Work Samples
I've always loved to work. With experiences in multiple industries and people aged 0-100, I am proud of the experiences I've had so far. Showcased are a few of the positions I've held, the jobs I completed while in them, and the lessons I learned through my time in each. I'm just getting started, and I have so much more to learn!
MARKETING
At Iowa State, the areas of marketing, promotion, fan experience, and presentation are all very fluid. That being said, my duties within this job include marketing research, in-game promotion planning/execution, house music, and running pass lists, contests, games, and giveaways. When people ask me what I do for work, I generally give them one of two answers. The first: shoot t-shirt guns. The second: make people smile.
On top of working at games, each of us interns was assigned two "lead" sports. With these, we have a much deeper role. We are in charge of proofing and assisting in the creation of scripts, promotion grids, game memos, and marketing plans. We are required to be at each home event to assist in running production. My sports for 2021-2022 were wrestling and gymnastics. They each had their own challenges that have all bettered my skills in the areas of event presentation and marketing. We saw an increase of 28% in student attendance at wrestling meets and broke the gymnastics attendance record the season that I was a lead intern for the sports. This year, I'm a lead on Women's Basketball and Softball. Though softball is just getting started, we have already broken the previously held attendance record. Women's Basketball was consistently a top-attended program in the nation.
Something this year I've been helping with more is organizing photos and coming up with ideas for content for @cycloneath, mainly for Instagram and TikTok. I always love when a TikTok I contributed to gets posted (1, 2, 3); it's a really cool feeling seeing the metrics and reach of my ideas! As interns, we also do associated tasks for our department in the office, such as restocking posters, sending out orders, rolling t-shirts, and preparing the tailgate lots for football game days. Some of these aren't my favorite tasks, but I do enjoy doing them for a bit of variety and mindlessness throughout the day.
This job has been nothing short of amazing and has provided me with invaluable experience that I will assuredly take with me to my next position. These projects have increased my hard skills with different software and helped me to better my time management and organizational skills. However, I feel like my biggest growth has been gained from the confidence and communication skills I've improved on throughout competition execution. I've become a better communicator, a better teammate, and a better person.
Events
Iowa State Homecoming is an organization I've been a part of for two years. My first year, I ran social media in a team of three and produced content across Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook to almost 15,000 followers. Instagram saw followers double from 2,000 to 4,000, and my postings generated over 50,000 points of engagement. I also got to oversee the planning of all committee's events from a lens different than most, and I got to help execute them as well.
The second year, I stepped into the co-director position. Here, I oversaw the 65 committee members and the planning of 2022's homecoming celebration, from beginning to end. This included the big ideas down to the details, including the meetings and difficult conversations that come with being "the boss." Homecoming was a success. We served over 7,000 meals to students, donated over 16,000 lbs of hygiene products and cans to United Way, and raised over $20,000 for Lutheran Services of Iowa This role taught me a ton about leadership, communication, and problem-solving. I have become proactive and prepared, growing into a better leader.
I was also responsible for planning multiple events for my high school through my involvement in student government and our media/merchandise class, Tiger Vision. I also held an internship at my hometown chamber of commerce in high school. I have helped plan events for various clubs, personal events, and learn about the process of event planning every day in my courses at ISU.
Communications
In 2022, I was selected to be a communications and sports information intern at the Iowa High School Athletic Association, the organization that oversees high school boys' sports in Iowa. I began shortly after the conclusion of the spring 2022 semester, starting off strong by working on-site at Drake University for high school State Track and Field. Here, I updated IHSAA website and ran social media from the field, as well as helped out in other departments (like selling tickets and programs) as necessary—this would be how the other state tournaments of the summer would go too. I concluded my summer again this year with state baseball, but this year, I was an employee rather than a volunteer!
In the office, I worked with two other interns to create social media content, update the website, and work on other projects as needed. We were very hands-on in two pretty large projects: record books and IHSAA Achieve.
Each sport has a stat book created a very long time ago and updated annually. Our job was to give these books a facelift. We were responsible for transferring the statistics and information from Word to Excel, sorting the data, and moving it from Excel to a more organized and uniform look within InDesign. I was assigned baseball and golf. These projects took a ton of time and taught me a lot about the programs I was working directly with as well as time management.
IHSAA Achieve was the other main project we chipped away at over the summer. Iowa's Hall of Pride was set to physically close and be moved online to a program known as Achieve. This program holds the content of the Hall of Pride and then some more, and I had a fairly significant role in the way the site is laid out and organized. It's now a one-stop shop for school archives and student resources and provides a great bridge between Iowans of the past and Iowans of the present—just as it's intended to do.
I pride myself in being able to say that I was confident but still learning throughout this internship with the skills I had already possessed and the ones I gained. Website building has become something I like and am interested in, and I've learned a lot about professional communication from the press releases and media relations needed at tournaments, throughout the launch of Achieve, and on social media. This internship also taught me the value of collaboration, workplace culture, and work-life balance.
other
I've had a job of some sort since I was 15. My very first was as a barista at a local coffee shop. Here, I grasped the basics of customer service and entered the food and beverage industry for the first time. That was the industry I spent most of my first few jobs in. Unfortunately, after a few short months, the cafe closed. Each employee found out the same time the general public did, which was the day of. This experience taught me a lot about work and even more about communication.
After this, I found work at a restaurant in my hometown. Here, I served as a hostess until I was 18, which is the legal age to serve alcohol in Iowa. I was "promoted" to bartender at the restaurant's full-service bar. This was an entirely new experience. I loved every second of my job there and that staff became like a family to me; something I would learn isn't the case with every job. I learned too many things to name about time management, the F&B industry, and customer service. Unfortunately, the pandemic caused this restaurant to close down, and I was once again given short notice, left without a job.
My most recent job in the F&B industry was at a golf course in my hometown. Here, I did a little bit of everything. Some days, I cleaned carts, stocked inventory, and worked in the clubhouse. Others, I drove the beverage cart, bartender, and served golfers. Adaptability was the biggest thing I took from this. My job description changed almost daily, as did the midwestern weather. Thinking on my feet to create a fun experience for golfers is something I absolutely loved.
I also have experience working in childcare as I worked at a daycare in my hometown for three years during high school. I love children and being able to care for kids aged 0-10 was an experience that taught me a lot about patience, a lot about love, and a lot about interacting with different age groups. I am thankful for all of the families I met and keep in contact with, and I'm grateful for the lives of kids I've touched.
Similar to working in childcare and educating babies about colors and counting, I have experience in education as a tutor and mentor. I served for one semester (Spring 2021) as a tutor and mentor for Iowa State Football. Here, I learned how vital it was to comply with rules, even if they seem silly. I loved my time with the athletes and was so excited to watch them shine on Saturdays because I know a played a role in their eligibility and academic success. Tutoring and mentoring helped me to understand more about the game of football and gave me a deeper understanding of the 22 guys on the field and what goes on in their heads. It's a vulnerable position, so being trustworthy and responsible wasn't a question.