Well—how did I get here?

This is the second installment of our new regular blog feature, “Well—how did I get here?” featuring first-person stories of our team members and their interesting journeys to The Martin Group. Next up: Public Relations Manager Madeline Rickett. Take it away, Madeline. 

Since graduating from Canisius University in December of 2019, absolutely nothing has gone according to the plan I had set out for myself.

Well, at least almost nothing.

As a communications student at a relatively small school in Buffalo, I had the chance to build strong relationships with my professors and classmates. I was a research assistant, president of the comms club on campus, had landed multiple internships, and still managed to graduate a full semester early. I thought I had it all figured out—until I realized I most definitely did not.

Let’s rewind a bit to the summer of 2019. I had just finished my junior year and had one semester left at Canisius. It was my first summer living in Buffalo full-time because I was starting an internship in the corporate communications department at M&T Bank. So for the first time ever, I was working in an office setting doing public relations, but I had no clue what PR was.

The good news is that I had no choice but to learn quickly. After my first week, my supervisor went on maternity leave, leaving me in the very trusting care of the bank’s favorite VP of Public Relations at The Martin Group, John Mackowiak.

Throughout that summer, I settled into a routine and worked with the comms department at M&T and the extended team at The Martin Group. Somehow, I even managed to do a good enough job that I went straight into an internship here, where I continued to work on fun projects, got to learn as much as possible, and really start to understand what PR was.

I had set myself up for success, worked as hard as I possibly could, and was ready to carve out my own spot in the communications world. But once again, things didn’t go as planned.

To be fair, I don’t think anyone saw the COVID-19 pandemic coming and shutting down the whole world. What I thought would be a time to take a breather from school while casually applying to “big-girl jobs” turned into becoming an essential worker, clocking in for 12-hour shifts, and getting more than 25,000 steps in a single day at none other than everyone’s favorite retailer, Target.

What had been my part-time job while I finished school quickly turned into my full-time gig. And while I look back at that time in my life as a crazy glitch in the system, I’m also filled with so much gratitude for having had a job while so many others didn’t. I’m thankful for getting managerial experience fresh out of college, too, because if I didn’t do that, I might not have had the chance to transition to my destination: The Martin Group.

After a year of working through the pandemic, I somehow managed to come back to TMG, this time as a public relations coordinator. Slowly but surely, our team began to fill out, building an amazing group of PR pros. And over the last four years, I’ve felt lucky enough to be part of this team and agency. We celebrate each other’s wins and lend a helping hand when needed. Not only have I had the chance to learn such a fast-paced industry, I’ve also been given the opportunity to grow, with two promotions under my belt to show for it.

And while I look back on my career journey up until this point, I can say for a fact that this is not how I ever imagined it to go. But dare I say, it turned out even better than expected.

Moral of the story: You can plan all you want, but the universe will look at that and laugh. Through it all, keep going—because sometimes, you end up right where you’re supposed to be.

Want to learn more about our team at The Martin Group? Click here.