Mia Vicary is a 23 year old Junior Publicist and Social Media Manager for Prue MacSween’s Sydney based Communications agency, Verve, and has recently branched out and decided to start her own business MIA (Media In Action) – juggling a full time role and directing her business at once.
Mia hopes to motivate young millennials across Australia to not be discouraged by fear…to use fear as a tool to gain clarity and insight to forge a better path for the future. She wants to show young Australians how putting your entire skin in the game and giving it your all is truly the key to success.
Tell us about MIA (Media In Action).
Media In Action is a Communication’s agency specialising in Social Media and Events, targeting small businesses who simply can’t afford the full marketing package.
How do we work? Around the clock! Rather than a one size fits all approach, MIA understands what small businesses need and caters to them. Like most small businesses, you only need particular services rather than a full service package. Instead of getting charged around the clock and exceeding a marketing budget, MIA selects which service your business needs and only charge you on the hours it takes.
The majority of my clients are social media focused. I simply shoot content which will last anywhere from 2 – 4 months and schedule it across Hootsuite, from then on my work is 80% done.
Of course, being proactive with regards to newsworthy posts or crisis situations is a absolute must, however, given I charge my clients on the lower end of the scale I don’t expect to hear from them day in, day out like I would with my full time role at Verve.
What inspired you to start MIA?
I have always had an itch to be my own boss, I just never knew what it was I wanted to do. From a young age I was always torn between either a journalist or publicist. It wasn’t until I took on a role in New York City as a Publicist running the account for the largest dog walking company in the globe, Swifto, that I saw my creative side really come to life. I was working across social, digital and traditional media and events, I was so invested in bringing their brand to life that I knew this was my niche!
When I returned from New York and graduated I landed a role with Prue MacSween at her PR company Verve as a Junior Publicist. Fast track six months and I was managing a new branch of her business Verve Studio, handling all the companies and their clients digital and social media.
The biggest issue I faced since graduating in 2017 was pay…you attend university for X amount of years and enter the workforce with a salary that barely gets you by. After I was promoted to Social Media Manager at Verve my focus on money changed and my passion and itch to start my own business came first. It honestly wasn’t long before I was getting the pay cheque I so willingly deserve and having clients I absolutely admire such as The Bearded Bakers, NNC Pro Beauty Salon in Canberra and Darlinghurst and Resort Latitude Zero.
Plus, Prue is the best boss out! She let’s me spread my wings whilst working for her at Verve, I am counting my lucky stars with her.
Tell us about your career and background.
I grew up on a 25-acre farm in Terrigal on the Central Coast, selling cherry tomatoes and huge watermelons at the top of our dirt driveway – I had an itch for people, their stories, news and entertainment, interviewing anyone who would step foot on my families property.
This itch only grew as I matured, I started interning in newsrooms such as Channel Seven in Sydney, Berita Satu (News One) in Jakarta, I even flew to Vanuatu and reported on Cyclone Pam for the Newcastle Herald…I was obsessed with interning whilst studying. Applying yourself in a physical environment working in the role you are hoping to land is the best way to figure out…is this really what I want to do?
I interned across five different media outlets during my four year degree and two marketing internships and thank god I did, it really fast tracked my chances of landing a role as soon as I graduated as junior positions usually expect 1-2 years relevant experience. I remember at my graduation, there was a lot of people struggling to land jobs as they had no experience behind them.
I have this fire inside of me that needs to be ignited, I tend to forget to remind myself of how far I have come whilst working towards where I want to be.
Describe a typical work day for you.
I am up before the sun consuming the news, including scrolling through social media to ensure there is nothing I should be reporting on, posting or sharing content for a client or even myself.
After getting into the office and onto my second coffee, it’s picking up where I left off…I may be in the middle of writing a press release or compiling a media kit, looking out for opportunities in both traditional and online media, have a WiP with our team or going over the social media schedule for a client and so on. I am constantly working with the news cycle so it’s a fast paced environment I work in.
I work across a diverse range of clients starting with travel and tourism all the way through to real estate clients so each day no doubt throws a lot of work at me, but I love it – it gives me a buzz!
I always set aside time throughout the work day to monitor the accounts I am managing to ensure content is being scheduled and there are no immediate messages or issues I need to be on top of.
What advice do you have for those wanting to start a business?
Always look at your boss’ life…is this a life you want to live and do you look up to that person? If so, go for it! Odds are you will be following a very similar path so take note of what you like or dislike and action it.
There is one quote I live by…
Build your own dreams, or someone else will hire you to build theirs.
What’s next for you, and MIA?
Here’s the thing, I knew going into this space it was going to be competitive and I have to do SOMETHING to stand out from the rest of the crowd. The end goal is for MIA to be more than just your standard Communication agency, I want it to branch out and be a fusion of services and streams under the MIA umbrella… I have a few plans in the works for MIA for 2019, you will just have to wait and see them roll out.
