Sean Lester, Class of 2014 and former Battalion sports editor, has gone from writing about Aggie football players to working with Hollywood stars.
As social media manager for Cinemark, Lester handles the movie theater company’s online presence, promotes merchandise and supports the Cinemark brand. Though he has worked in this position for about two years, Lester’s job changes weekly depending on the latest project or movie promotion.
Lester’s most recent assignment involved an interview with the cast of the film “Boy Erased,” including Nicole Kidman and Troye Sivan.
“I remember some of my first interviews at The Battalion,” Lester said. “I was nervous and had to prepare my questions and make sure I was good to go. I felt the same way here, but they were all super nice. It’s not something that I ever thought I would be doing or getting to be a part of as work.”
While Lester did not always know the exact career path he would take, his time at The Battalion gave him the experience he needed to know the field he wanted to pursue. Lester said the skills he learned prepared him for projects he would deal with in the future.
“Working at the paper when I was in school, that’s what I wanted to do,” Lester said. “I was in communications courses and journalism courses and the idea of interviewing and writing and all these very basic skills are things that I use every day.”
Additionally, Lester said the relationships he cultivated at The Battalion increased his ability to overcome obstacles in the real world.
Rebecca Bennett-Haughey, who worked with Lester at The Battalion and is now an editor in enterprise technical training at Apple, said meeting deadlines and solving unexpected obstacles is made easier by collaborating with team members.
“[At the Battalion], I learned how to empathize,” Bennett-Haughey said. “The biggest thing that transferred after college is the collaboration and the teamwork that was fostered there.”
Matt Woolbright, Class of 2012, was editor-in-chief and now works at LotusGroup Advisors. Woolbright said working at The Battalion provided guideposts that lead him through his professional career.
“One of the biggest skills that anyone gets from A&M is how to build relationships that matter and understanding that people are different and that there is value in different viewpoints whether or not you agree with them,” Woolbright said. “I think there’s also skills in finding the details and not taking anything off of face value, but realizing that things may not always be as they seem.”