College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences

WLC: Please, introduce yourself.
PT: I’m Paul Tabag. World Languages and Cultures major. 2007. I work in sales development at Audible Magic.
WLC: Please tell us how you got the current position and what you actually do.
PT: I started off my career after working and living in Japan for serval years and I was contracted by Google to be the main account manager for all Japanese TV networks and stakeholders for Google Play in Japan. It was there I quickly found a passion for business development and driving new business by building personal relationships. I soon became the team lead for all account managers at Google and lead three teams in three different continents. Throughout my career, I’ve been able to cultivate multi-million-dollar relationships including NBC, FOX, BBC, Disney, etc. and I was able to launch Google Play in Australia and expand coverage in Europe.
WLC: Tell us about what you enjoy about the job and the challenges you may experience.
PT: My present job has provided me with a wonderful opportunity to learn about sales and business development. I enjoy this job because every day presents a different agenda and a new challenge. When you are reaching out to people you’ve never met before, the best feeling is when you find their pain point – a problem that you can solve for them. The goal for me is to find what their pain points are – and see if it aligns with how I can help them. If I can get through to them and have a good conversation, we can set an appointment for our field reps. That’s the best feeling and my favorite part. Challenges I face would be spending a lot of time prospecting — the success of the entire sales process relies on high-quality leads. The problem is, finding high-quality prospects has always been a challenge. And can waste a full day looking for the right person to contact.
WLC: Tell us how your experience as a WLC major at CSUMB may have helped you to prepare for your career.
PT: My time at CSUMB as a WLC major has prepared me to work directly with and in tangent with Japanese businesses and colleagues. My career has needed experience in working with Japan because business culture is different. CSUMB offered me the opportunity to study abroad and live with a Japanese host family for one year and that experience got me to where I am today.
WLC: Could you briefly share any advice for existing majors/our future graduates?
PT: Take risks when applying to jobs because I never thought I would work at Google with a Japanese language degree. Don’t let imposter syndrome get you down when looking for a career to utilize your Japanese degree and use your connections to introduce you to new opportunities.