How I ended up in Seattle
I graduated in May 2010 with a B.A. in Communication Studies while minoring in Marketing. Through these formative years, I did freelance work in copywriting, ghostwriting, and other marketing communications support. I also had an internship with Pepper Consulting Group, a Michigan-based HR firm (which I continue to work for as a Marketing Communications consultant). Through my work with PCG, I became connected with the Vice President for Student Affairs at the University of Toledo, who offered me the PR/Marketing Graduate Assistantship for the Division of Student Affairs along with a full tuition waiver for graduate school.
The main responsibilities of this position were to oversee the divisional website, social media efforts, newsletters, ghostwriting, material development, and internal/external communication (as well as some special projects and benchmarking). Essentially, I was responsible for content development and management. This role also included writing speeches, newsletters, and emails for the Vice President, who needed to be in constant and strategic contact with the many audiences of the university (students, parents, teachers, administrators, donors, etc.). The role was both fulfilling and nonstop, as blogs, Facebook pages, tweets, and other alerts always freshly being published and campus events happening around the clock.
In May 2012, I graduated with my MBA in Marketing, and as my time as a student had ended, so had the assistantship. I turned down an offer to stay at the University of Toledo and decided to see the world, which consisted of a four-month vacation through Europe, and then spontaneously through the Pacific Northwest, where I stayed for an additional two months. Throughout these travels I had the wonderful experiences of seeing an opera by Mozart in Vienna, biking in Salzburg, caving underneath Budapest, renting mopeds in Vancouver, and cliff jumping along the Pacific coast. During the last leg of this trip, I fell in love with Seattle and decided that I wanted to be a part of the energy and action of the city.
Once in Seattle I picked up a writing contract for SDL Marketing and eventually took a position at Microsoft as a Digital Marketing Manager. The as they say, is history.
