Chandler Swanner’s interest in advertising dates back to her childhood. Her mother (and role model in life) was a Media Buyer and later a Media Director for 25 years. All her friends were also in the business and hearing how much they loved the industry inspired Chandler to follow in her mother’s footsteps.
For the last 6 months she’s been doing just that. As an Associate Media Buyer in our Dallas headquarters, Chandler has been eagerly learning the media buying ropes and forging new relationships with vendor reps. Her responsibilities include daily reconciliation of discrepancies and make goods for radio, TV and cable as well as gathering details to produce weekly television post logs for her buyers in each of their markets as requested by the client. She also enters out-of-home orders and handles traffic for radio and television advertising.
Fueled by her desire to learn and network in an evolving, ever-changing industry, Chandler says, “I enjoy learning the various steps as they relate to the buying process and interacting with the reps. I also enjoy tackling new challenges and problems and finding a resolution. I continue to learn something new from my superiors each week and am excited about the possibility of learning more and advancing in my career.”
The pandemic created a hurdle for launching her career, but Chandler’s dedication has helped her clear it. She even earned a nomination for Agency Rising Star by the Alliance for Women in Media DFW. Chandler says, “As a recent college grad just starting in the media industry, the biggest challenge I faced has been learning everything virtually and adjusting to being alone in a room 8 hours a day. I had to practice patience with myself, ask lots of questions, and admit when I did not understand something. Another challenge was being a new hire and having to learn about my co-workers and superiors via Teams [Mindstream’s business communication platform]. Communicating via email or Teams allowed me to get to know each individual but I wasn’t able to see the relationships between people and how they interact in an office setting.”
Her advice for someone wanting to pursue a career in this industry? “Be prepared to listen, learn and ask lots of questions. Many daily tasks are part of a bigger picture, so be patient and learn and understand each piece.”
When she’s not busy soaking up media industry knowledge, Chandler enjoys cooking, working out, going to concerts and festivals and hanging out with friends. Fun fact, she’s fluent in sign language.
An enormous part of what makes Mindstream Media Group successful is the collective talent and collaboration of its employees across the country. While we as an agency love to share stories about client successes, industry news and product updates on our MMG Blog, we also want to feature the actual people behind the work we are doing to grow client business.
Our recent video series, Fast-Forward the Conversation, discusses the HOW behind supporting client growth through media strategy, with topics like shopper marketing, franchise work, QSR challenges, agency partnerships and more.
We’re also now featuring a Mindstreamer (as we like to call ourselves) periodically to share their stories and celebrate the diverse people, backgrounds, interests and qualities that make us unique.
