Camille Hearst: preference

Transcript context

…What did you feel being there listening to it in the moment? Totally inspired. Apple was not quite what it is today in terms of brand and influence and just it's at the peak. It's really come a long way. It was still when I met the recruiter at a conference, I was like, "Apple? What do they do again? My roommate had a Mac, but what's iTunes? Oh, yeah, I think I've heard of that. I think..." The dancing iPod silhouette ads which really sent Apple over the top. Those hadn't even really dropped yet, but it was starting, right? It was starting to percolate and bubble and you heard more and more about it and just the association with music was making Apple more cool. But that speech is... Talk about a commencement speech. That is top-notch. And Steve's great at those. He was phenomenal storyteller. So graduation is what? Saturday, I go home Sunday. The Monday I started my internship and here we are at Cafe Max with my new coworkers and Steve is sitting literally at the table next to me. And so I was like, "Oh my gosh, there's Steve. I would love to say hi and introduce myself and everyone at the table." Now mind you, I hadn't heard this story about the elevator button in the full yet because it was my first day, but they're all looking at each other. They're like, "Yeah, go say hi to him if you want, but you're an intern." They say, "Hopefully, he doesn't fire you on your first day." But I've always, in my family and in my life, had this encouragement to say hi to people when you see them and let them know that you appreciate what they do and just thank them because it doesn't happen often. A lot of times, people go and they ask for a picture or an autograph but this idea of just introducing yourself, saying hello, and thanking someone for something that they've done that impacted you to something that's been a way that my parents have encouraged me to behave in the world and something that I saw them do and saw them model because probably, again, coming from my dad being a musician and being fans of other musicians that like a thing in music, the artist culture that talked to one another about how something you created influenced you or whatnot. So I went up to him and I got up from my lunch table and walked over and I said, "Hi, my name's Camille. I'm interning here this summer. It's my first day. I was at graduation at Stanford on Saturday and your speech was amazing. I was really inspired. I'm so excited to be here and so excited to work on this company and I just wanted to say thank you for spending your time doing that speech for us on Saturday." And he was like, "Who are you? What? You're an intern? Well, what are you doing here?" It was a little... We had a little bit of an exchange. I had to clarify like, "Yeah, I graduated, but I'm interning and I have another semester left." And he was like, "Oh, okay. Well, welcome to Apple and good luck and I hope you have a really great experience this summer." And that was it. I didn't get fired and I said hello to Steve. And after that, I felt like I knew him. Well, welcome to Apple and good luck and I hope you have a really great experience this summer." And that was it. I didn't get fired and I said hello to Steve. And after that, I felt like I knew him. Every time, I'd see him around campus I'd wave high and I think he had no idea who I was but he would look at me confused and then wave back hello.…

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