How Did You Catch Your Big Break: Karl Nelson Gives Us Some Major Keys

I was so excited to reach out to Karl Nelson from Intern Media about being on the blog because he continues to inspire me, his family, and his friends. So I know his story can positively affect someone else's life. I've seen so much transition in him. Starting from when we first met in college at Marymount University until now and to see his life transform into everything he wants it to be, is a blessing at such a young age.

Karl and I have countless talks about life, especially life after school and the assumptions most graduates have about how "easy" it would be in the real world. The assumption that, because you graduated, you will immediately get a job offer in your field. The assumption that your already qualified, knowledgeable and fit to tackle life on your own. Which in some cases it happens immediately but for others it may click, but it may still take awhile to get there. For myself, I know it was a journey and still is, and I am pretty sure Karl will say the same thing. So I am excited for you all to take a deep read into this interview and dive into all the wonderful tips and inspiring answers Karl has to offer.

Karl you grew up in Baltimore, can you please elaborate how your child hood inspired you to be in journalism?

Growing up in Baltimore, you see a lot of people who don't always reach their full potential. You see some who don't get the opportunity to see the world. Besides the fact that I had parents and grandparents who blessed me with those opportunities growing up, for a long time, I've wanted to simply be an inspiration to people in my city and others. I want my testimony to be a message to people that you can make every day of your life COUNT, not just count the days as they pass. Journalism, believe it or not, has provided me with that opportunity. It's given me a purpose in life. From College on to where you are now, did you ever feel stuck, and on the verge of giving up your passion? Some might lie and say "of course not" if asked that question, but I'll be real. I sure did! One thing I've learned is that life gets real very quickly. One day you're in college, balancing school, sports and fun. The next thing you know, you're out in the real world trying to establish your career in your early 20's. Feeling stuck and feeling like the window for opportunity was closing is exactly what made me make the bold move over a year ago to leave Baltimore and move to the Big Apple on a whim. I remember a particular instance like it was yesterday. I found myself on the job at my Alma mater, The Park School of Baltimore, at the time. There I was in a comfortable job in a comfortable environment. I had a part-time media job and writing job on the side at the time. However, I wasn't necessarily happy. It was then when I knew that I had to make a drastic change in my life and in my career if I wanted to pursue my passion at an elite level. So, that's just what I did. I made the decision that I was moving to New York in the fall of 2015 no matter what. I even started telling colleagues, mentors, mentees, friends and family that I was planning to move to New York that fall. I didn't necessarily know how things were going to pan out, but I took a leap of faith and allowed my passion for journalism to take over. It hasn't been easy, but it was the best decision I ever made because today I'm in the biggest media hub in the world, I'm a Digital Reporter for a successful company, I'm leading my own platform Intern Media, and I'm living every day to the fullest.

What were some of your biggest frustrations? How did you overcome them? For me, the biggest frustration was feeling your momentum slip away. Like I said before, life gets real right away. I've always been one to have high expectations for myself and hold myself to a different standard. My close family is the same way because I've NEVER been one to settle for mediocrity. I've never wanted to be a "jack of all trades." I want to be an expert in what I love most and that's journalism and other media-related things. I wouldn't say I've fully overcome the frustration that comes with this journey, but what I do every day is strive to be the best version of myself and I compete with no one but me. The other thing I do to overcome every single day is I take the advice of Gloria Mayfield Banks, who I recently interviewed. I counter fear by pursuing my passion every chance I get.

So now you are at this point where you need change and you moved to NY eventually. What was that stage like, especially the beginning? Great question. It wasn't what I expected. The city didn't give you the same feeling that kids get when their parents take them to Disney World for the first time lol. It was the complete opposite. If you're not careful, this city can swallow you up. You can easily become a very small fish in a big city. Though I made it to New York, at the time, I still wasn't doing what I loved. I quickly found myself working a couple jobs to pay the bills as I spent hours in the late evenings and early mornings working on my platform Intern Media and applying for jobs in the media industry. I had to reach out to media professionals and network, network and network some more. I had to get out of the habit of hanging out with friends throughout the week. I had to be smarter financially. It was honestly a life changing experience for me. My priorities and my work ethic quickly changed. It had to or New York would have gotten the best of me.

How important do you feel it is to network and also to network to build a team?

While networking can be a drag at times, it's critical in business, whether you're established or not. Relationships are everything. Networking is how I got my breakthrough in the media industry. Today, it's less about what you know as much as it's about who you know.

Networking to build a team is a little more fun because you're basically recruiting professionals to join your vision and mission. You're building relationships with individuals who you think will be beneficial to your platform. Anytime you personalize something, that makes it better. Even with these questions. It's one thing to answer questions about topics because you HAVE to for work or school, but when you're talking about your own life and career, you can happily talk about that all day long. Networking to build a team is crucial to taking your platform to another level. It can be tough financially and it can be hard to let your guard down to allow others to implement their ideas into your vision, but no one can reach a high level of success in anything if they never receive help from other experts.

At this stage you have done a bunch of rebuilding on yourself and for Intern Media. How was the rebuilding stage for you? The rebuilding phase wasn't easy and it's still not easy to this day. However, it's so necessary and it's taught me so much. It's been the rebuilding stage that's forced me to put my trust in God, knowing that I'm not in this journey alone. I've upped the annies in my professionalism, my approach to each day, my work and study habits, the planning process, who I communicate with about my goals, my image, etc.

I truly feel like we are always rebuilding throughout this long journey called life. I'm just happy and blessed that I have some great things to rebuild on at this time in my life and career. How long did it take you to catch a break, or to feel like you are on the path that can help you get to your end goal? That was a partial feeling. In the back of my mind, I always felt like I was on a progressive path, but I would say it wasn't really until I acknowledged that I couldn't accomplish my goals alone that I finally felt that I was on the right path. For me, feeling like I'm in the right place spiritually, that's what elevates things for me. So, when I felt more in tune to what God had for me, that's when I became more confident that I was on the right path.

In terms of catching my first break, I honestly didn't feel that way until I received that call from my current employer -- a call that I'll never forget. That was an "ah ha" moment for me because all of the adversity felt like it had just been lifted off my shoulders and thrown in the river.

What are some of the biggest lessons you have learned on your journey? And how did you overcome them? Oh my goodness lol. It's been so many, but one that stands out is the importance of striving for pure excellence every single day in all that I do. Obviously I'm not going to be perfect, but I truly believe that if I strive perfection every day, then it will show in my growth, whether that be career wise or just in life in general.

This is something that I learned early on in my post-graduate career. A lot of people take things for granted until they're gone. I've felt the pain of that before, which is why I try to be excellent day in and day out.

How do I accomplish this? By being early for work, taking criticism well, working extremely hard and smart, treating others with respect and compassion, competing with myself every day to be the best version of me, and I try to keep God very much so involved in my daily life.

If you can give your top 3-5 tips to a young man or woman, who is trying to enter the media industry what would you say?

Tip #1. As bad as this might sound, it's important to know that when you have an opportunity to network with someone capable of getting you a job, you almost have to treat it like a pageant. Appearance and how you speak is 100 times more important than what you actually say, at least for that initial meeting. Tip #2. Believe in yourself more than anybody else believes in you. A notable person I interviewed in 2014 told me that and he was absolutely right. No one is capable of believing in you the way that you can believe in you. Tip #3. Build, build, build your portfolio. Your portfolio is so important. I can't stress that enough. Employers want to see what you've done at other jobs as well as what you've done on your own. If you're a writer, have hundreds of articles and such in your media portfolio. If you're an aspiring reporter, get a videographer and rack up tons of video clips of yourself covering stories. If you want to be a social media practitioner, you should be using social media as a tool to create campaigns, market things, and to post intriguing content. Social media is crucial in today's world of media. It's FREE. You have to be versed in that area in some capacity. Tip #4. Learn how to balance the highs and lows because they will definitely arrive in your life and career, no matter how great your circumstances are. Tip #5. I put this at #5, but it's really the most important tip there is. Put God first in your life and career. At the end of the day, while things might not go your way at times and circumstances will get challenging, remember that with God on your side, no one can be against you.

I also want you to elaborate on how you were able to juggle an incredible relationship and still be able to grind in your passion. Most individuals feel like they cannot juggle both, or feel stuck in order to give their all in both areas. This is a great question. Maintaining a strong and healthy relationship with your significant other is a job in itself, so balancing that with your career is 10 times as hard. It takes work. In fact, anything that we want good results in takes tons of hard work. For me, I'm blessed to have a beautiful lady on my arm. She's a beautiful person on both the inside and outside. She has a demanding career of her own and I've been on the end of things where I've had to be strong for her, so it's always good when the same is reciprocated for me when I'm busy and tied down with projects. We're friends first, so we've always had a level of respect and support for one another. It definitely gets hard at times to balance everything, but for us, we both are well aware of how much we love our respective crafts, so if that means some time together has to be sacrificed, then we're usually good about that. I would encourage anyone who is either in a relationship or waiting on that special person to take pride in their significant others' dreams and aspirations. My girlfriend and her endeavors inspire me and push me to be better everyday. Looking back on this journey, would you say the positives definitely outweighed the negatives? And did you find yourself content at any stage or were you content enough to enjoy the process just until the next big step came? Honestly, a lot of successful people will be quick to tell you to enjoy the process when you're climbing your way to the top, but that's one of the hardest things to do. I heard a Nas interview recently where he was talking about the importance of not ignoring the "-" in "0-60." He was saying that in his industry, time and time again he sees artists who want to just jump straight to the top, not appreciating all that it takes to get there. For him, he said he tried his best to enjoy his journey going from 0-60 as a hip hop artist. His message hit home with me because as a journalist, while it's not easy to remain positive and optimistic when you're in a rut, I'd still rather try to enjoy the journey to success instead of waiting to be happy once I reach my "destination."

If there are any big projects you would like us to be on lookout for, please elaborate and if you are willing to look for interns. Well, I'm always working on something lol. I would just encourage people to stay tuned for 2017. This year I'm focusing on providing my audience with more visuals, hence the concept video I dropped on Christmas Day. It's one thing to publish an editorial piece. Don't get me wrong. That's where it all started for me and I love having the ability to bring words to life and for them to jump off the page for readers. However, in this day and age, you can never go wrong with visuals. People love to see what you do and how you do it. Providing visuals from a video standpoint allows you to showcase your vision and creativity while getting a message across. So that's really my focus moving into 2017 with Intern Media. I would also tell people to be on the lookout for a couple of endeavors I'm working diligently on -- endeavors surrounding community imitative and a platform that allows me and others to share our testimonies or "God" stories as I call it. In terms of internship opportunities for others, I'm always looking for interns! I've been one in the past and they are extremely crucial for the platform and for the intern themselves. I always told myself that if I ever had the opportunity to provide someone else with an opportunity to intern or work for my platform, I'd not only want to treat them well, but I'd want them to really gain some tangible experience and knowledge. So, yes I'm definitely looking for interns in capacities, including social media, marketing, PR, videography, photography, design, etc.

I hope you all enjoyed this interview with the one and only Karl Nelson Jr. It is amazing to have purposeful driven individuals as friends and family to keep inspiring emerging creatives all around the world. My purpose is to help in my passion and my purpose and I have been blessed enough to have like-minded individuals in my circle. Be sure to follow him on all social media accounts listed below, and connect with him.

Thank you Karl for all that you do for others and myself. You are one inspirational man.