Not Just "Josh's Little Sister" ;)

Hey everyone, my name is Jessica. I started knowing about Zeum from my older brother, Josh. He worked at Zeum for about 4 years until he went off to college. I remember coming to Zeum to watch him work, it was fun. He was outgoing and made the kids come out their shell. He made them laugh and i noticed he was very good with kids after seeing that. Everyone knew me at Zeum as "josh's little sister". I didn't mind, well matter a fact, when his co-workers asked me who i was i referred to as "josh's little sister.

I loved going to the second floor of Zeum to watch the kids sing in MPL( Music Production Lab). I was too scared to go up there to sing.( I guess the kids weren't the only one who was shy). I also remember going to some of the"end of the day meetings". It was very interesting...even though I had know clue of what was going on. The more I came, the more I started to think this would be a nice and fun place to work. I talked to my brother about working here, but at the time he didn't really want me working with him, so i kept visiting.

As time went on my aunt wanted me to start looking for a job, so I came back to my brother and said I was applying to Zeum. He finally was okay with it because he said then he could watch me( sure) lol. It then came to me that my future was based on child development and dealing with children. That's when i realized Zeum was more than just a fun place to work, it would further my career.

I then got straight on it and started applying. I remember applying in there staff office, since I was Josh's little sister, his co-workers let me go in there. The same day I got it was the same day I turned it in. I was so anxious to work for Zeum. I wanted to start right away, but of course you have to go through that long old process to get a job, let alone your first job.

The manager at the time, Christian, said he'll call me in about a week or two. For those two weeks I was hoping to get the job. When I received his phone call, I was relieved. He told me to come in for an interview. I was so anxious but nervous..lol. I was interviewed by my friend from my program and Ari, who was the assistant manager of Zeum but is now the manager because Christian went back to school.

I remember the interview so well. I felt good and nerves went away after answering the first couple of questions. Then I had to get a work permit, which is kind of a long process because at the time I was moving so all my information was packed away, but since everyone at Zeum liked me they gave me time. ( I felt even more glad to work at Zeum because they understood that I needed time to get my papers).

When i finally got settled down I returned my work permit in and was almost a ZeumMaster( Not exactly because you have to go through the training because there's so many rooms so you have to learn something new in every space). It was fun to shadow the ZeumMasters at Zeum to observe how they engage with the visitors. It was a great experience because from there I learned more. Also since we all are in the same age group, we have many things in common. They should me how everything works and the first question you should always ask is"Have You Been Here Before?" because depending on there answer there different things you have to do. At first it was kind of scary to engage with the visitor, but the more i started doing it the more it just came to me like second nature..lol.

I was then officially a ZeumMaster. All my hard work paid off. In the beginning I didn't expect to become a ZeumMaster, but here I am almost a half a year working at Zeum. I intend to stay working here until I go off to college. Another crazy thing is, I'm thinking about going to my brothers school in LA( our hometown). After all this, I didnt even end up working with him because he was graduating high school going off to college, which was about the same time I started to apply. "This was fun to talk about my experiences!" ( Blogging is fun)-July 2, 2009

Also the photo above is a self portrait that I created in Zeum's Digital Workshop.