If you have read about my journey from NSAC in Kansas City to being the writer and photographer on the Ad Club STL Internship Hop team, you know I’m currently living it up in St. Louis, working on some exciting projects under the guidance of the really talented and amazing folk at the agencies here. We wrapped our second week at H&L Partners by presenting a campaign we put together in under four days. Go team!

So how did this flannel-loving fashion photographer turned advertising student manage to make this happen you ask? Good question. While I might like to think my natural charm and charisma makes stuff happen, a smarter part of my brain luckily knows there’s a lot of work to be done. Shoutouts start with my strategic writing for advertising and public relations professor, Michael Goff. I may have on occasion grumbled about his decisions to spring surprises by hiding questions inside paragraphs that were actually instructions for the test but he really got me to focus clearly on writing. By no means an easy task, since I usually took my ability to write for granted. I worked as a photographer, visual ranked higher than written for me.

I think what makes the University of Nebraska-Lincoln a great place to study is in the support system offered by the alumni. Several UNL/CoJMC grads work with agencies out of Lincoln and Omaha and offer valuable insight to students trying to make sense of what’s waiting for them outside the safe spaces of the University. Hurrdat is one such agency. They help brands create comprehensive strategies to increase their exposure through branding, social media, and content marketing. Sounds like fun right? I thought so too. I ran into Krista Vogel, then their Agency Director (she is now the brand strategist at Spreetail) at one of the the PRSSA events at UNL and she was more than happy to answer some very pressing doubts even the smart side of my brain was facing difficulty resolving.

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