Free Feet

And by that I mean literally, my fresh-out-of-college unemployed little sister, Rianna. She’s probably the

best person that I know, and I’m probably the best sister that anyone could have. Which is why I’m dedicating an entire post to her today.

I’m not sure exactly when she decided she had to move to New York City after graduating from UNC-Chapel Hill with an Anthropology degree this past May, but I’m pretty sure her mind was made up when we visited the city during her Spring Break back in March. While I was walking around complaining about my blisters, the cold, and what a dirtier city this was than I remembered from a few years earlier, she was plotting how she would move back there.

So what now?

Well, after 3 months of unsuccessful long-distance online job hunting (that is, a lot of “we went with someone more local”), she took the plunge and booked a one-way ticket to JFK and found herself traversing the NYC metro by Wednesday morning. Now don’t get me wrong, this girl is my best friend and she just left me in Raleigh for what appears to be, well, nothing, so I’m not super ecstatic about it. But if she wants something this badly, then gosh darnit I’m going to help her as much as I can.

For now she’s couch surfing with friends and staking out over-booked holiday weekend hostel rooms until she finds a job and a place of her own or until she runs out of money (and we really can’t have that, can we?).

What she’s looking for:

While she’s working her ass off looking for jobs online, writing kick-butt cover letters, and stalking companies like Big Duck and Carrot Creative to get her dream job, she’s not above anything that pays the bills at this point and still walks the streets of Manhattan & Brooklyn looking for “Hiring” signs in the windows.

About that dream job though, in her words:

I love people, so it makes sense that I would want to work for them as much as with them. I love non-profit, socially conscious organizations because they are groups of people with a mission they really (have to) believe in.

Working with people means that every interaction, day, minute is always different. I like when I have multiple things I have to do in a day, all with completely different teams, places or requirements. I love new things, new challenges, new problems and new solutions! One of my favorite quotes is “if we do not find something pleasant, at least we shall find something new” – Voltaire

What I know is that she’s dedicated her life to the arts in one form or another. As an artist herself, interacting with talent at performances, and even on the nonprofit organization side. And even if you’re mean to her, she’ll pretend to be your best friend. (I’m not sure where she got that from; maybe the southern upbringing, but definitely not from me!) Point being, she’s mad smart (some even say smarter than me; gasp!), insanely creative (I have her write all my catchy headlines & titles, brainstorm with her about creative fundraising ideas, and I insisted on hanging a pencil portrait she drew above my bed), and a total people-person. In my personal opinion I think she would make an amazing company spokesperson or first point-of-contact. Yeah.

How can you help?

We all know how important networking is. If you live in the New York City metro area then you can easily help just by reaching out and connecting with her. I can promise you a great return too, because she’s a pretty amazing person and the Mallard sisters are known for being genuine helper-outers.

So meet her for coffee or lunch. Send her job leads if you have them. Take her on a tour of your neighborhood so she knows how real New Yorkers live. Be all-around nice to her!