As a young girl I had always been a fan of Sesame Street, but in 2003 when I was 12 years old, I realized that just being a fan was not enough anymore. I happened to see an A & E documentary on the beloved children’s television show that gave a behind the scenes look at the production, the people and the puppeteers involved.  It was during this documentary that I learned about Caroll Spinney; the wonderfully talented performer bringing the characters of Big Bird and Oscar to life. Suddenly, two things became apparent: I needed to write a letter to Caroll telling him how big of a fan I was and I needed to find out exactly how to get to Sesame Street.

And so, I wrote to Caroll. I told him that I saw the documentary, I bought and read his autobiography The Wisdom of Big Bird (and the Dark Genius of Oscar the Grouch), and that I was determined to one day work for the show. I asked him what advice he could give me in order to make my dream come true. I printed out my letter, attached a Big Bird sticker to the back of it and looked on as my mother put it in an envelope and sent it on its way. The letter was addressed to a Jim Henson fan mail location that I had found on the back of one of my old Sesame books. I was so excited to hear from Caroll, anxiously waiting for a response. A few weeks later, the letter was sent back, as the address I had sent it to no longer existed. Discouraged, I wanted to throw the letter away but my mother told me to save it. She thought that one day I would get to Sesame Street and that along the way, Caroll would receive my letter.

Seven years later, after graduating from high school and completing my first few years of college at Hofstra University as a public relations major, it was time to start looking for an internship. For me, there was only one option. I was determined to get to Sesame Street and I knew that interning at Sesame Workshop was the answer. The day of my interview, I walked into the workshop holding my resume in my left hand and my letter in my right.  A few weeks  later, I was offered the position of a public relations intern for the fall of 2012.

The past four months interning at Sesame Workshop have been the time of my life. I’ve got to work on so many awesome projects and be a part of an amazingly talented team. Every day I came into the office, I always carried my letter with me, hoping that I might figure out how to get it to Caroll. As my internship winded down to an end, I made peace with the fact that the letter was supposed to stay with me after all. But when I heard that I was going to get the chance to visit the set of Sesame Street and that Caroll was going to be there, I knew this was my opportunity. And I was right because earlier this week, I was introduced to Caroll Spinney as he was standing in front of Oscar’s trash can. With tears in my eyes, I finally handed him my letter.

While Caroll read over the document in his dressing room, I shared with him my story and how I got here. When he told me he wished he could have responded to my letter sooner, it got me thinking. Maybe Caroll was never supposed to receive my letter in the first place. Maybe it was destined to be sent back to me. And maybe things truly do happen for a reason, because I found my way to Sesame Street and my letter took me there.

The Sesame Workshop Blog

Luckily my mother met a director of publicity for a non-profit organization in New York at a function one evening. My mom knew I was interested in finding a professional that I could speak with about daily tasks, projects, and simple PR basics. My mom asked Pam Hacker for her card, so I would have the opportunity to contact her if I wanted to. At the time I was working as an overnight general counselor. I was excited that my mom had made this contact, but I didn’t know how to contact her.

I waited a few months and I drafted multiple e-mails, but the process was moving too slowly. I thought e-mail may be too personal because I did not physically receive her business card, my mother had, and I am a 20 year old college student so I should be able to do things for myself. Facebook was definitely inappropriate, even though I have heavy privacy settings. My twitter account was not very active so I didn’t want to follow her and begin initial contact that way. I then realized LinkedIn was the perfect social media platform through which to contact Pam.

Through LinkedIn I could send Pam a message on a professional network. Pam could decide whether she wanted to respond immediately, to review my previous work experience and then respond, or to disregard my message. In my message, I did not ask for a job or an internship; I simply asked if I could talk PR with her.  I told her how I acquired her contact information and that I hoped to set up a time to Skype, phone, or meet face to face with her in the near future.  Pam responded that she would love to meet up to talk PR and that I should look into the internship opportunities at Sesame Workshop.

I accessed the resources on Sesame Workshop’s website and learned everything I could about the organization, including the Outreach initiatives, international co-productions and major partners.  I planned to have lunch with Pam in early December and Pam helped me set up an interview with another member of the Sesame Workshop Corporate Communications team for the same day.

The Sesame Workshop Blog