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Fast Pass to Your Future - Career Conference 2022 Recap

December 2022

By Molly McCracken

Life is like a... theme park?

Okay. Perhaps that’s not the typical cliché you’ve heard, but it certainly applied to this year’s FIMS Career Conference.

The next graduating class of FIMS students is coming up to a pivotal transition point in their lives: Deciding what they will do beyond their time here in FIMS. As some students contemplate where to apply for their first job, and others work away on graduate school applications, most students can bond over a shared mix of anticipation and uncertainty.

That’s why FIMS hosted its annual FIMS Career Conference 2022: Fast Pass to Your Future on October 21. Now entering its 6th year running, this capstone event is designed to bring graduating students into contact with exceptional alumni who have career experience and stories to share.

Seventeen FIMS alumni from industries like marketing, media, non-profits, PR and tech (and more!) became guides for the day as they shared their adventures, their top thrills, and their biggest spills through organized sessions and informal networking conversations. We also celebrated the much-anticipated return to an in-person conference for the first time since 2020.

Television producer, director, and proud FIMS alumnus Mike Bickerton, BA’01, opened the day with a keynote address. Having been involved in producing reality shows like The Amazing Race Canada, Blown Away, and most recently, Canada’s Drag Race, Mike gave a presentation that oozed with recollections and references to his award-winning career in unscripted television.

He did leave students with one big ‘spoiler alert’ for the day, to help students make realistic plans:

There is no “fast pass,” you have to put in the work to get where you want to go.

Scenes from the Career Conference

The afternoon featured career tell-all breakout sessions from alumni working across media industries, a new graduate panel with recent alumni who can talk about that overwhelming “first year out,” and a festive networking session.

This year's selection of alumni ranged from those in their early careers to experienced leaders working in a wide array of professional roles. Nominated to participate by the FIMS Career Conference Committee, this year’s speakers may have all studied at FIMS, but each reflected different decisions, priorities, and skills that have led to remarkably different pathways.

As Associate Dean Susan Knabe so eloquently put it, “Even though we all walk through the same front gates, no one’s journey is quite the same.”

Like a theme park, this life can be exciting, scary, and full of surprises. There is no one right way to navigate it, but this year’s alumni guests gave our students a leg up with some great information on how to make the most of their next adventure.

Thank you to our alumni speakers and networking guests, student volunteers, staff, and faculty who supported this event. This event is created and funded BY students FOR students, through the generous support of the FIMS Undergraduate Student Fund (USF).

Career Conference 2022 Speaker Lineup

To see speaker bios, visit the Career Conference website.

Mike Bickerton (keynote)
BA'01, Television Producer & Director

Jessica Bronstein, BA'12
Senior Brand Manager, Freshii

Lara Buchar, BA'15
Editor, Food Network Canada

Michelle Dias, BA'08
Senior Manager, Brand Public Relations IHG Hotels & Resorts + Professor - Sheridan College

Craig Huffman, BA'04
Director, Marketing at Goodwill Industries, Ontario Great Lakes

Emily Lonetto, HBA'16
Director of Community, Webflow

Katya Kwiatkowski, BA'15
Manager, Publicity & Promotions at The Walt Disney Studios Canada

Jennifer Morton, BA'15
Director of Digital Marketing & Creative Strategy, Indeed Labs

Elyssa Macri, BA'09
Director, Marketing & Communications

Francisco Rivas, BA'06
Head of Industry, Google

Taniya Sheikh, BA'20 (new grad panel)
Client Success Manager - Influencer Marketing at Viral Nation

Liam Afonso, BA'21 (new grad panel)
Storyteller, Founder of Ellum Media

Nyren Mo, BA'21 (new grad panel)
Digital Engagement Coordinator, Western International

Calling all FIMS grads!

Are you an MIT or MPI grad interested in sharing your career story and employment wisdom with current students? We're now running a number of different career-oriented programs throughout the year that would benefit from your involvement. Drop us a line at fimscareers@uwo.ca to chat about how you can participate.