When I Grow Up: Michele Ganeless, President of Comedy Central (Part I)

I had the pleasure of meeting and getting to know Michele during my time as an assistant at Comedy Central. I started out as an assistant in Marketing and when her assistant was out of the office I would cover for her. I remember going into Michele’s office and asking her questions about life and work and everything in between. Even though I left Comedy Central, Michele has remained a mentor of mine, who I often go to for advice on work and trying to figure out this journey that I am on. So when I decided to relaunch “When I Grow Up” I couldn’t think of a better person to start the series with. A graduate of Northwestern University, Michele is a great example of how not having everything figured out right after graduation may not be such a bad thing! Check out part I of “When I grow Up” with Michele below.

But Now What: When you first graduated from college what did you think you wanted to be when you grew up?

Michele Ganeless: I thought I wanted to be in advertising coming out of college. I had a liberal arts degree, I had no real experience, but it seemed like it would be a fun place to work.

 

BNW: Was your first job out of college in advertising?

MG: No, I didn’t get a job in advertising.  My first was in market research, which I was told could lead me into advertising.

 

BNW: For those who don’t know, what is market research?

MG: Market Research is understanding consumer behavior through questionnaires,  focus groups and analyzing data about shopping habits and intent to buy. The firm I worked for did a lot of work with Consumer Products.

 

BNW: Was your first job out of school what you expected it to be?

MG: You know, I didn’t know what to expect. I had never even heard of Market Research before, but they posted a job on campus, and so I interviewed for it and it was the only job offer I got, so I took it.

 

BNW:  I am sure a lot of our readers can relate to that! How long did you end up staying in that position?

MG: I ended up working there for 2 years.

 

BNW: That seems like a long time, what made you decide to move on?

MG: Well, I was working in Chicago where I had gone to college and I wanted to move back to New York where I was from. I liked what I was doing and I thought it was interesting, but I knew it wasn’t what I wanted to do forever.

 

BNW: Did you know what you wanted to do once you got back to New York?

MG:  At that point, I still wanted to get into advertising, but my leaving there was driven by a move back to New York. I did end up getting a job in advertising in research at an advertising agency.

 

BNW: Oh my, that’s the big time, now you’re living the dream, right?

MG: Well that’s what I thought, but  6 months in, I was very disillusioned because, the experience and the environment wasn’t what I had hoped it would be. Maybe it was just that one job, but it was just different.

 

BNW: So now what?

MG: You know that job was one of dozens of resumes I sent out. My boss in Chicago had given me a copy of the American Marketing Association directory for New York and anybody who had research in their title I sent them a resume. One of the other resumes that I sent out, somebody at MTV Networks had held on to and that’s how I got my first job in television. They needed somebody to do research at a channel called “Ha!” which was the precursor to Comedy Central.

 

BNW: Did you have mentors along the way when you helped you make the transition from job to job?

MG: Once in TV I had mentors, but making those first series of moves I wouldn’t say that I had anybody who mentored me. The people I worked for in Chicago were very helpful in terms of my move to new York and helping me find a couple of head hunters and helping me find people to write to in New York, but then once I was back in New York it happened pretty quickly because MTV Network called me like 6 months after I had been at my advertising job.

 

Check back tomorrow to find out what happened once Michele got the call from MTV!