From student to marketing director: Communications connections impact career
January 01, 2020
As I near the five year mark since graduating from Ouachita, there are only a few
things in my current life that I can’t tie back to my time at school there. It shaped
both my career and social life and left a lasting impression. I entered Ouachita with
a vague idea of what I thought I might want to do, and spent two years trying to solidify
that.
It wasn’t until my junior year that I found my “home away from home” in the communications
department. It was there that the pieces began to fall together. My classes were hands-on
and challenging, while still remaining enjoyable. My professors worked hard to help
me decide where I wanted to start a career and what I wanted that to look like.
My time in the communications department was a time where I felt safe to try and fail
at things. I was taking a wide variety of classes, and I wasn’t great at all of it.
Because of that, I was able to narrow down to what I enjoyed and what I could see
myself doing.
Internships are an important part of being a communications major, and the faculty
worked hard to help me find one that seemed the right fit. Through Ouachita and its
wide network, an internship application turned into a job offer and, nearly five years
later, the role of marketing director at Arkansas Business Publishing Group in Little
Rock.
Having a Ouachita education, specifically in the communications department, prepared
me to stand out as an employee. They instilled values and skills that would carry
me far even when I no longer called Ouachita home. Years later, I could pick up the
phone right now and reach any of the faculty to ask questions and advice. I may or
may not have made a call not long after I started at ABPG to get a refresher on how
to write a radio script.
As all Ouachitonians learn, we are a school that makes its name across the country.
That has served me well since I graduated, since I rarely attend an event or go to
a business where I can’t find a friendly #Tiger4Life. My husband went to a large school
in Texas, and there are times he just shakes his head at the Ouachita connections
I manage to find wherever we go.
I’m not sure where I would be if I hadn’t made my way to Ouachita and their communications
family. It truly felt like home and helped me build a life for myself when I graduated
(which they make us all do, whether we want to or not). I’m thankful for my time there
and the long-lasting impact on my life. It’s a great feeling to be a #Tiger4Life.
By Devan Malone Elbert, marketing director at Arkansas Business Publishing Group
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