Alumni Max Slonim (Class of 2010) spends his days being as creative as possible, working on upcoming campaigns for YouTube.
The ‘real world’
Once high school finished for Max, he dove straight into university, studying for a Bachelor of Business and Diploma in Languages (Mandarin) at Monash. A few years into his studies, Max undertook an exchange program at Fudan University in Shanghai, China which he says was ‘as fulfilling as it was challenging’. Upon completion of his degree, Max applied for a number of graduate positions and landed one at Channel 9 in the Marketing department.
“For a kid that grew up watching cricket and cartoons, it was a massive thrill and a brilliant place to begin my career.”
Taking a risk
After a couple of good years at Channel 9, Max was ready to take on a new professional challenge. Max knew he was at a stage in his life where he could take a risk so he applied for a role at YouTube in New York—and the risk paid off.
Google NYC
Max’s days are spent working for YouTube at the Google NYC Headquarters based in the Chelsea district of Manhattan. He has flexibility throughout the day, working on upcoming campaigns from cafes in the morning, lunch is provided on-site, then his afternoons are spent covering off emails and prepping the APAC team for the day ahead.
“Provided it’s not raining or snowing, I’ll ride my bike home to Brooklyn around 6 pm”
Converse Basketball
Max was privileged to work on the re-launch of Converse’s Basketball range, leading the media strategy for the first basketball they’d released in 30 years. Being a huge basketball nut, Max was thrilled to have the opportunity to work on a project of this caliber. As part of this campaign, Max got to attend the 2020 NBA All-Star Weekend in Chicago.
Continuous Learning
Max believes that making that decision to move to New York was a critical part of his learning journey. After his first leap of faith, Max took on a teaching role at Miami Ad School, and volunteers to mentor ad students in a local New York College. He maintains that an attitude of experimentation and optimism has helped him in a position of constant and continuous learning.
Agency Life
Max isn’t sure where life will take him in the future, but at the moment, he’s happy living in New York and working for one of the world’s biggest brands. It also means wearing the same clothes to work that you do on a Saturday night.
“If you possess the ability to think creatively, problem solves on the fly and withstand a moderate amount of corporate BS, you will find it very fulfilling.”
