Faculty in the Spotlight: Kathy Sandler
Kathy Sandler is currently working in eBooks at Scholastic, where she helped launch Storia – a free teacher-recommended eReader for PC, iPad, and Android Tablet. Before that, she consulted at Meredith, helping to launch Parents and Fitness Magazines to iPad and Android. She was at Hearst Magazines in publishing technology for over 20 years.
Kathy teaches two online classes: PUB 621 E-Books: Technology, Workflow, and Business Model – a class she proposed and developed, as well as PUB 612 Information Systems Management in Publishing. For our blog, she shares some pointers:
I wanted to share my top 3 tips to students for success in class and work:
1. Learn to Write. I am embarrassed to report that last year when I gave some tips to the students in my graduate-level e-books course, a student actually asked me “What’s a topic sentence?” Don’t let that happen to you! Make sure you understand how to write a persuasive essay or e-mail. Being able to organize your thoughts in writing will help you be effective in school, work, and life.
2. Learn to Speak. Imagine you’re in the elevator with a venture capitalist and you have 30 seconds to pitch your entrepreneurial idea to get funding. You better be able to think on your feet and articulate your vision clearly and succinctly. You will often find the need to speak up in meetings and class, make presentations, and network with strangers. What you won’t believe is how many people hate public speaking. As a matter of fact, Jerry Seinfeld said “According to most studies, people’s number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death. Death is number two. Does that sound right? This means to the average person, if you go to a funeral, you’re better off in the casket than doing the eulogy.” If you can get up in front of a crowd, you’ll stand out in the crowd. It may take practice if you’re shy, but it’s worth it. You can take acting, comedy, or toastmasters classes, or just practice with your friends.
3. Try Everything. I was super lucky to get two part-time paid internships the summer going into my senior year in college. One of them was at a weekly magazine and I worked there part-time during my senior year and full-time when I graduated. After that I started working in book production. When I was looking for my next job, I really wanted to see what it was like to work in radio or broadcast media, but by that time I was a bit senior and I realized I’d have to start over as an assistant without experience in that area. I wished I had done more internships in college so I could have 
tried that out. My advice is to get as many internships you can in different areas to see what you like while you’re young. The more you know about what business you want to be in and what cultures you thrive in, the better. Bonus: You’ll pick up lots of skills and contacts along the way!
Feel free to follow Prof. Sandler on Twitter and read her Blog!