Spring quarter is coming to an end *sheds a single tear that is infused with joy and disappointment*. I will graduating in June with a degree in business administration with a concentration in marketing. These past four years have been a journey consisting of the typical peaks and valleys; with some slogging through mud in between them. I have confirmed that college is a great experience in that it really allowed me to figure out who I am and what career path I want to take. When I first entered into Western Washington University, I only had a vague idea of what I wanted to do. I knew that I wanted to go into business, and when family members, colleagues, and others would ask what I was pursuing, I would say something along the lines of, ” I know that I want to go into business but am unsure of what part of business to concentrate on.”

Then it dawned on me. I am MADE for marketing and I have been doing it since I was in 6th grade. For example, my brother and I were pretty bummed out that our middle school stopped selling candy, so we decided that we would take the opportunity to do what any marketer would do; fulfill the needs of customers. We purchased Skittles in bulk from the local Cash-n-Carry, and then we sold them for a dollar each. I remember getting a rush after each sale (it could have possibly been a sugar rush) although unfortunately we consumed most of our profits so it failed to become the candy empire I had envisioned.

Later on in high school, I started selling high-end clothing and Air Jordan’s through my website www.somefire.com, with the business model of buy-low and sell-high. This was very profitable until people realized that there was little barriers to entry. Soon I was surrounded by competitors from my school, so I decided to use my entrepreneurial spirit to go down a different lane. During my sophomore year of college, I created my own clothing brand called SomeFire, and stepped away from the (now saturated) luxury used clothing market that I had used to love. This custom clothing design experience strengthened my marketer’s mindset. So far I have designed (with the help of my good friend Bobby Davis) three different collections which range from t-shirts, long-sleeve t-shirts, tank-tops, and hoodies. I will be releasing my next collection within the next month.

In January, I participated in the Student Marketing Associations XMC Case Competition with two other colleagues of mine. We met on a rainy Saturday morning at 8AM, we were given an Ivy business case and were asked to build a presentation, recommend what the business should do, and present it after 4 hours. We competed against 11 other teams, and placed first through an emphasis that I can only characterize as ‘unbounded creativity’ . Creativity is usually hindered when under-pressure, but we were able to work as a team to come up with a creative and realistic set of ideas to compete with an elite set of teams who we know would be going ‘by the book’ with their recommendations.

These past five months have been an excellent learning experience. I had the honor of taking a digital marketing class that expanded my digital marketing skills, and this single class has morphed me into a full-stack smarketer (smart-marketer). Within the last three months, I have become certified in Google Analytics, Hubspot Inbound Marketing, Hootsuite Social Media Management, and Google AdWords.

To obtain these certifications I needed to demonstrate to have an in depth knowledge on the topics. I have spent countless hours these past three months studying, blogging, reading, and learning about topics such as:

• Google Analytics
• Mobile Marketing
• Programmatic & Native Ad’s
• Coding
• Search Engine Marketing
• Search Engine Optimization
• Email Marketing
• Creating GREAT Landing Pages
• Growing Your Online Community
• Social Media
• Content Marketing
• A/B Testing
• Inbound Marketing
• Marketing Analytics

These past two quarters, hands-down, has been my best learning experience thus far in college. The list that you have just read (which include direct links to each topic that I blogged about) shows topics that we were assigned. With these topics, I was asked to not just read an article, but to know like it the back of my hand.

What I can do for you as your digital marketer? Well, a TON really. I am seeking a career in consulting, marketing, or as a marketing consultant and whichever of these directions I end up going, will bring digital marketing knowledge with me. I have gained a relatively vast base of knowledge when it comes to social media, content marketing, analytics, search engine marketing, and other digital marketing disciplines. I will also be participating in a project management crash course after this quarter which eventually will lead to a certification as a project management professional. I am an entrepreneur that loves solving problems, and coming up with great ideas. I have excellent communication skills, and I love working in teams. While being a full-time student at Western Washington University, I also engaged in internships and part-time work at companies such as Nordstrom, Hertz, and Bellingham Marine Industries. I am also currently enrolled in a project management crash course. I am learning the fundamentals of project management and plan to obtain my CAPM. As your marketing consultant I will use the knowledge and skills that I have acquired over the past ten years to drive a positive impact for your company.