Person Being Interviewed
Janel Lewis
Position
Director of Stationery Marketing
Place of Work
BIC
Interviewer: As a kid, what did you want to do when you grew up?
Janel Lewis: My journey was very diverse. I grew up in Arizona and I loved the beach. I dreamed when I grew up when I was young about being a marine biologist. I loved the beach, I loved the water, and I thought that would be a very interesting career path.
Interviewer: What stopped you from becoming a marine biologist?
Janel Lewis: I think when I got into college and I had the opportunity to go to some classes, other things piqued my interest. One of the things that I was especially interested in was what made consumers tick. I love to understand what makes people want to buy something or what makes people do something. Right away, when I got into college, I knew that was for me.
Interviewer: What was your most memorable experience in school?
Janel Lewis: One of my most memorable experiences was when I was young. I actually won a Young Author's Day contest in the state of Arizona. I wrote a book, or a small book, I would say, and don't laugh at me, but it was about my cat. My cat was named Tang and I told the story about the adventures of Tang. It was about what he was thinking. It was told from his perspective and what he was doing in the course of a day. I ended up winning that year for our state. It was done as a class project. They entered us into it. It was not just writing, but some illustration, as well. It was just really cool and fun. Going to go get the award, to this day, was one of my best memories when I was growing up. It's kind of funny that I wrote a story about a cat, but I guess at the time it resonated and maybe the way I told the story was funny and different.
Interviewer: With all that you did in school, how did that help you land the position you have now with BiC?
Janel Lewis: I ended up getting a job right out of college in marketing research. I loved it. I worked for a greeting card company in their marketing research department and I would go into stores and I would do an audit to try and understand how our products were selling. That was one of my responsibilities. I also had the opportunity to moderate a focus group. I would have a group of people and I would talk to them about a specific topic and get their opinions on things we were doing. So, I had a lot of responsibilities and it was super fun. I loved my job. I was there for a few years and the leader of one of the teams came to me and said, "Hey! You're doing a great job in marketing research! Would you like to come over and be a part of the marketing team?" I was a little skeptical, at first, because I really loved what I was doing, but he convinced me to come over to the marketing team and take a shot in marketing and I loved it!