night in front of a mirror in my bedroom, perfecting a dance move. The first time I performed the move in front of people was an amazing moment. So when I saw the exact same sequence of events in an ad, it really resonated with me. To stay in your room for hours on end practicing? That’s passion. That’s doing what you love.

Which is the whole concept behind, and the tagline of, the new Blackberry campaign. The television advertisement caught my attention with its reference to hip hop dance culture, but different versions include people pursuing architecture, fashion design, ballet, music and rock climbing, all fields that have a prerequisite of passion. People who pursue these interests love what they do, are doing what they love, and are… using Blackberry?

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2VGTcHH2Bo&feature=SeriesPlayList&p=CDC355952AC0FA80 560x340]

The ads are supported by large, two-page ads in major newspapers, and the copy reads “Don’t just like. LOVE. Now that’s powerful stuff. Love changes things. Upsets things. Conquers things. Love is at the root of everything good that has ever happened and will ever happen.” Now, with no logo attached to the first page, and copy like that? At that point, I don’t even care who’s printing this, I just agree. And then, of course, it clicks when I turn the page that this is an extension of the television advertisement that caught my eye. And in that moment, you know what I want?

Well, coffee, because it was really early in the morning, but also, a Blackberry.

Way to tap into my core values, Blackberry. I’m not even offended that I was so thoroughly manipulated, because the ads are just that good. Do I love Blackberry? Not quite yet, because I’m not in the market for a new phone, but when I am, I just might.

Tags: copy
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