Find out how Bianca Bass can light up your own dreams in 3 minutes!
Q1. Hello Bianca! It’s my pleasure to host you at GR Millennial Makers! Tell us a little bit about your background.
Hey Antonis! Thank you so much — it’s great to be speaking with you and I’m honoured to be asked! I’m a 24-year-old writer living in London. By day, I work for TripAdvisor, the world’s largest travel website, managing a talented team of copywriters. And by night (and evenings and weekends!) I advise major ecommerce clients on their content strategies. My passion project, however, is my blog BiancaBass.com and my accompanying newsletter which focuses on careers, creativity and general life advice for millennials.
Q2. You were the youngest Manager at a global company. How did you handle it? What did you gain from this experience?
It taught me that life and learning only begins at the end of your comfort zone. Before my first day, I was scared. Scared of failing. Scared of feeling like an “imposter”. Scared that the people who were working for me wouldn’t respect me as they were older and more experienced. But each day got a little easier and, as I earned their respect, I learnt that if you’ve been invited to the table you best believe you deserve to be there. Because you do. Success is about unashamedly showing up in life — to your job, to your side hustles and otherwise. It’s so easy to feel like you don’t deserve to be somewhere, but the truth is you deserve to be wherever you want to be.
Q3. If someone wants to make the difference should have an outstanding Personal Brand. Do you have some quick and useful tips about Personal Branding for Millennials?
Start with LinkedIn. I feel like LinkedIn is seriously underrated. What people don’t realise is that LinkedIn is a search engine of sorts and you have to imagine what your dream employers would actually be searching for. Add keywords to your LinkedIn profile — for example, my title on LinkedIn isn’t just my name, but also a few of my skills: “Bianca Bass | Copywriter | Marketing | Branding”. From doing something so simple, I’ve won amazing projects and freelance clients. Make sure you have a good and natural-looking headshot (if you can, get a friend you trust to take a photo of you. Selfies should only be used as a last resort). And then start building your experience, step by step. I believe everyone should have a website — whether it’s a portfolio or a blog — and everyone should act professional on all social media platforms. Employers will Google you — give them something worth finding.
Above all, the best advice I can give is to not overthink your brand. As long as you’re doing the steps I’ve outlined above, your personal brand will come with time and experience. You can’t plan exactly what you’ll be doing in a few years time, because things change! Instead, think about the person you want to be, act professionally, work hard and know that your personal brand will follow.
Q4. You were also, an Intern at Vogue. Could you share with us tips about a successful Internship in a big company?
Sure! I applied to Vogue several times and heard nothing back. But I never gave up and I kept building up my experience elsewhere, until they finally offered me an interview. Yay! It turned out to be one of the most rewarding experiences of my life as I learnt the importance of using my initiative. I was always the intern who didn’t bother my manager unless I absolutely had to, and I always chose to talk about things once they were done. Your manager doesn’t care about your to-do list. They care about what you’ve done and how it benefits the business.
The main lesson from my time at Vogue was in taking risks. I was offered the internship during term-time when I was meant to be at university. But I knew I couldn’t say no, and so I risked getting worse univeristy grades instead. I’m so glad I did — a lot of people have degrees, but an experience like that is worth fighting for. Follow your intuition. You won’t regret it.
Q5. How could your experience light up the dreams of Greek Millennials out there?
An important part of my story is that I did everything myself. I’m not from a rich background, I had no contacts and I moved to London not knowing anyone. Most of my family live in Brazil and honestly? At times, it’s been lonely, disheartening and felt beyond my reach. I had so many rejections, but I refused to let them dishearten me. The reason I mention this is because if I’ve been able to achieve what I have so far, you can too. There’s a better life and space for everyone if you’re willing to work for it and make sacrifices. Think big, always. Your future self will thank you for it, trust me.
Q6. Could you share with us two of your favourite quotes? Which, and why do they motivate you?
Absolutely! I have so many quotes I adore, but a couple that spring to mind:
“It always feels impossible until it’s done” — Nelson Mandela. These words guide me whenever I doubt my capabilities.
“If you’re the kind of person who is scared and courageous at the same time, you might end up doing big things” — David Carr. Because this is absolutely true. It’s ok to be both scared and courageous at the same time.
Q7. You said in your article that everyone must start doing something. How can you motivate someone who can’t start doing anything?
The most important thing to remember is this: you can either be the person in the corner, spending your life talking about and watching other people do things, or you can be the person who actually does things. I know which I’d rather be!
