V: Welcome back Females of Filadelphia followers!! Today I have a former co-worker and friend that inspires me to work hard every day. No joke. This girl has done so much in the short time I’ve known her and even more before I knew her. I think everyone can learn a lot from her! But enough of me talking. Here is the one and only Julia Ostrovsky. Why don’t you tell everyone a little bit about yourself first.
JULIA: Hi, my name is Julia. I’m a senior advertising major with a concentration in art direction. I grew up in Baltimore, Maryland to parents who immigrated from Ukraine. Russian was my first language. I attended an art high school in Baltimore, where I majored in visual arts, so that’s where my passion for the arts skyrocketed. And I was exposed to so many creative people, that I started considering it as something I could potentially pursue in college and as a career. In terms of passions and interests, I try to incorporate art and my creativity into everything I do because it is such a big part of me. Other interests I am very passionate about include mentoring students and student development. I’ve had a few positions on campus where I help students throughout their college experience. I think the most rewarding part is watching them succeed. To say that I was a part of helping them get to where they want to be or where there are is truly worth it.
V: What made you go from an Arts High School to an Advertising major?
JULIA: Majoring in art in high school, kind of took the passion out of art for me just because I was given these assignments in which I was told what to create and where and how to create it. It started to feel less of a passion and an interest and more of a chore and something I had to do. It not only sucked the passion out of it, but I felt as though it took a piece of my identity. I still really wanted to pursue something that involved creativity, but I have always also been such a people person and loved interacting with others. I think advertising is such a great mix of those things. I get to collaborate with different people and constantly challenge myself with different projects. And when I came to Temple, I realized there is such a big demand when it comes to media. Media is always evolving and changing. This industry gives me the incredible opportunity to combine my passion for creativity and working with people, and challenge myself as a professional in the ever changing and fast paced world of media.
V: I think advertising really is a great mix of all those things and I think you fit right in. Okay so honestly I think everyone wants to know the answer to the following question- everyone who knows Julia knows that she truly does it all; How many employment positions have you held?
JULIA: In terms of on-campus positions, I have had five, and outside of that I have had three internships and have been a brand ambassador for four different companies. So in total, it’s been twelve different positions, but some are a lot less time consuming than others.
V: Wow. That’s a lot haha. Can you talk a bit about the most relevant ones? What you learned, etc.?
JULIA: I have definitely learned something from every organization I have been a part of- whether it’s from the people I have been working with or the people I was leading or just the projects I’ve been involved with. I came to college super insecure and not confident in who I was and I had no idea what I wanted to do. But I think the first position of being an orientation leader showed me that I had the potential to do anything I set my mind to. My biggest takeaways have definitely been through my on-campus jobs- whether its helping students with their careers at the career center or helping international students with their transition into college life. There’s nothing more rewarding than helping someone with their journey. The biggest thing I have learned is to say ‘yes’ to every opportunity that excites you because the worst thing that could happen is you get a rejection or you realize it’s something you’re not interested in. But you’re still growing from the opportunity as opposed to if you had said ‘no’. I’ve definitely joined clubs and taken opportunities that weren’t the best decision for me, but if I didn’t take the step to involve myself I wouldn’t have gotten to where I am now.
V: What has motivated you to get so involved?
JULIA: So I come from a family of immigrants and my parents have worked super hard to get to where they are. They’re helping me with paying for school and everything in life so I have made it my mission to make my parents proud and mirror their hard work. That was initially my drive to get involved. But I also just have this interior motivation to be a leader on campus and figure out who I am and give back to the community.
V: I honestly am shocked at how much you do. And I am positive your parents are proud of you. I went on Julia’s LinkedIn last night before this interview and was just amazed. Honestly your resume must be a few pages long by now and you still haven’t even left college. How do you make time for it all? How do you balance work/life and everything in between?
JULIA: It’s actually hard because I am someone that likes to put 100% of myself into everything I am involved with. I’d say I’m definitely guilty of spreading myself too thin, and not giving myself the time to relax and decompress. I’m always in this mindset of “go, go, go”. The way I see it, I’m young, passionate and energetic and I don’t want these opportunities to slip away. I stay organized by using my planner, I swear by Google Calendar and I think I have mastered time management. I make lists every day with my priorities, and check off everything as I do it which is so satisfying. It’s taken a lot of trial and error though because there has been semesters I completely disregarded a social life and focused on my courses and involvement. But at this point, I just pick the few things that are most important in my life, while also remembering that I need and deserve time to relax and spend time with friends. Definitely trial and error, using a planner and prioritization are vital.
V: I completely agree with Google calendar and lists- if you are trying to get organized I highly recommend these! Regardless, clearly you’ve done it all. And you have done it well. What is something that you still want to accomplish, whether it’s in your personal, academic or professional life?
JULIA: Going back to the prior questions where I touched on not prioritizing my relationships, I think I’m at the point of my life where I have a lot of friends and I know a lot of people, but I don’t have a core group of friends that are my go-to for everything because I have neglected going in depth with my relationships. I have friends in little clusters here and there, but I’m excited to take this year to get to know people and build some relationships. That’s definitely something I have yet to accomplish. And another thing I would definitely want is to be more assertive and say ‘no’ to things. I have definitely gotten to where I am now by saying yes to all of the opportunities, but I have a problem now with letting people take advantage of me in terms of doing things for people that I know wouldn’t do the same for me. So working on being assertive, standing my ground and doing what’s best for me is important for me this year.
V: And I think relationships are something a lot of people have issues with. I’ll be doing a blog on this soon, so I recommend everyone stay tuned. On other terms, I know for a fact that you like to do everything as perfectly as possible, and as a perfectionist myself I have had issues in the past with dealing with failures. Tell the readers a bit about how you deal with failures. I think it’s just as important as finding ways to succeed.
JULIA: I think one of my biggest strengths is positivity. I’m very good at looking at a situation and understanding that even if it doesn’t go the way I want it go, I’m still taking something away from it and learning something. For example, I had an internship that was pretty unstructured and I felt bad knowing I could have spent my time on something else, but looking back on it, it made me greatly appreciate my next success and my next internship so much more. I know there’s a quote that explains that you can’t appreciate the highs if you don’t go through the lows. I just know that these failures happened for a reason and there will be another opportunity on the horizon.
V: Honestly if this girl doesn’t inspire and motivate you, I don’t know what will. Because she is a clear example of hard work, persistence and positivity getting you far in life. Julia, who inspires you or what inspires you to do everything you do and constantly put other people first?
JULIA: As cliche as it sounds, definitely my mom. She has gone through hell and back. My mom has gone through so much in terms of loss and hardship and failure when it comes to every aspect of her life, and she is by the far the most resilient woman that I know. She is so passionate, she loves with her whole heart, and she sacrifices everything to make sure I am constantly challenging myself and that I’m proud of who I am. That not only inspires me to be as resilient as her but it motivates me to make her proud. With every single thing that I do, a piece of me wants to embody her hard work and her successes. It’s just that when you see someone go through so much and still wake up with a smile on their face, you can’t not be inspired. Also, the recognition and encouragement I get from the people I work with really inspires me to be better. Because if there is anything I have learned in my life it’s that little acts of encouragement go such a long way. It’s so important to encourage other people and we don’t do it enough.
V: I love it. Moms truly aren’t given enough credit. On a final note, since I know you have such a large instagram following, I can’t not ask you about it. When I first saw your instagram I know I thought you were perfect and I think a lot of girls tend to compare themselves to instagram influencers, whether macro or micro. What would you tell girls reading this about the “perfect Instagram life”?
JULIA: I am 100% not perfect. It takes a billion photos to get to the one that I post. I definitely do stress about that because I don’t want people to think my life is perfect. For me Instagram is an outlet for creativity because sometimes I don’t have the opportunity to paint or do actual photography. It’s fun to find pictures that are cohesive with each other. Social media is very saturated and everyone is posting pictures of their highs. Nobody wants to post pictures when they are going through something that’s difficult. You never know what’s going on behind closed doors. It’s just a second that’s captured in one photo. Your girl has messy hair days, your girl sleeps through classes, and I definitely mess up. I’m definitely guilty of comparing myself to other girls on social media, but it’s important to step back and realize that social media is not a genuine representation of what life is like.
V: Say it louder for the people in the back! Life is never perfect and this is what these interviews are supposed to show. But thank you so much Julia, I know you inspire all sorts of people and I hope this interview reaches those that need some positivity in their life. Anyways go follow this girl on her social media account because I’m sure everyone needs a little sunshine in their life, @joo.lia. As for Females of Filadelphia, stay tuned for the next interview and make sure to follow us on our social media to stay up to date with where I’m taking this little project 😉 @femalesoffiladelphia.
Xoxo, V.