Have you ever had luncheon with Rihanna? Many people are eager to see celebrities and look at photos of their daily lives while some people style themselves on their favorite celebrities all over the world. So, it is rarely happens that ordinary people get to meet celebrities in reality. However, one of my cousins, who works at a magazine publisher in New York, has luncheon or takes time with celebrities, such as Rihanna or Shakira at odd times. He is the man, Peter Chun.
Mr. Chun was born to Korean parents in New Jersey in 1982, and he has one older brother. Since he was born, he has lived in the same state, New Jersey. He graduated from Rutgers University as Sociology major in 2004. After graduation, he was employed in a Consumer Marketing and Circulation department for Rolling Stone of Wenner Media. He also has been special interested in the music field, so he became a Managing Partner and Marketing Director for Base NYC as a sideline. He enjoys hanging out with his friends, and at the same time, he likes watching tightly-plotted movies and listening to the music of his favorite Korean singers, like 2NE1 or Seven by himself.
Wenner Media, where Mr. Chun works at, is a media company in the United States, and they own three popular magazines, "Rolling Stone", "Men's Journal", and "US Weekly." Rolling Stone has covered everything from music and popular culture to in-depth politics for more than forty years. The consumer marketing and circulation department of Wenner Media mainly manages the magazine subscriptions. In addition, another company, Base NYC, was launched in 2004, and it is an event planning and marketing firm. They host a party every Friday and special holidays such as Halloween, Christmas, and New Year's Eve with live performances of celebrities or artists.
Based on those his personal and company information, I asked him that "Do you get a sense of achievement through doing your job successfully?", and he said "Definitely. Otherwise, why do it?" When his Director compliments his work or when he has reached his goals, he feels good. Once he completes large projects there is relief to know not only that it has been completed but that he was able to do the job and meet his goals successfully. At the end of this question, he added "Achievement = growth of an individual."
Carrying on the interview, I inquired about "Would you say that you have to communicate a lot with others to do your job successfully?", and he said "Yes." When he works as a consumer marketing and circulation employee, "part of my job is to communicate with a fulfillment house out in Iowa that handles all of our billing, renewing, customer service, and customer database." His department has to communicate with them at all times to make sure that they handling business efficiently and effectively. Since he is not working in the same office or even in the same state, he "must" communicate through e-mail and phone calls to make sure that everything is being handled correctly. Furthermore, as a party planner, communicating with his coworkers is necessary. The party can be only held by support of various departments such as a public relations or a guest-invitation. He emphasized that "it is very important to remain cordial with work peers so that work can get done in a beneficial manner."
He is very detail-oriented in his field. A lot of his job is making sure that reports are correct and that he meets deadlines. He should "pay attention and look at his calendar to make sure everything is up-to-date" so that the workload does not pile up and gets completed in time. He also keeps tons of notes and has a checklist of jobs he needs to do so that he does not miss a step. In this context, he said that "being active on e-mails and copying right people on e-mails is also very important." He likes to organize and save his e-mails to make sure he can cover himself if any problems arise. Furthermore, as one of the alumni of Sociology, he is fairly analytic to human social activity. So he is magnanimous and quick to understand in a casual relationship. When I looked up his Facebook profile, he has more than one thousand friends on it. It is true that people can make a friend, who never knows each other, through the Facebook. However, I believe that he has kept contacting with his considerable number of Facebook friends in daily life.
As I interviewed Mr. Chun, the quotation of Oprah Winfrey struck me that "Doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment." Mr. Chun always has done his job deligently in his day job, and he keeps thinking and managing his own business to upgrade the quality of his party. His continuous attention to his friends through both online and offline sticks his friends with him. These made what he is today, and simultaneously, these would make him a better future.
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