Life of Bry

Originally Published: December 28, 2019

Life doesn’t always work out the way you planned, and, since the decade is coming to a close, it seems like a good time to reflect on it.

Facebook reminded me that two years ago, on December 15, 2017, I graduated college. I put on my cap and gown, walked the stage of the now-demolished Palumbo Center, packed up my apartment and said goodbye to my home away from home.

Leaving Pittsburgh was truly one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. For the three and a half years I spent studying at Duquesne, the ‘Burgh welcomed me with open arms.

I fell in love with the city during my time there. I spent early mornings running the streets of Downtown, often taking a break at The Point to dip my feet into the river. I frequented the Cultural District to watch musicals and performing artists. I ate my weight in Milano’s Pizza and Primanti Bros sandwiches. 

That blue-collar city gave me drive. It pushed me to have an unbelievable work ethic. I swear that Pittsburgh oozes dedication.

And Duquesne is a beautiful piece of that city. The campus is gorgeous and vibrant, with professors that genuinely care about your success and a student body that, although divided on politics, is so united and outspoken.

It broke my heart to leave my city, campus and friends behind after graduation.

I went back to my hometown with a plan. I would work as a media assistant for a local tier II junior-league hockey team until the end of its season. I’d build experience and connections as I searched for a more permanent job working for an NHL team. I was preparing to pack up my Cavalier and leave PA behind.

Working in sports is all I ever imagined for myself. 

It was my dream since I was a kid, and I even specialized in sports information and media while at Duquesne. I interned for the Pittsburgh Penguins while in school and built a decent portfolio of published pieces.

But my plan cracked pretty quickly.

That junior-league team wanted me to work for them, but they didn’t want to pay me. Yes, they wanted me to work 40-plus hours a week but with absolutely no compensation for my time.

They tried to abuse my previous connections and made me false promises.

When I took up a part-time job to pay for gas and my student loans, things went from bad to worse. To save a long and stressful story, I’m just going to say that things didn’t work out.

It took a huge toll on my physical and mental health. 

I was drained, exhausted, depressed and disappointed in myself.

But I still was on a mission to find a job in sports media. I can’t even begin to count how many jobs I applied for and how many phone interviews I completed. 

It seemed as if every rejection was a dagger to my soul. I felt like I did everything I could in college to get ahead in the job search, but everything was coming up short.

The biggest jab came when a local newspaper rejected me for being overqualified to be on its high school sports beat.

I felt hopeless. I was overqualified for a local newspaper gig but underqualified for the big leagues. I was lost and my mental state just kept deteriorating.

That fire that I lit in myself when I worked for the Pens was extinguished. I lost my drive and was desperate to find anything even close to my field just so I could quit working at a grocery store and put an end to the stress of bar-tending weddings.

It was at my tipping point that I got hired as a marketing coordinator at a local candy company  in October 2018. It’s probably not the one you’re thinking of. 

While marketing and sales isn’t my forte, I knew I could use my PR experience to be an asset. I actually skipped my marketing classes in college and opted for sports writing/broadcasting instead. Oops.

I’ve had to learn a lot in this last year. 

Life isn’t as fast-paced in the candy biz. You have to wait weeks, months and sometimes years for new products or information, unlike in sports when nearly every day brings a new and exciting update. You wait for this information, trying your best to plan as much as you can in advance, but it always ends up being a chaotic mess.

However, things are still hectic in a different way, because the company is growing — even after over 50 years of being in business.

There’s a learning curve for me, because I have never been in a work environment outside of sports or the service industry. I learned the lingo and what requirements go into legally selling candy to consumers. I also got a grasp of how a company creates its own unique brand through packaging and advertising.

This job helped me grow my confidence by giving me an outlet to hone my skills in public relations and advertising. These were two areas of my education that I thoroughly enjoyed but put on the back burner as I pursued sports journalism. I was able to do graphic design and photography work, which I then saw on TV and in articles all over the Internet. 

I proved to myself that I am capable of working outside of the sports industry. 

Next year, I will be taking over the company’s social media accounts — something that I’ve been practically pleading to do since I started working there.  It’s a new challenge that I believe can help push a company built on nostalgia into this century and bring products to a new generation of consumers.

If you told me two years ago that I would be where I am now, I would’ve laughed right in your face. My mind was set on one thing, and I couldn’t see anything else. I found myself at the lowest of lows, picked myself up and challenged myself to be more than what I thought I was for all those years.

As the decade ends, I have so much to be grateful for, even though it’s not exactly what I saw for myself. My fiance and I are less than seven months away from our wedding, we own a home together, we have the sweetest dog and we’re surrounded by a solid support system. 

Life doesn’t always work out the way you planned, but sometimes it works out for the best.