Loving science and data, Shawn Snipes Gasparini thought she would go into medicine, but the storytelling bug bit and she was bound for film school. The work world called and, being full of "good things," took her into a different aspect of storytelling, which eventually came full circle back to science and data. Find out how saying what you need and acting when it comes can get you through those times of necessary change.
Guest Shawn Snipes Gasparini loved science and thought she would be a pediatrian so that she could be a role model for other kids with diabetes or kids of color. But when she started taking electives in English and film studies, she knew she was pursuing medicine for people other than herself. She changed her major at the end of junior year and left college bound for NYU film school.
She deferred for a year to make money and get a little experience so she could launch herself fully into film and storytelling. Along the way, she got the opportunity to become an assistant to Martha Stewart in the heyday of her Omnimedia empire. Shawn knew that in staying she would get exposed to lots of aspects of media and learn more about marketing, which she was starting to get interested in. She let go of the film school dream and started working in advertising and then as in-house marketing profession for some world-class brands. Though not every job provided her what she needed in the life and home department. So every so often, she’d have to call out to the universe and believe that the change she needed would happen.
In this episode, find out from Shawn how saying what you want and acting when it comes can sometimes manifest what you need…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Shawn Snipes Gasparini started her career in the media world as an assistant to Martha Stewart. She has spent time on both the agency side of media as well as the client side, predominantly for consumer packaged goods. She is currently at healthcare giant Sanofi, where she is senior manager of business intelligence and media analytics.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Shawn Snipes Gasparini: I feel like people say like the secret: you manifest things that you want to happen. But I really do feel like when there were pivot points for me, I’d be like: I have to get out of this job, I have to find a new job. And it’s not like I don’t do work but there’s like always a path that seems to open up to kind of put me there.
Leslie Jennings Rowley: Loving science and data, Shawn Snipes Gasparini thought she would go into medicine, but the storytelling bug bit and she was bound for film school. The work world called and, being full of "good things," took her into a different aspect of storytelling, which eventually came full circle back to science and data. Find out how saying what you need and acting when it comes can get you through those times of necessary change...on today's Roads Taken with me, Leslie Jennings Rowley.
So I'm here today with my friend Shawn Snipes Gasparini and we are going to talk about what keeps us connected and what keeps us healthy and it is a pleasure to see you again. Thanks so much for being here.
SG: Oh thanks, Leslie. I’m excited to be here.
LJR: Great. So I start these the same way eEvery time with two questions and they are: When we were in college, who were you? And when we were getting ready to leave, who did you think you would become?
SG: Ooh, that’s a good question. When I started, I don’t think that I knew who I was to be perfectly honest with you. I think I thought I knew who I was, you know. I came in from like this little, like country bumpkin from North Carolina, met tons of folks, tried tons of things. I came there, I was going to be a doctor. Like, that's just what I was gonna do. Like, there was no way that I wasn't going to do that. You know, I, you know, I didn't make it past biochem. I was like, yeah, I don't want to do this. I tried other, other things that I really kind of got into and I wound up being like, in the total opposite place of where, you know, I thought I was going to start, but really happy that I did because I ended up doing something that I really wanted to do. But in terms of when I left, I was still kind of like, you know, I was like 22 and I still was a little bit nervous about like, okay, I'm leaving Hanover and I'm moving to New York, I'm moving to the big city, you know? And I had I'd gotten into NYU film school and I had deferred a year. I wanted to work just to like, get some money, to get some experience, to learn my way around this. And I got a good job and I just didn't want to stop work. And I, and I, I really enjoyed it. So I think that where I started in college, more, who I thought I was, was not really who I was. And I learned like through those four years, and I would say four and a half, cause I did an extra term. And then, then I went our junior summer as well because I changed majors obviously. And the person I left Dartmouth being was way more independent. And a little bit more of a free thinker than when she started.
LJR: That's a good thing. But what had first drawn you to thinking no questions asked I'm going to be a doctor? And then what was the set of changes that made you think film school? How, how are those so different? How are they similar? Talk to me about that.
SG: Growing up where I did, I was kind of on like a pre college like track. So from the time that I decided, like I wanted to be, a specifically I wanted to be a pediatrician. I was into science and I really admired my pediatrician so well,because I have diabetes. And she was like a pediatrician who specialized, like with kids who had diabetes, she was also an endocrinologist. And I was like, I don't want to do that. I want to help kids like me. Like, I was very specific about what I wanted to do. And also there wasn't like, it was at Duke hospital and there wasn't a ton of women of color. And I thought, well, I want to go and I'm going to be a doctor. I'm going to come back here. So then a little girl, see, you know, girls like me, you know, it'll, it'll make them feel a little bit better. No shade to my doctor, but that's what I wanted to do.
And I was really into science and I really liked. Because I did well, I kept getting put into like accelerated classes, accelerated classes. And I was, by the time I got to high school, I was taking some classes that were college sort of level classes. I thought, yeah, this is what I want to do. This is what I want to do. And I wasn't afraid of like, you know, the anatomy part. So I wasn't afraid of like the gory bits, you know? And I, I really I thought, well, I still want to do this. I still want to help kids. I got overwhelmed very quickly, which I think, you know, a lot of people do you try to, you know, maybe take on a little bit too much, too fast.
And then I realized one day in kind of like biochem lab, I don't want to do this. They don't want to do this. And the electives that I was taking, like the writing, I took a class on advertising. I was doing a bunch of different things like in the electives that I had, that I was like, I actually kind of enjoyed those things, I think. And I also enjoy storytelling and I was a really big fan of television. So I thought, well, maybe, you know, do dual paths and kind of see if I can like work on my writing while also doing this. Cause I felt like I had to do it because my family, my friends were like cheering for me. I'm going to come out of here, I'm going to go to med school. It was a whole thing. And then like right about the time I got to my sophomore summer, I was like, I'm not happy and I'm not doing this for me, I'm doing this for everyone back home.
So I decided like, okay, I, I think I need to change my path if I'm wanting to be like a happy adult. I don't want to be like a burnt out adult, you know, before things, you know, started. So went through sophomore summer and then junior fall, I went and spoke to the Dean, like, okay, I want to make this use change. Like, you know, and I got kind of set up to do that, which required me to like, kind of catch up.
So I did, like I was saying, I did the junior summer as well, and I took a bunch of film classes, which was great. Also took playwriting. I took some stuff in theaters and stuff in English that I really enjoyed. I realized I'm a storyteller or rather a story-put-er-togetherer. I guess I'll say what I really leaned into was like, I really liked the time I spent, you know, editing, putting the film. Like figuring out what the narrative was and putting the story together. I really, really enjoyed that. And then I decided, well, I think this is what I want to do.
I was able to catch up on everything I needed to catch up with. And so by the time I graduated, I was, I had a degree in film history. And then I had a minor in women's studies, but the women's studies part, that actually helped as well, because that's where a lot of like what I was doing in terms of images in women, in film and things like this that helped me kind of like in my ongoing sort of storytelling that I did.
It was a tough conversation to have with the parents. It was a tough. So, yeah, so that's how I totally changed it. And I think to this day, I'm still very interested in science. I'm a bit of a geek. Like I watch more Science Channel than anything I do lean into, you know, clearly I support juvenile diabetes. I'm still supportive of those kinds of things that I'm interested in the science behind it. And I do feel like we're pretty close to like a cure for it. And when I ever, I do kind of try to volunteer or live my support places, it's for things in support of that. I also did March of Dimes because I had kind of a tough pregnancy when I I ended up having my daughter pretty early, but it was related to my overall health but I still trying to support lean in on those things. But from the outside.
LJR: Right. And so you had made that very determined pivot. You did what you needed to do, caught up. You got the blessing of everybody who needed to and NYU film school. That's a big deal. [SG: I know.] Yeah. It's not like you just walk in and say hi, here I am like. Right. Hard to get that foot in the door, but you knew you needed to, or you were going to make some money and get some experience before doing that. Thus, the deferral.
SG: Fair. Because I didn't have like, honestly you need, in order to go to film school, you can't show up like a broke, like you know, recent college grad. I was like going, you get a job and I'm going to pay, I'm going to live with my cut. My cousin lived out in Queens. I'm going to live with my cousin. And then I'm going to just bank checks, bank techs, bank checks, I'll defer for this year. And then when I go, I'll have my, cause I need a bit of my supplies. You need to be able to also to live in New York City. I didn't want to be trucking it on the like dollar van to the subway, you know, from, you know, when I'm going to school. I want it to be able to live in the city.
Yeah. That was sort of the plan. And then I got my first job and I know I liked working. I like, I liked being around people and I was sort of, I think I had a little bit of sort of imposter syndrome that I was kind of going through. Then I was like, I can't do NYU film school, but I'm still gonna, I'm still gonna do it. It's still like, kind of in the back of my mind, it was a goal I had to, to make a certain amount of money so that when I started that next year, I'd be in a good place. And I could really focus on writing and storytelling and making films and just learning as much as I can. And living that New York City sort of life.
And the closer I got to it—I'd saved a good deal of money—And the closer I got to it, you have to let them know a little bit ahead of time if they're going to make you part of the next class. And I was like, I kind of don't. I asked him if I could defer another year. And they said, no, so it was now or never. And then I decided that I want to stay here and I want to work. I want to try a few different things. I had had a year out of school and I was like, I don't really want to go back to school, but what I want to be a filmmaker, like it was a really, really tough decision to kind of make. But I had a really good job…
LJR: …that was so far from storytelling and weaving, story-put-er-togethering or whatever you called it. Right?
SG: Yeah. Like my, my initial first, well, let's back up. So when I first graduated, I did corporate recruiting and I was going to be a stockbroker. [LJR: No.] You can make tons of money really quickly. I got my series seven, like I, and, but I realized, Oh I kind of don't love money as much as I need to love money in order to be really good at this job. I felt weird making promises that I knew I couldn't necessarily keep.
And then I met someone who knew someone who let me know that Martha Stewart was looking for an assistant. So I applied and I thought, well, this might be a way for me to get my like creative juices kind of flowing and like to learn from someone who was like, it was Martha Stewart OmniMedia, she was doing everything, you know? So it was, it was kind of a blind submission that I sent over there and I got an interview. With a ton of folks, but the very last one was with Martha herself. And I, the only thing she talked about was that she had a nephew that also went to Dartmouth. It's the only thing she talked about. And then she was like fine.
LJR: Fine. I'll take you.
SG: She wasn't…She, she was concerned that you didn't want someone who was kind of like intimidated by her. And I am pretty hard to intimidate. So had a nice conversation there and I ended up getting that job. And then that's the job that for the last six months before I was supposed to go, I was like, I want to keep, I want to keep doing this. I have a really good job. I had a really good opportunity and I really like marketing. And she, there were the magazines, there were the books, there was, you know, the TV show. There was so much going on. I really liked being involved with that, but I still had so much like to learn and I really was sort of leaning into the marketing kind of side of things. [LJR: Right.] So, yeah, I, I let that sort of dream of being a filmmaker go and I stayed working with Martha Stewart.
So that was. That was quite a thing to kind of realize, you know, being semi sort of broke at the end of that year, you know or the next year in New York. Cause you don't make a ton of money as an assistant, but you get a lot of exposure, which was great. [LJR: Right.} And I learned so much that I was able to pivot into a marketing job with gray advertising and then that's where I really kind of leaned in. So, yeah, that started my like lean into advertising and marketing and media, and which really is storytelling, which really is changing people's perceptions and changing people's minds. And then there's a math element of it. There's reach and frequency and there's science, you know. And so all that sort of, kind of came together when I got to Gra. And then my boss left Gray and went to another agency and brought me with her, which was one of the best, I thank her to this day for doing that because I ended up working on one of the biggest accounts and worked on P& G for awhile. It's a good account to get on your when you’re fresh into advertising so…
LJR: Because they do a lot of it.
SG: They do a lot and they do a lot of different things. They talk to a lot of different people. They have a lot of different targets, goals. They're always launching new things and then they have such equity. So, yeah. So in that kind of solidified, like I think I made the right decision.
Cause I love going to work. I love my job. I love it, love it, love it. And I love seeing the finished product of like what we do. I love being able to report on like how well it did, but did we hit our goals? Did we not hit our goals? I don't know.
I love the science behind getting into like managing the data kind of behind it. Like it's all it, all of it has come together, you know, but I think that the storyteller part of me has made me pretty good at like when after write decks or whatever, I can string it sort of all the way through.
LJR: And so that was all agency life.
SG: That was all agency life. And then I became like in my mid- well my late twenties, actually, I met someone. I fell in love and moved to Jersey.
LJR: The classic romance story.
SG: The class thing you do. And then I got tapped to come to the client side, but the trade-off and I had a really good job where I work. I mean, it was really good. I was doing really well, kept getting promoted. But at the end of the day, you always, I always wanted to go kind of like to the dark side, I wanted to be a client.
So like the first opportunity that I got become a client, I was like, I'll take it. And then but it was in Topeka, Kansas. It was moving from, you know, recently New York City, actually in the Bronx moving from New York City to New Jersey for like a year and a half. And I took a job that took me right, you know, smack them to the middle of the country. Middle of nowhere with my Jersey, my Italian Jersey husband, we show up in Topeka, Kansas, for this job that I really wanted. Well, it wasn't really what I expect..well, it wasn't really at all what I expected check. Can I show you see the name of the company? I feel weird. It doesn't exist anymore
LJR: Either way
SG: Payless, [LJR: Oh.] who has since gone kapput but I think they keep trying to come back. They offered me the job as a media manager there and I jumped on it, but it was just very different than what I had expected on the agency side, where what you think the clients do is not necessarily what they do and their interaction with the agency is like maybe 10% of what they do. But when you're on the agency side you think it's all of what they do. [LJR: Right.] So there was a lot that was very different about what I expected working at Payless. But I was into it. I was still, I mean, I love the brand. I love what they were trying to do, but I think the culture shock of both of us sort of moving there was a little bit too much for us.
And like I wanted to start a family and then I thought, well, if I have a baby here in Topeka, I'm never going to leave. I'm just, I'm not going to leave. I'm just going to be stuck here. I mean, we were not doing great there. So I ended up, you know, I got pregnant and I was like, okay, I need to look for another job quickly because I want it to be in a place where I felt that it would be good for both of us. So that's when I put my resume on Monster. Oh, a couple of days later, I was there for, I was at painless. 14 months. I want to say. And then literally three days after I got my resume on Monster, I got a call from Nestle Purina in St. Louis, and they wanted to talk to me. And I was like, yes. I mean, I feel like it was Kismet.
I feel like, you know, people, people say like the secret, like you manifest things that you want to happen. But I really do feel like when they were pivot points for me, I'd be like, I have to get out of this job. I have to find a new job. And I, it's not like I don't do work, but like there's always a path that seems to open up to kind of put me there. I've been lucky for the most part for that.
And but in any event I got, I went up and I met with them on Monday morning. And by Thursday I had a job off. Oh my gosh, it was great. And it was just what we needed. So we were able to move to St. Louis. It's an amazing place to work. I really enjoyed working there. And then again, it was back into packaged goods, which is, you know, P & G life, back into working for Nestle. It was things I felt good about the brands that I worked with. You can bring your doctor work, which is great, where a lot of really good people and a lot of good things that I learned there.
But then, like, I think it was still a bit of a culture shock from my, I'll say my Jersey, Italian husband still. And he wanted to come back to New Jersey. He was like, I'm leaving to go to New Jersey. I'm going back to New Jersey. And I was like, well, I guess I, you know, at that point I had a two and a half year old and I'm like, well, I'm not going to put my two and a half year old on a plane every two weeks to go see her dad, I guess I have to go back to New Jersey.
And again, the secret: manifest.So I reached out to someone who I knew was a recruiter, and I told him like, I need to move back to New Jersey for whatever reason. My marriage is breaking out by, I have a small child. I'd like to move back to New Jersey. And within like a week or two, he had some interviews set up for me at the next job I got, which is at RB, Reckitt Benckiser, RB.
It was, it was going to be a different role. It was going to be a role that was a little bit more digital than I had done before. But I wanted to like stretch my…I'd been doing like traditional things for quite a while, but I wanted to learn more. And literally the guy that I met with was someone that I worked with and on the agency side. It's like, don't worry, Sean, fake it till you make it. And I was like, you're my boss. And we'll help you. It'll be fine. You'll help me with traditional. I'll help you with digital. It's going to be fine. And I got that job. And then within five weeks of my husband and I separating and he moving back here, I was in New Jersey. Not that there hasn't been struggles along the way. I'm not saying that by any means, but it's managed to sort of work out as I've needed it to work out.
LJR: And he worked for them for a very long time.
SG: Ten Years, ten years. And I was comfortable. I think I was really comfortable. Spotify would send me things. I'd go to Facebook parties. I go to upfronts. I was doing all these really great things.
I had a huge budget. Bending for RB. And I felt, again, I felt really good about the products that I worked on. Lysol is all about moms. I'm a mom. I really resonated with like the products that we had. But at the end of the day, I was getting kind of…It was like, I wasn't excited by my job anymore. But it was a job that I was like, I can retire here. It'll be fine.
You know, again, it maybe it's like my, my daughter has some challenges. My daughter was getting older. I needed to refocus kind of what I was doing. And I decided, well, you know, maybe I need to mix it up again. Also, I'm becoming a woman of a certain age, you know what I mean? Like being a new girl, you know,, twenty years in, it's tough. You know, you can…I'm competing with people who have a lot less mileage. So if I have an opportunity to try something different, to kind of spice things up and give me a little bit more motivation maybe I should try that.
So then I was recommended to, and was offered a job at Samsung, which it's an amazing company, I guess I will say. But I think for me in the period in my life, the thing that I thought I wanted, which was to be really challenged at work and to be like trying new things all the time, I had trouble sort of dealing with that and my home life at the same time. I was working so much, that was really giving my, my kid very much attention at all, working on the weekends, working till, I mean, you know, it, it just became too much and overwhelming.
And then I realized that at a point…I have a child who has some mental health challenges, I guess I will say. She deals with anxiety and depression, as a lot of people do. But when you're that young, it's really tough. And COVID complicated things like to a degree that was really, really tough. And I couldn't, I was doing work to kind of escape to, you know, and I, and I said, that's not, that's not where I want to be. Like, I need to, you know, I'm not going to get this time back with my daughter. So then I realized that this isn't going to be the place for me. Because it's just assumed that you will. Like some companies, they work hard, play hard. There is just really work hard and they do really great things and it's all about innovation and it is amazing. But for someone at my particular life stage, it just wasn't a good fit for me. Yeah. It's, I'll see that. And that was another really tough pill to swallow because as someone who had been in a company for like 10 years, and I was like, I don't want to…I'm not this job hopper. And like, I know that's what the different generations do, it's not like a big deal. Like I was a little bit old school and it's like, you're not supposed to do that. You're not supposed to do that. So I was really disappointed, I guess I would say on myself and being like, I'm not necessarily giving up, but I'm sort of throwing in the towel and making a decision that's going to make my home life a lot better. I need to leave this place because I could see myself getting into like a rut where I could be doing really well at my job and failing at my home life. And I have to choose home life.
LJR: Yeah. Yeah. Well, and there was this confluence, though, of this period of time where you said yourself, I was really comfortable. And then you had the self-imposed like, let's shake that up. And then there were already these baseline issues at home that became exacerbated by the pandemic. So maybe at a different time, you know, a different mindset going into Samsung that could have worked out, but there's no way it could've in hindsight, right?
SG: In hindsight, it was, it was not a good time. And to be fair, I had, and had I done that five years ago, it probably would have turned out very different. But doing it now, it was just, again, it was…I got to a point I was like, oh, this is a bad idea. Like, I don't want to make a decision. Like I was actually at a crossroads of working there where we had to go to the ER—to help support my daughter—and my job. Had to bring my laptop because I had something that was due the next day. And we were there for three days. My boss was like, how are we coming with whatever? And I'm like, I'm having to make a decision now where I am not fully attentive, you know, in a hospital because I'm thinking about work. And I was like, this, this is probably not…Wasn’t a good idea for me.
LJR: But like you say, and I, and we don't want to wish hospital visits on it, but you know, these things come at you when you need them maybe needed that wake up, a big jolt, like this doesn't seem right to anyone.
SG: Yeah yeah. When you think about, you know, my reputation, et cetera, et cetera. Like, do I want to, I wouldn't just leave a accompany, but like I wanted to be someone who's known for like, and I generally am like, I don't, I don't give up easy, you know, like I don't run challenges, but I just thought, and also self care, like I just thought like, okay, sometimes you just have to hit reset. Sometimes control-alt-delete. Like sometimes you just have to reboot. [LJR: Right.] So after being there. Similarly…
LJR: It happened again.
SG: Someone that I had worked with at RB left and went to my current company, Sanofi, and had reached out to me a couple of times, like during my tenure at Samsung to say, Hey, there's like a marking role open right, are you interested. No, no, no, no. I have to make this Samsung thing where I have to make it work. I know I was complaining to you, but I have to make it. And then finally, the second time she came, when I was like: Why am I kicking his gift horse in the mouth? So, I took her up on it. I applied for the role. And then I was like, oh my gosh, this is like what I wanted.
So the job I had at Samsung, literally, it was like three jobs. This is just one job. It's a one part of my job that I really liked the analytical part. It's media analytics is what I'm doing in business intelligence. And that's the stuff I was really kind of leaning into, like the science-y part, the math, like…It's not that I don't love like the storytelling. I mean, that's how I kind of got me to where I was before and more than like senior media kind of role in like managing the story and managing the comms and kind of how that got there. It's not that I didn't love that. But what got me kind of excited was like, let's dig into the numbers. I’m all about that. Like show me, don't just tell me, show me.
So this role is just that part of it. And it's on a really great team. And I have a couple of people from past lives that have gone over there. And I was like, I never should have left packaged goods. I knew it wasn't a bad idea. And so I ended up getting that job. So it's like right when I got into—again—right when I got like to a crisis point…And I, I tell younger people nowadays, like you have to be careful about your reputation and how you leave things and how, what your relationships are like with people, because you never know when you will be able to lean in or reach out to someone who you knew from a past life that will really help you out of a tough jam.
And that's exactly what happened here. So I'm at Sanofi. I love, I love this job. I have way more time to dedicate to my home life. I can just get into the day. I can put down my laptop and spend some time with my daughter. And I'm in such a better place mentally now than I was, I would say a year ago. And I realized that sometimes you make decisions. And if you realize it's the wrong decision, that's okay. As my dad would say, that's why they put erasers on pencils. You can fix it.
LJR: Yeah.
SG: I try not to, you know, again, kick that gift horse. If there's an opportunity, like I shouldn't be afraid to try something different. [LJR: right.] At the end of the day, it's kind of worked out.
LJR: It certainly has. You’ve manifested at every turn. [SG: Every time!] Yeah. But it's probably interwoven with what you were saying about the reputation that you did not burn bridges. You didn't speak ill and you forged relationships at every place you went, thus, they know who you are in your core and your abilities. And will want to find that again. So it's not that they're just helping you. They're helping themselves, but you got to throw it out there. You have to say, I need this or I gotta leave or whatever it is. So I'm, I'm so glad you've done that. When you, when you've needed to and hope that the need is less and less from now on, but at least your angels are out there for you when you need them.
SG: I think we all have guardian angels of different degrees in different places. And I, I will say a large part of it is what you know, of course, but it's also who you know. Who can help you or at least get you to the front of the line. Like but if it is up to you to kind of like, wow whoever you get in front of.
LJR: That’s right, somebody knew a guy to get you to Martha, right?
SG: Right. Somebody knew someone who got my resume on the top of the pile. But yeah. So I, and I know it sounds hokey, I really do believe though in kind of like manifesting things. Like I’m not going to manifest a lottery win. But I think the things that you really need in life, I think that if you can kind visualize it and in your head kind of create a path there, there will be someone who can help you get there as long as you’re keepin’ in mind your reputation and your relationships with people, I think at the end of the day, it’ll probably work out.
LJR: I am certain that it will. Thank you so much for sharing this part and good luck for the next.
SG: Thank you.
LJR: That was Shawn Snipes Gasparini, who started her career in the media world as an assistant to Martha Stewart. She has spent time on both the agency side of media as well as the client side, predominantly for consumer packaged goods. She is currently at healthcare giant Sanofi, where she is senior manager of business intelligence and media analytics. If Shawn took a look at our show's metrics, she'd see growth week after week. A huge thank you to our guests and listeners for sharing the word about the podcast to help increase its reach. We'd love it if you told just one more person—or twenty—how they can follow or subscribe to us wherever they find their podcasts so they can join me, Leslie Jennings Rowley, for future episodes of Roads Taken.