Letter to Mr. Russell Crisp—Flight Service Base Manager for American Airlines in San Francisco, CA.

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Dear Mr. Crisp,

Good afternoon. I hope this letter finds your day going well. My name is Sydney Nulsen, my Aunt Liz (Elizabeth Lee) may or may not have informed you beforehand that I would be writing to you. I am currently a Business student at Southern Illinois University of Edwardsville. For an assignment in one of my classes, students in my class were to contact prominent business leaders in the field that we intended on entering upon graduation to ask them some questions about their jobs. Although I find my Aunt’s job to be exciting and worldly, I am not specifically interested in becoming a Flight Attendant. Is that even the correct term to use? Instead, I am more interested in the broad field of serving/helping people, and I believe that my Aunt as well as the entire airline industry (including you!) does that very well.

I hope to one day own something akin to a bed and breakfast. What did you intend to do in life as a profession before settling down as Base Manager? In extension of that question, I suppose, is what did you study in school to do? SIUE is ranked highly as a business school and I was fortunate that it is so close to home! Thankfully Liz never had to call this cold place home. As Base Manager, what is it exactly that you do? And as opposed to your official job description, what do you find yourself doing on a day to day basis? And of course, life isn’t all about work. Does your job allow for time off? By that I mean: is there a routine that you have? Do you go from “9-5” or are you on call like a doctor? When you are not working, what do you find yourself doing? Living in California must give you plenty of options for leisure time.

Anyway, thank you for taking the time to read my letter. I would really like to hear back from you. You can email me at snulsen@siue.edu if that is easier for you. Aside from that, my return address will be listed on the envelope. Thank you again and have a great day.

Sincerely,

Sydney E. Nulsen

Letter to Mrs. Rebecca Dwight—Sr. Marketing Manager for the Fractional/Whole Ownership Division of Starwood Resorts in Palm Desert, CA.

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Dear Mr. Crisp,

Good afternoon. I hope this letter finds your day going well. My name is Sydney Nulsen, my Aunt Liz (Elizabeth Lee) may or may not have informed you beforehand that I would be writing to you. I am currently a Business student at Southern Illinois University of Edwardsville. For an assignment in one of my classes, students in my class were to contact prominent business leaders in the field that we intended on entering upon graduation to ask them some questions about their jobs. Although I find my Aunt’s job to be exciting and worldly, I am not specifically interested in becoming a Flight Attendant. Is that even the correct term to use? Instead, I am more interested in the broad field of serving/helping people, and I believe that my Aunt as well as the entire airline industry (including you!) does that very well.

I hope to one day own something akin to a bed and breakfast. What did you intend to do in life as a profession before settling down as Base Manager? In extension of that question, I suppose, is what did you study in school to do? SIUE is ranked highly as a business school and I was fortunate that it is so close to home! Thankfully Liz never had to call this cold place home. As Base Manager, what is it exactly that you do? And as opposed to your official job description, what do you find yourself doing on a day to day basis? And of course, life isn’t all about work. Does your job allow for time off? By that I mean: is there a routine that you have? Do you go from “9-5” or are you on call like a doctor? When you are not working, what do you find yourself doing? Living in California must give you plenty of options for leisure time.

Anyway, thank you for taking the time to read my letter. I would really like to hear back from you. You can email me at snulsen@siue.edu if that is easier for you. Aside from that, my return address will be listed on the envelope. Thank you again and have a great day.

Sincerely,

Sydney E. Nulsen

Letter to Mrs. Stephanie Tribolet-Smith—Director of Marketing for St. Regis Residence Club in New York, NY.

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Dear Mrs. Tribolet-Smith,

Good afternoon, how are you doing? My name is Sydney Nulsen. I don’t know if my Aunt Helen Lanford informed you beforehand that I would be writing to you to ask you some questions about your profession. I am currently a Business student at Southern Illinois University of Edwardsville specializing in Entrepreneurship. For one of my classes the students were to contact three different prominent leaders in their intended field of study. Like I said, I got your information from my Aunt Helen. According to the letter she sent me, you are the Director of Marketing for the St. Regis Residence Club? Is that correct? Marketing seems interesting to me, but I don’t think I know exactly just what Marketing entails.

How would you define Marketing and by extension of that question, what do you do on a day to day basis that demonstrates that definition? Does the field of Marketing incorporate a lot of artistic talent or could a strictly logical and straight-forward person excel in this field as well? In general, I am a very emotional person, and I attribute that to being a woman. Has being a woman affected your success in the field, or has it not really been of any consequence? Ok, last question. Is it difficult to maintain a level of amiability among the employees in the office? By that I mean, is it difficult to be the “boss” as well as be someone’s friend whom they can rely on? At higher levels of business maybe there isn’t that attitude of “I’m just here for the money,” but in my experience of working so far that attitude is definitely present, and it is difficult to motivate people without alienating yourself as a person.

I would love to hear back from you with answers to these questions. I’m very interested in what you have to say. You can email me at snulsen@siue.edu if that is easier for you, or my postal address is on the address. Thank you for taking the time to read this and have a great rest of the day!

Sincerely,

Sydney E. Nulsen

I would like to thank my Aunts for helping me come into contact with these prominent individuals in the field of business. I tried to find pictures of the people I wrote letters to, but could not find them on the internet. Thank you and have a great day!