Grad Year: 2014
Major: Advertising and Public Relations
Current Position: Marketing Analyst at Pizza Hut
Current Location: Dallas, TX
Name a person who helped you be successful at Nebraska.
Amy Struthers: Not only was she an amazing leader within Jacht, but she basically became my advisor without officially being my advisor. She always gave such great advice on everything. From classes to my honors thesis, internships and real-world issues.
Michael Goff: he was the faculty lead for NSAC when I was on the team my senior year and he taught us so many invaluable lessons both within the creation and competition phases, but also for life in advertising in general. He will always be an inspiration to me.
Chuck Piper: he offered such an experienced view of the industry, ALWAYS made me laugh, and was the "no bull-shit" type of mentor that we all needed.
Finally, I always felt truly pushed by my peers. The advertising family at Nebraska is SO dang motivated and all the alumni I know are doing the most amazing things. Work ethic like that is infectious and inspirational. Definitely feel like it helped me get to where I am today.
Where are you currently working and what are you doing?
I work at Pizza Hut corporate managing all creative for social (paid and organic) and paid digital media (display, high impact, etc.). I also have a heavy hand in partnership and activation content creation.
Life changing experiences?
I have had the opportunity to travel to Sundance Film Festival, San Diego ComiCon and the Final Four, I led an NFL digital shoot that turned into a Super Bowl TV commercial, I attended some amazing conferences and am lucky enough to work with some of the BEST agency folks in the biz. All such life-changing experiences that I'm so grateful for!
Why should Nebraska students enroll in CoJMC courses?
CoJMC does such a phenomenal job of helping you discover and tapping into your passions within advertising (or whichever major you choose). A lot of people think of one role within these majors and the truth is, there's a diverse set of opportunities within each.
What advice do you have for current students, prospective students?
Get as much real-world experience as possible! No internship is too small to start with. My first internship was at a retirement community doing cold calling and event management.
