You need to hear this: Her biggest tip is how to make yourself irreplaceable. Alumna and current PhD student in history Kerri Dean-Bridges (MA, History, ’15) is the DIY project manager at the Smithsonian Institution—her dream job. They create remote exhibitions easily installed in any location. Listen and learn.
Episode Transcript:
Kerri:
I was about to move to DC with my husband who had gotten a job in the city, knowing that we wanted to work there and knowing that my dream was Smithsonian, I just needed to get closer to it. In my speech, though, when I was leaving, I said, "I am going to work at the Smithsonian." I put it out there in the universe. I never have done that before ever in my life and one of my best friends told me "Just start putting it in the universe." It was the first time I said it out loud, and three weeks later they called me for the interview. So, I just feel like there was some cosmic energy to work there.
Rachel Jimenez:
I'm Rachel Jimenez.
Megan Elledge:
And I'm Megan Elledge.
Rachel Jimenez:
Welcome to How'd You Get That Job, a podcast from Claremont Graduate University about successful careers and the stories behind them.
Rachel Jimenez:
Kerri, I'm so excited to have you on our show today. Thank you so much for being here and being willing to share your story with us.
Kerri:
Thanks, Rachel. I'm excited to be here with you guys and talk to you about my time at CGU and how it led me to where I'm at.
Rachel Jimenez:
Awesome. So, you are currently the exhibitions assistant/project manager for DIY at the Smithsonian Institution, which is the National Museum of Natural History. Can you talk about what that super-long title means and what you do in your role there?
Kerri:
Yeah. So, it's a super long title. That's kind of on my part that it's super long. I started there in March 2018, so a little over two years, and because the Smithsonian is a quasi-government museum complex, research institution, that there are different ways of hiring, so [inaudible 00:01:36] backstory on how I got the position: I'm hired on as a contractor and, when I got the SOW, which is a statement of work, I applied for an exhibits assistant position, and then I had to bid for it. Once I got the interview, we were ready to move to DC anyway, and I got to do that interview right when I moved there, so very lucky that worked out, timing-wise.
Kerri:
They interviewed me for the exhibits assistant position and it's mostly just admin tasks. I help install exhibits, if there's anything that needs to be done, anything under other project managers, anything under other exhibit developers in the exhibits department and natural history. It's a department of 32 people which is quite large. We are one of the bigger museums of the Smithsonian brand.
Kerri:
I work directly under the assistant director of exhibits, Mike Lawrence, and when he hired me, he actually just had been promoted to that position, and so I was his first assistant. He and I get along very well, as we were both kind of Type A personalities and he realized he really didn't need much of an assistant, so they needed to give me some other task to do to keep me busy to continue to work full time, and it just happened to be, when I started there, they were starting this brand new program that's never been done at the Smithsonian and, from my knowledge, not broadly at other institutions either.
Kerri:
We call it the Do It Yourself exhibits, and from this, I kind of was able to transform my position from mainly just being an exhibits assistant and doing admin work to being a project manager or a program manager. We're still working on the title, so it might even be longer, who knows? It's not actually official yet. Well, it's official, but it's such a new program, we don't know if it's a program yet. We just got it on the website. Very huge accomplishment from myself and my team I was working with to do that about three weeks ago, but we're calling it a program and I'm the project manager for the Do It Yourself exhibits that have been developed.
Kerri:
How that came about was, in my interview, I actually mentioned how much I really like museums without walls concept, and that's actually something that came from a CGU class that I really got into this idea of a team project where we were looking at doing a museum exhibit in [inaudible 00:03:55]. It was during the Bath Spa class, and my classmates and I ... this was our group project at the end of the semester, and it really inspired me five years ago, six years ago, to start really thinking about museums without walls and how we can reach communities and not in a normal museum setting.
Kerri:
So, since I mentioned that in the interview and this program was just getting started, they thought I was the perfect person to kind of spearhead it when the first Do It Yourself exhibit came up. At first, we called it a pop-up exhibit, but then I did some title testing with the visitors and we landed on Do It Yourself. Now, we just call it the DIY program. It started with Outbreak, which is our exhibit that's in-house. It's called Outbreak: Epidemics in a Connected World. We took this exhibit that's 4,200 square feet, it's a very timely exhibit right now, and we pared it down into 18 content panels that we distribute for free around the world, and people can print on demand and create these exhibits to be popped up in their own museums, in their own libraries, in airports, wherever.
Kerri:
That's how my position has now transformed to being more of managing these Do It Yourself exhibits. I'm super excited about it because it's so exciting to see, especially Outbreak. We translated it into five languages. It's been to over 140 locations in just over two years, and I've been personally the person who contacts these people where it's gone and I've helped them get these exhibits up. I get to do specific outreach on museum content I never thought was imaginable before. So, yes, it's a very long title and it's a very long story on how I got the title, and I'm super excited on how it just kind of keeps forming into this new position and it never really existed before, so I'm excited about that.
Rachel Jimenez:
I love it, and I think that's so interesting. So, we know each other. You worked in the office of advancement when you were a student, so I know that the Smithsonian is your dream job. Can you give us a breakdown? I would love to hear the story of why is that your dream company to work for, and then how do you go from being an undergraduate student and then to where you are now? Even in high school. I don't know when you came up with the dream of wanting to work there, but how did that dream get established and then how do you actually make something like that come true?
Kerri:
So yes, we do know each other, and I've loved working with you and everyone in marketing, communications and advancement. I miss everyone, but I do love being in DC, and it is where I wanted to be. I didn't even realize that's where I ... I always knew the Smithsonian was the dream place to me and, as a kid, we grew up going to ... my parents got me really into history and I was not a history undergrad major, I was a poli sci major and I thought I wanted to be a lawyer. Then, I decided I liked myself too much, and I decided not to do that, or not to go to law school.
Kerri:
So, I took some time off. I took five years off. I worked at a bank, and then hated that. Then, I went and I taught at a community college. I taught at Chaffey in the writing center, and I did that for three years. That's when I decided to go back to grad school and let's get into Claremont after some people have started to tell me ... some people I'd worked with at Chaffey had also gone to CGU and they recommended looking into their program. Then, I spent a summer in China the year before I decided to apply to CGU to kind of see what I really wanted to do.
Kerri:
Then, that's when I got this idea, like "You know, museums have always been what I wanted to do. I've always been interested in history. I'm going to go to school for history and then do museums because I don't really want to be a professor because that's just not ... " I mean, I got the teaching experience, I taught in China, I taught at Chaffey, I led workshops at Chaffey, and it wasn't really where my passion was. I like things and what things can tell people when they go to see them in a museum setting, but I'm also the person who reads every label. So, I do love museums. Even as a kid, watching Indiana Jones and him being part of the National Museum was always inspiring.
Kerri:
That's how I knew the Smithsonian was the crème de la crème, right? It is the crème brûlée of museums. People think of museums, that's usually the one they think of, the institution they think of. I didn't realize it would ever happen. I was very skeptical that it would ever happen, but I had a job at a local museum in Upland, California, the Cooper Regional History Museum, for a little over a year before I left. Started as a ... to finishing up an RA position I had with Dr. Janet Brodie, and she introduced me to them.
Kerri:
Once I was there, I literally worked at the tiniest museum you could think of. It is so tiny, it's only five minutes from CGU but it is so tiny, and I spent a lot of time reworking their collections management policy, working on curating an exhibit, and I knew if I could do small things [inaudible 00:08:46] I doubt I could be a little fish in a big pond, but I still wanted the Smithsonian. Never would have thought it'd be the second big job I had.
Kerri:
My last day of working at that museum, we had an opening reception for the exhibit I curated, and the board of directors asked me to do a speech. I was about to move to DC with my husband, who had gotten a job in the city, knowing that we wanted to work there and knowing that my dream was Smithsonian, I just needed to get closer to it. In my speech, though, when I was leaving, I said, "I am going to work at the Smithsonian." I put it out there in the universe. I never have done that before ever in my life and one of my best friends told me "Just start putting it in the universe." It was the first time I said it out loud, and three weeks later they called me for the interview. So, I just feel like there was some cosmic energy to work there.
Kerri:
Then, when I got that interview, they were even willing ... they had actually originally emailed me for the interview and I was on my honeymoon in Europe. I was like "I could do a Skype call, I could do ... whatever you need, I will be on that interview." It was 2:00 AM here. I was in Prague. "I don't care. I will be on that interview," and they said, "Oh no, we can wait." The fact that they were willing to wait for me and they were a little skeptical because I have a master's, but I'm finishing a PhD. Now, I'm ABD, and they were very skeptical about that because yes, people have a master's in just to get your foot in the door at the Smithsonian, but if you have your PhD, usually, you're only going to be a curator. So, they were quite skeptical of actually hiring me.
Kerri:
So, that was a little worrisome, but they were honest about it. Here I am, more than two years later, and I'm still there, still happy, and hopefully going to be there for a long time. It's not my dream museum, the natural history museum ... I'm learning a lot there, but I don't have a natural history background. I do have environmental history as a background, so there's quite a little bit of stuff there that I do like, but really, my dream would be to either be next door at the American history museum or even American Indian, or something down the street, but I'm happy just to be in the Smithsonian and the natural history museum is the biggest natural history museum in the world, so it's quite surreal still, walking into the doors when we're open. It's crazy. A bit crazy.
Rachel Jimenez:
So, you mentioned that they called and they gave you the interview. Was there anything interesting or unique about applying? Was it just you saw they had the job available and you applied? Did you know anybody there? Can you talk about that?
Kerri:
Sure. So actually, it is interesting because before I got this job and I kind of joke about it that I had applied to 132 jobs that year and a half before, and I had three interviews out of those 130-something jobs? I'll be honest, maybe like 30 of them were just throwaway applications I just put my name out, I knew it was nothing, but a good chunk in a year and a half of jobs, and I had three interviews before this position. This one, I just found on happenstance. I joined the emerging museum professionals Facebook group. A colleague who I worked with in advancement, Kelsey Picken, who was a cultural studies PhD student as well, she got me involved in the LA version of it, and through that, I was able to network some people of LA.
Kerri:
When I realized how much I wanted to be in DC, I joined the DC branch of EMP and one of the girls on that page ... she was a volunteer representative in natural history, and she posted a statement of work in asking for a call of proposals. That's how I heard about it, and she said if anyone had any questions, to reach out. I've never reached out to anyone before when they've said that but, for some reason, I decided, "You know what? I'm going to do it." Something just ... was the first time I've ever actually reached out to anyone, and I reached out to her. I emailed her. "Any advice?" She gave me the name of the girl who I was replacing who was hiring for her, and she was moving on to another position. She gave me some advice on what to put in my cover letter and what to put in my proposal, so I definitely think taking that leap of faith of emailing her, the person who posted the job ... it really helped, and it showed, for me ...
Kerri:
She had nothing to do with hiring. She didn't put a good word in or anything, but she did connect me with some people who did, and the person who was replacing. Even though it was just a brief email, actually, the girl who I replaced, as I said earlier, they were hesitant about me having a PhD. She was the one who actually pushed for me to get the interview. She got my email first and she just had a feeling, she says, that it was a good fit, and they had been interviewing other people. It just felt like it was the right thing. Her and I have talked since. She had moved on to a different position, so I got to get to know her, and very grateful for her to actually see on paper this person she has no idea who she is, and then be like "You know? There's something good about what I'm seeing here."
Rachel Jimenez:
There's so much there. I'm glad we dug deeper into that because there's definitely networking at CGU and then there's knowing the place to look to find it, even if it's just a Facebook group. I think the fact that you were very clear that you wanted to go to DC ... I think a lot of our students, they'll do what you did and apply to 130 places, then they get nothing, but then, when they get really clear on where they want to go and then maybe have a list of the top one or the top three companies that you're keeping your eye out for, when you see them, then you can actually take action. So, I love that.
Rachel Jimenez:
So, we talked a little bit before we started recording that you're an independent contractor, so you were mentioning statement of work and things like that. It's not a normal position that you might apply for, so can you talk about that process and how it was different?
Kerri:
So, what I've learned ... that DC is very much contractor-heavy. For the Smithsonian, there's a chunk of people work as contractors, there's a chunk of people who work as trust employees, and then there's a chunk of people who work as federal employees. There's this quasi-institution thing, trust and contractors. They get past that bureaucratic red tape faster because it's a government position, so a lot of times, getting the foot in the door is to be a contractor or a trust employee, trust employee meaning it comes from trust funds and not federal funds. So, that's the difference. It's similar, just to clarify terminology.
Kerri:
The contract is quite a common spot to start at, and the exhibits department, for example, like I said, we're the biggest museum and we have a large exhibits team. In order to get that many people in, it's easier sometimes to have contracts to get through the pipeline of hiring. So, with the SOW, what they did was they'll send out this job announcement. It seems almost just like any job announcement except, at the end, it'll say "Please send a proposal with your rate, your qualifications and how you can do it." So, I still sent in my resume as part of my proposal package, and my cover letter.
Kerri:
I sent everything I normally would as part of my proposal package, and then, I had to write a ... since I'd never done it before, I actually got help from the girl who had posted about it, and I just wrote three sentences. I realize I'm making hand gestures and no one can see me, but I did a very short chunk of sentences that said how I would perform the duties of the job being asked and what my rate would be. Then, I had to do a rate for three years, so I gave myself an increase as if I was ... a raise for the next option years going forward for three more years. So, it would be a contract for four years.
Kerri:
So, that's what I did, and then that's how they ... They look through them as that, and they have to bid, which means they have to get at least three people to apply, which I think a Smithsonian job is going to get more than three anyways so that's never a problem because if it's over a certain amount of money, the government requires you to get different bids.
Kerri:
I did something, again, similar. I was able to renegotiate my contract when we added in the new long title last year, and I was able to negotiate a higher salary because one thing: for contractors, especially those who want to work in the museums in DC, and I would say similarly in New York as well ... I didn't notice this at all in LA, but since there's a lot of contract work, and I do feel that the future of museums might go this way going forward, especially with the lack of revenue that's coming out of this pandemic for museums, I wouldn't be surprised if more contractors [inaudible 00:17:24], but that being said, it's hard to value yourself and where you put that value on your time. I learned that lesson the hard way. I used to be a baker on the side and I never charged nearly as much as I was worth for my time or my goods to make just because I liked it and I knew I wanted to do it.
Kerri:
I feel the same way. I undercharged myself when I got hired. That wasn't the reason I got hired, but I mean, I was right average. There were people who put in a lot higher, I found out later, and then once I kind of proved my worth, I was able to renegotiate for much higher salary going forward and for the next two option years, to negotiate some travel funds so I could present at conferences and do more professional development. It is a little different, there's a little different negotiation skills with that, and I feel that's something that I lacked before. Knowing how little museum professionals make, not knowing really how to value that in the first proposal, but I think I learned going to the second year negotiation.
Kerri:
Going forward, I'm now negotiated into a decent salary, where I get a decent raise every year. It is a little different. I don't have performance reviews in the same way. I still get reviewed and they can easily cut me out if I'm not making that performance, but it's a little different than an actual employee.
Rachel Jimenez:
I think that's fascinating, so thank you for diving deeper into that. Speaking of the salary, did you do research? Did you just guess and say "Well, I just want to work there, so this is what I'll put," and you think you undervalued yourself? Were you looking at things like PayScale or Glassdoor to try to figure it out? What strategies did you use? Also, in hindsight, knowing what you know now, if you could give yourself advice of what you should've done, what would you have done?
Kerri:
I think that's a great question because I did do research but I had been doing research for a while just because ... for other jobs and to see. I was actually up for another job, one of the three that I'd interviewed for, a few months before. Before my husband had gotten the job in DC, when we knew we were going to move, I was in a final interview round for another big museum, and when they told me their pay scale, they actually told me it, and it was for a full time position. It was an actual employee position. I was astonished to see how small it was, and for New York, so I'm actually grateful I didn't get the job because I wouldn't have been able to survive on that pay.
Kerri:
So, that was kind of my jumping-off point, knowing if that was New York and that's what a big museum was paying, I knew I had to make more to live in DC, so I kind of went off with what they call the GS scale for government employees. So, I kind of started to do some research on that and what I could make out was it's an hourly pay, so I tried to figure out what I could make hourly. I do have a master's, so I feel I should get paid a little bit more, but it's still not a lot.
Kerri:
I mean, I think I had to be competitive, so I think that took me down. So, say if I was going to be at one number, I realized because it's so competitive and I wanted to work at the Smithsonian, I wanted that foot in the door, I didn't care how little money I made, I probably took it down at least five dollars an hour. I automatically took that, I know for sure, and took down at least, minimum, five dollars [inaudible 00:20:53] now what I thought I should be making, which I've kind of regrouped a little bit, but still not.
Kerri:
So, that's kind of where I did my benchmarking was to see what the GS level was for people with ... and I did just a bachelor's versus having a master's, and I kind of put myself equivalent to a bachelor's because it was such an entry-level position to get in. I was like "You know, I don't have to have a master's to get into this position, and it would be a bachelor's only." It just happens that everyone in the exhibits department happens to have a master's degree because, like so many of my colleagues who are in this department who have now become exhibit developers or PMs, project managers, they stated in my position.
Kerri:
So, learning from them, I didn't know this when made my proposal, but then talking to them since, it seemed like the right choice, even though that first year really kind of sucked living in a big city with not a lot of pay, but I feel like I'm in a better place and I kind of feel like that I have kind of solidified my position at the museum because of it.
Kerri:
So, I mean, I know this is not your question, the advice, but when I started there, someone said, "Oh, everyone's replaceable," and I really hated hearing that. Then, someone else told me that she also had started as a contractor and she was a writer. She's kind of the opposite. She said, "You know ... " she had left a good-paying job for it because it was the Smithsonian and she had an opening. Her dad told her, and she told me this one day when I was kind of feeling down. She said, "You have to make yourself irreplaceable."
Kerri:
So, someone's telling you you're replaceable? You have to make that skill. So, I feel like, when I say I kind of moved into this extra long title of a position, I kind of made myself irreplaceable to where I know that knowledge now, and now, I know my worth on it. Yeah, I might not be making millions because I chose to go into museum work, and I'm completely content with that. I'm completely happy with that, but I know my worth too, in the museum world now, and I know that I'm kind of proving it every day as I go.
Kerri:
I'm still learning. I'm very humble in that. I make mistakes. I made a mistake this week, and I'm still learning, so I think that's ... for the pay scale, that's kind of what I did in that.
Rachel Jimenez:
Knowing what you know now, would you have given your younger self different advice or any advice of what you should've done?
Kerri:
Yeah, I think so. I get this question a lot actually, at work, because I'm the newest person in the department. The reason I say this ... Backstory. So, people ... they go to the Smithsonian, they very rarely leave. It's one of those places. Yeah, the pay's not great, but you're at the Smithsonian. Who cares? That's how I feel every day going in. I just feel lucky that I'm there, and I get to be a part of something so great. The mission is just such an amazing mission: to get this knowledge out there to the public for free, and to be the nation's museum, that people don't leave. You feel that every day, and it's a good thing. You want to be a part of something that's bigger like that.
Kerri:
So, I think the advice on that to me ... Since I'm still the newest person, I've been there two years, but my boss, she'll get a lot of emails inquiring "Oh, I'm a student here at this school and I'm interested in museum studies. Can I talk to you for an hour?" Which is great, informative interviews are great, they're a great way to meet people and network. After she talks to them, she usually brings them to me and she asks them if I could talk to them, because I have a different, realistic approach. I'm fresh out of school, sort of. I'm still a student, I'm a candidate, so not technically a student, but I have a different perspective, where she's been there for 20-something years. Her perspective is completely different, and she can hire them but knowing if there's 150 of those same people there, it's going to be different than what I'm going to tell that person who is just thinking about starting in a museum studies program.
Kerri:
So, I've now met with, like, four people in just two years who have had this same question, and I think the biggest thing for me that I've learned is to be flexible and then to know your worth. I've already talked a lot about the worth with the pay, but even more than that is sometimes, these jobs and whether ... I mean, I'm speaking for museum jobs with internships, but even in an industry, any kind of business, sometimes, people don't respect the lowest in the totem pole, and that can be a morale downer.
Kerri:
I really feel that, at the museum, we don't see that. At my museum, we don't see that at all, and that's been able to help me build that confidence of knowing my worth and I know not everyone will be as lucky as I am to have that experience. I think that, if people can think about that more, to know their worth even if they're being shot down because they're that lowest person on the totem pole, to continue as they know "Hey, you worked hard to get here too, it's okay." So, it's not even talking about it monetarily.
Kerri:
Then, being flexible ... especially in the museum field, you have to be flexible. You have to know how to do everything that you can do, everything to your capacity. When I was at CGU working in mar comm, I did a lot of digital stuff with the website redesign, but it was mostly on the photo database side, not actually the website. The last year and a half to year, one of my extenuating duties as an exhibits assistant ... I had to learn how to do Drupal, which is a website-building platform, and I've had to learn how to build website pages. If you go to the website for natural history, all the exhibit pages ... I put them up. If you do the DIY website, I did that.
Kerri:
I'm a historian. I don't like technology, really. I like old things, so I've had to learn how to be really flexible in learning new things, even though it's not in my job description. Not being taken advantage of, but it's not in my job description, and knowing what that line is, the difference between being flexible and being taken advantage of, I think that's really important.
Kerri:
I think there's a reality check that I do tell people, in being flexible also means that the jobs aren't always there and we can use our skills in something else because museums ... my minor in my master's is archival studies, and one of my minor fields for my PhD is museum studies. So yes, museums and archives is where I want to be, where my heart is, but the jobs aren't there. I feel I got very lucky. I was prepared, but I got very lucky for this job, and now, with philanthropy changing after this pandemic, a lot of museums are closing. People coming into the world just need to be flexible that those jobs might open up again, and they will because people have to retire, especially at the Smithsonian, that's something that we kind of tell these young people who come see us is just kind of be patient, too, because there's not that many jobs, but there eventually will be another turnaround.
Kerri:
Same thing with any kind of academic position, too, but it's just all the skills that we learn in a museum, whether it be an internship or from school, it really can be used in a different setting, too, so ... flexibility.
Rachel Jimenez:
Absolutely. I love this. Well, there's so much here because I think there's one side where you have the ideal side, where you get your master's or your PhD. You're spending money. I mean, tuition isn't free most of the time, and you have loans, so you want to be making a good salary, but then if you have a certain dream job, you've got to get your foot in the door. Sometimes, you have to make sacrifices, and I think it's important to be realistic. In a perfect world, you get your dream job and you're making as much money as you want, but we don't live in that kind of a world. Maybe you don't get your dream job or your dream company, but you are making good money, or maybe it's the opposite, but you hope that you get one of those, or close to it.
Rachel Jimenez:
Then, as you build more skills and you grow your network, and you have a strategy in the back of your mind, you're going closer and closer to what you ultimately want to get to. I love that you mentioned Drupal because I think that's ... you might not be making as much, but you're building your network, you're proving your worth, and you're building skills that, sometimes, it's outside of your comfort zone and you're forced to do it, but a year or two later, then add that to your resume, and that makes you so much more valuable and, potentially, irreplaceable, like you were saying. So, it's like "Oh, budget cuts are coming," but it's like "Oh, that's the only person that knows how to do this, so we can't get rid of that person." There's all kinds of things there, so no, I love this. This is so inspiring. I really appreciate all the tips that you're giving us.
Kerri:
Actually, yeah. Out of the 30+ people in exhibits, I'm the only one who knows Drupal, I'm the only one who learned it, so if the exhibit pages need to go up or anything ... Even that alone, I'm good on my job. I've got a job for a while.
Rachel Jimenez:
That's so good.
Megan Elledge:
Are you a CGU student or alum that's looking for career advice? If so, don't forget that you have lifetime access to free career counseling through CGU's career development office. Simply call 909-607-9022 or email [email protected] to make an appointment today.
Megan Elledge:
So, with COVID-19, how is the museum staying connected, and kind of how has your job changed?
Kerri:
That's a great question, and it's something that ... oh, I hate this word, but I'm going to say it: I grapple with every day. So, we kind of joke about that at work: how are we going to grapple with this? So, as I mentioned, the exhibit, the first one I worked on, and I was not part of the physical exhibit team but just the DYI, is Outbreak. It is a temporary exhibit and is Outbreak: Epidemics in a Connected World. It's literally on zoonotic diseases, which is what COVID-19 is, and how diseases become pandemic.
Kerri:
It's so timely and I've been so involved with it. I worked with the curator very closely for the DIY version of it, I helped connect her with places that it's gone, I helped bring this information to all these organizations before COVID-19, but because we have this exhibit, it's kind of brought us to the front a lot on the museum front because we have this and we actually created a COVID-19 panel for the DIY within two weeks, so I PMed that. I made sure that got done. Right now, we're in the midst of translating it into the other languages. That's another thing that we're really ... We realize that we're a national museum, but we have a global audience and it's so important to communicate certain things in different languages so other communities can get it. So, that's one way.
Kerri:
Since I learned Drupal, my biggest job for the first two weeks of teleworking was putting all that Outbreak content onto a digital exhibit. I mean, I didn't write the content, my brilliant writers I work with [inaudible 00:31:47] wrote it, and then from our thing, I took the script, I took all the images and I made it into this digital exhibit from our Drupal platform on our website. The first week, I think it had, like, 2,000 hits. It's gotten so many hits that our website usually doesn't see that many.
Kerri:
We get between five to seven million visitors a year. Now, it's transferring those physical visitors to online, and our website, when they redesigned it two years ago, is really for just getting people to the door. No one was thinking of this idea of making virtual tours and digital exhibits. Our IT team has made all of our major halls now on virtual tours. I took the DIY stuff and I put that with our communications team on a digital exhibit, so we're passing that out.
Kerri:
We're doing a lot of digital programming. I work with some really great educators. Outbreak is actually doing a lot of their programming online. They just had their first digital online webinar program for that. I was on it. I think it had almost 500 people in the middle of the day, 11:30 AM, listening to Dennis Carroll, who was one of our advisors for that exhibit, a pandemic specialist and the curator talking about COVID-19 and pandemics. So, I think people are looking towards ... I hope they are looking towards actual experts during this time. I think they see the Smithsonian, especially natural history, we have this exhibit and they're looking at us as one of the experts. So, it puts us in a very unique position, similar with other science museums.
Kerri:
One of the other exhibits I work on is Genome, which is another DIY, and I work closely with the National Human Genome Research Institute, which is NHGRI, and they work under NIH, so that's even been getting upticks because people are seeing this, because NIH is in the news all the time when you have Dr. Fauci. He's always talking, so it's kind of giving us some traffic to something else that might have not been of interest to some people but now, because of what's going on, people are more interested in this. In Genome, it talks about genomics. You hear CRISPR and all these other genome sequencing, and all these different worlds are colliding.
Kerri:
We're just lucky that we actually just happened to finish that DIY. I was project managing that. We launched on April 2nd and just happened to be ... we'd been working on this for almost a year and it just happened to coincide with this pandemic. Unfortunately, people can't print them out and see them in places, but we hope that these resources that are free will help people when they do come, when the world does open back up, especially museums. We hope that other museums can kind of use our resources and kind of follow suit, because it's going to be a challenging time for everyone. It's going to be a challenging time for museums to reopen, but I think we are very fortunate in that sense, that we kind of have that national spotlight on it.
Megan Elledge:
Do you think, going forward, museums are going to use more technology and, especially with jobs going forward, require that ... you've learned on the job to do the Drupal and all these things. Do you think that's going to be, going forward, a requirement?
Kerri:
It's hard to say because we actually have been talking a lot about this. It depends. There's a lot of good resources out there, articles, and just communication's happening around this around the museum world. I do think the digital world would be something important. I mean, Megan, we were in that class together where we did a digital exhibit, so I kind of feel like I took that. I feel like I took those skills a little bit with me into this, and I feel digital humanities are very important now. I do think it's going to continue, and I hope CGU actually does invest more in digital humanities efforts. I do think it is going to go that way.
Kerri:
However, in museums, I think it's ... So, I'm on the core team for a new exhibit that's called Cell Phone: Unseen Connections. So, it's the natural history of cell phones, and it's supposed to be opening in 2021. We have this great big exhibit, and the curator is so great. He's a cultural anthropologist. We're talking about cell phones and how they changed the world. We have all these ideas and all this great technology, but are people going to want to touch things, going forward, in exhibits? So, we just had this conversation yesterday in our meeting. How does that change the media plan? Does that change the media plan? Will people forget? [inaudible 00:36:08] humans have bad memories, so they might forget in a year and a half and start touching things.
Kerri:
Even going to our Outbreak space, we walk through and we happen to have hand sanitizers on each end. It's because it's the Outbreak exhibit, but we have six interactive touchables. That's going to change. We started shutting those down in February when the outbreak started just because we knew that people would start worrying. I think that is something that's definitely going to change in museums and it's going to change other places, too. How we're working as a museum ... it's been interesting observing how the Smithsonian secretary's handling it. They're doing such a great job, but there's so many uncertainties that I don't know.
Kerri:
I do think touchables will be different, so I think technology is going to be important, but for at-home technology? We get all this great technology that we've been putting into exhibits to make things more tactile, tangible and accessible for other visitors. I think some of that's going to have to change, too. Then, there goes other budget things and it's a big ... again, there's my hands. It's a big snowball. So, I think we're definitely in an unknown space post-COVID.
Megan Elledge:
I want you to talk about your dissertation because I love your dissertation topic and I think everyone would find that fascinating.
Kerri:
Thanks. So, my dissertation ... it sparked from my master's degree, my master's thesis on the history of Christmas lights. Again, I like things, so I like to look at a thing and how does it say? So, when I used that, I looked at really using this object as a lens to telling 21st century history and how did this change certain celebrations? How did this change people's interactions? How is there a gendered experience when using these things? What kind of stories could we tell?
Kerri:
So, riffing off of that, my dissertation ... I have a terrible title so I'm not even going to say it because I had to give a title for becoming a candidate, which I don't even know what I gave them. I gave the office something. So, I'm looking at the American Christmas tree and I'm doing a cultural and environmental history of it, looking at how ... from the environmental aspects, the cultural aspects and how they kind of intertwine. I'm doing some oral histories with farmers, I'm looking at how the different farming techniques have changed and how people who have decorated have been different, and then why a Christmas tree is so important in our culture? I argue in my dissertation it's not religion. It's not a religious symbol, it is a cultural symbol, a Western cultural symbol, it's around the globe now ... how this has kind of proliferated into meaning more than Christmas, and why that's so important.
Kerri:
Actually, two months ago, I had never done Reddit before and I went down a Reddit hole. I was looking up Christmas tree tattoos and my friend inspired me. She got a job at the Columbia Space Museum and she got an Apollo tattoo for her first real museum job. I was like "You know, I should get a Christmas tree tattoo when I'm finished. That'll be my dissertation present to myself." I started looking and I found this one. I ended up messaging the person and we started emailing back and forth. He's Canadian, and he has this beautiful tattoo on his arm. I started asking questions about it, like "Why a Christmas tree? What does it mean to you?"
Kerri:
So, now, I feel like I've gone down this new rabbit hole of representation of a tree in your life. It's more than just that, and how people have them on their arms. His story was so fascinating that I'm pretty sure that's going to make it into my introduction now. I love ... you just go down all these random rabbit holes and find something interesting and great, but thanks for being interested in my topic.
Megan Elledge:
I feel like, with your dissertation, I see elements that you wrote about in your dissertation that you're using in your job. So, what other classes have you kind of gained that you grabbed from that you use in your job?
Kerri:
So, a long answer. A friend of mine from CGU, she told me once ... I told her I was project managing. I'm like "I don't know if I could do this." About two years ago I was telling her this and she said, "You know? Getting your PhD is just a big project management position." It's so true. So, I feel like every little thing that I've done ... just being able to organize a paper has helped me. Every class, I'm learning how to wrangle in a committee and all be on the same page, how to get them behind what you want to talk about has all kind of been able to help me lead these meetings that I'm leading on projects while still being understanding of where people are coming from, their views and changing. So, that in general ... I think just experiencing grad school has allowed me to become a good project manager. It's kind of trained me to be a project manager.
Kerri:
Class-wise, I do think there's a little bit. A lot of the cultural history stuff that I've done ... this is content-wise. I feel like it gets me more intrigued. When I'm working on the cell phone exhibit, I get so excited. He's a cultural anthropologist, so he's more present, but in my mind, I get so excited. I'm like "Oh, historically, this'll be great for this or this," and the feeling of helping to make all these connections.
Kerri:
Actual day to day work, I think ... I took some museum studies that helped, but I feel like, again, I just think it's more the overall experience and there's some classes that you really get to share ... you read a book and then you just digest it, then you have to regurgitate it out. I feel like being able to do that and kind of in a synopsis form with working has been able to really help get through some of these projects and being able to organize and all that kind of stuff. So, I think it's more of a collective help.
Megan Elledge:
[crosstalk 00:42:10]-
Rachel Jimenez:
Shall we get to the on the spot questions?
Megan Elledge:
... Yeah, I was going to say that.
Rachel Jimenez:
[inaudible 00:42:12] What is your favorite memory from attending CGU?
Kerri:
I think the people. I mean, I was not involved at all in undergrad. I'm an awkward person in general and I just feel like I really found my people at CGU. All of the events and stuff is probably my favorite memory because I met some lifelong friends, networked and everything like that. So, the people. I'm not sure that's a memory or not, but ...
Megan Elledge:
What CGU faculty member had the biggest impact on your career?
Kerri:
Janet, Dr. Janet Brodie. She was my advisor from day one and she has seen me grow into the scholar I am using conversations with her. She's seen me grow into who I am and she's helped me make big decisions. She's not a museum studies professor, but some of my biggest decisions were helped through her advice. When I decided between ... I got the 9/11 Museum internship and I got an internship at the Forest Society, the US Forest Society, a government internship in DC.
Kerri:
She was the one to really help me decide where did I want to be? When I realized it was DC that I wanted to be at ultimately, then ... and what was more challenging. We just looked at the jobs together, so I really think, career-wise, her helping me through that decision was really helpful, and it really changed my path of where I was going. She's just amazing.
Rachel Jimenez:
Sounds like it from everything. She showed up a lot in your story. What's the best career advice you've ever received?
Kerri:
I'm still going back to I think what that person at work told me recently, in how you make yourself irreplaceable. Make yourself a niche and I think even with my topics, I always try to be in a niche: being a holiday historian is not really the most common thing, but it's a niche. When people need me, I'm there and I kind of feel the same with this DIY stuff. When I got that advice [inaudible 00:44:20] just kind of make yourself irreplaceable, all of the lights went on, like "Ah, that makes sense now."
Rachel Jimenez:
All the Christmas lights went on.
Kerri:
Exactly. It was a Stranger Things moment. [inaudible 00:44:33]
Megan Elledge:
So, what is the biggest career mistake you have made?
Kerri:
Again, people can't see me, but I'll imitate it. I was in an interview, one of the three interviews that I had out of the hundreds of applications, at the Coronado Historical Society. It was for a collections management position, and I was on the third interview. It was in person. Drove all the way down there, two hours to go. It had gone well until I met the then-director of the museum and she was saying something about the city of Coronado and how they're so enthralled with the history of the Christmas tree because I'd given them a writing sample and I said, "Actually ... " I put my finger up and I corrected her on her history. I knew the moment my finger went up and I corrected her that I did not get that job. Then, she went on to tell me [inaudible 00:45:29] ... It all worked out, not having that position, but that was the most memorable mistake, I could say. Do not correct people in an interview who are hiring you.
Rachel Jimenez:
Wait until after they hire you to correct them?
Kerri:
Exactly. So, the second thing she got wrong was she was saying "Oh, Mary Pickford was actually ... " because it was in my article that I sent them, "She was actually from Coronado." I wanted to be like "Actually no, she was from Canada," but I bit my tongue that time.
Rachel Jimenez:
I love it. What is the worst career advice you've ever received?
Kerri:
I think that kind of mix between when someone said, "Everyone's replaceable," I think that was really hard to hear, I don't think it's true, and I think that was the worst in that sense, but then also, I think some of the worst advice was just not getting advice, not asking for advice. Honestly, I don't think I've asked for a lot of advice. I think that was the worst. I mean, that sounds stupid, but ...
Rachel Jimenez:
No, I think that's really good. When you have asked for advice or reached out, it seems like really good things have happened, so what would happen if you had done it more?
Kerri:
Exactly, exactly.
Rachel Jimenez:
Got it.
Kerri:
So, the worst is the ones not given.
Megan Elledge:
So, going forward, what's your wildest career aspiration and dream?
Kerri:
Being a curator at the American history museum, the National Museum of American History.
Rachel Jimenez:
Hey, you just put it out there.
Kerri:
I just put it out there. I will be a curator at the National Museum of American History. In the future. That's my goal. I mean, second tier would be to be a director of a museum. I mean, hey, the current director of the American history museum, the Smithsonian ... American History, she went to my high school so, I mean-
Rachel Jimenez:
Wow.
Kerri:
... things happen from-
Rachel Jimenez:
That's amazing.
Kerri:
... so it's like "All right, if she can do it ... she's got, like, 15-20 years on me. I can work towards it."
Rachel Jimenez:
Absolutely. Well, this has been such an inspiring conversation. I appreciate you so much. Thank you for taking the time during this pandemic to chat with us. It's been a pleasure.
Kerri:
Great. Thank you guys for having me.
Megan Elledge:
Thank you.
Rachel Jimenez:
Thank you.
Megan Elledge:
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