I began my career post-undergraduate as a journalist working for a small wire service based in Jerusalem. I spent most of a year reporting on events in Israel, the West Bank, Jordan, and Egypt for English language news outlets throughout the Middle East.
After my time in the Middle East I made my way back to Seattle, where I found a place working for a start-up company called Wavii. At Wavii we were focused on building a technology that automatically aggregated news content from around the Web.
Wavii was eventually purchased by Google in the Spring of 2013, and it was at this time that my German language skills helped me to land my current role working with Microsoft. I'm currently working as part of the team that runs Xbox Music, Microsoft's streaming music service. I'm responsible for the content marketing on the service for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland (GSA). I function as the primary liaison between Microsoft and all of the Record Labels and Music distribution companies in GSA, and the role requires me to maintain an up-to-date sense of current trends in German music and cultural life in German-speaking Europe.
On account of my current job, I was recently able to move back to Berlin, where I had the opportunity to study as an undergraduate with funding from the Deutsche Akademische Austausch Dienst (DAAD). Berlin is an incredibly dynamic, fascinating city, and a great place to be able to call home.
All of what I've done since I graduated in 2010 would not have been possible without the skills I gained through the German Department at UW. For me, my German degree provided me the ability to critically approach problems in my working life, to express myself in writing clearly and effectively (a skill that is truly in short supply in the corporate world today), and mastery over a beautiful language that has presented itself as an advantage in unexpected ways.