Meet Pamela

Describe your educational background. Where did you study, what degrees did you receive? 
I graduated in 2006 with a bachelor's degree in English from Dartmouth College.

Describe your career history. What have been your professional experiences prior to your current position? 
Talk about climbing the employment ladder: I first started at Random House as a summer intern in Knopf. I enjoyed my experience so much that I applied and enrolled in the Random House Associates Program, which allows recent graduates to rotate through various departments within a single publishing group for a year. I had the good fortune of being placed in Knopf once more, and after 7 months, I accepted an opening in Knopf's advertising department. After a year as the advertising and new media assistant, I'm now the advertising and promotions coordinator!

What are your current roles and responsibilities? My responsibilities encompass a wide array of odds and ends. I do everything from ordering posters and promotional materials for bookstores, to reaching out to the blogosphere, to assisting our advertising director in making print and online ads.

Describe a typical day at your job: 
A typical day involves working with our new media assistant to coordinate advertising and outreach campaigns on Facebook, ordering huge posters of our book covers for bookstores to display in their windows, and crafting one of our monthly newsletters to herald the publication of our books.

What attracted you to your company and position? What is your favorite thing about your job? 
When I first applied for an internship with Random House, I had no idea that I was setting myself up for a career in publishing. I liked books, Random House had the best summer internship program around, and that was that. Once I returned to Dartmouth for my senior year, I figured I wouldn't find another job that suited me so well as publishing did, so applying for the Associates Program was a no-brainer. As for advertising, I'll be the first to express surprise that I wound up in this department! But now that I'm here, I can't imagine doing anything else. The pace is exactly right, I get to work on every book that Knopf publishes, and I get to flex my creative muscles on a daily basis.

What has been your most memorable moment (so far) in your job? 
I’ll choose a recent success story: just this month, Knopf published the collected rants and raves of legendary New York chef Kenny Shopsin. Eat Me is the name of this cookbook-cum-culinary-tract, and I did my part in pushing the book into the blogosphere, where it really caught on. The food bloggers totally got the book, and it was a thrill to be a part of the ensuing chatter and praise.

If you could meet anyone from history, living or dead, who would it be? 
Bohumil Hrabal. He's one of my favorite authors, and I read somewhere that he loved to spend all afternoon in his neighborhood pub and drink his favorite beer while whooping it up with the regulars. And he loved cats (there's a mural in Prague with a larger-than-life Hrabal surrounded by cats of all stripes). I think we'd hit it off.

If I were a cartoon character, I would be… 
Melissa from Home Movies. I think that character was lifted from me. I ought to demand compensation.

What qualities do you feel are necessary to be a successful employee at your company? 
One ought to be good-humored, skillful at the small talk (for the elevator rides), moderately thrifty, and absolutely crazy about books.

Have you had the opportunity to travel as part of your job? 
Yes! I went to Hartford to attend a focus group meeting. Glamorous, I know.

Do you feel you have a good understanding of Bertelsmann and its corporate culture? 
I believe Bertelsmann prizes innovation, social responsibility, and the education of its workforce. It's been a pleasure to work for a corporation that endorses the corporate responsibility to give back to the community and also grants each of its children companies the independence to make its own decisions and pursue new ideas.

My favorite book, movie and artist are…
Book: I Served the Kind of England by Bohumil Hrabal.
Artist of the Moment: Leia Bell with her beautiful concert posters.

Finally, please write a paragraph or two about yourself, your interests, hobbies, goals, meaningful life experiences, role models, memories, etc.:

Here are three interesting facts about myself:

1.) My dad is an English professor, and books were always lying around the house. Literally shelves upon shelves. I think this is probably the root of my near-lust for accumulating and devouring books.
2.) I absolutely hated New York City growing up (I grew up in Connecticut and was very resentful of being considered "NYC's backyard"), and it astounds me how much I've taken to the city since I've moved here a year ago.
3.) My favorite foods are, in no particular order: Nachos, popcorn, and corn dogs. Coney Island may well be heaven.