Creative writing degrees make some people nervous: There isn’t a set path for what they’ll do with their degrees after graduation, and they worry that their new skills won’t translate from their own creative projects to a nine-to-five job. 蒂安娜·斯佳丽，满帆学院的毕业生 创意写作学士课程, is living proof that creative writing degrees have far-reaching applications. She combined her inherent creativity with marketable skills to land her current role as the Director of Marketing for 艾伦大学.

Tiana already had professional creative writing experience before she attended 满帆. 哥伦比亚, 南卡罗来纳, native is a songwriter and was offered a publishing deal with Warner Chappell, one of the largest music publishing companies in the world, but she wanted to expand her skillset beyond songwriting. She signed up for 满帆’s 创意写作学士课程, 她在哪里学的电影, 电视, and commercial scriptwriting; prose; how to market her projects; and more.

蒂安娜快毕业了, her 满帆 instructors told her about their experiences as professional copywriters, 是什么激起了她的兴趣. 她转向她的学生指导老师, 拉娜摩根, who provided countless resources to align her skills and resume with a copywriting career path.

他们的努力得到了回报. 在她拿到学位之后, Tiana worked as a copywriter in Orlando and Jacksonville before rebranding herself as a marketer. In 2021, she returned to her hometown and started working in her current role as a Director of Marketing and 通信 for 艾伦大学这是一所历史悠久的黑人大学.

“Allen doesn’t get its due,” Tiana says of the university. “It's the only HBCU in 南卡罗来纳 that was actually founded by a former slave, 理查德·艾伦主教, 目前仍由非裔美国人经营. I’m not simply employed at Allen; I’m deeply honored to contribute to its success.”

Tiana’s creative writing background helps her add spark to those contributions. 她将社交媒体广告概念化, writes press releases about large donations and major events at the university, keeps the community apprised of Allen students’ exciting accomplishments, and acts as the university’s PR and media contact. Sometimes her work goes beyond the confines of Columbia: Allen recently acquired free MacBooks for its students, and Tiana’s press release was picked up by Apple and sent out to all of their press contacts.

The MacBook initiative also presented Tiana with a new way to serve Allen’s student community. 她利用了自己的经验 项目LaunchBox™ MacBook from 满帆 to teach them how to use iMovie. Showing students how to visually express their ideas has quickly become one of Tiana’s favorite things about her job.

“[The students are] starting to come up with their own concepts and create videos that we can send out to keep the students engaged. 而不是发送普通的电子邮件, sometimes we put a video together and give everyone a nice, 很酷的视觉效果. I enjoy working hands-on with the students and helping their visions come to light,” she says.

Tiana’s work at Allen is rewarding, but she hasn’t forgotten her artistic roots. Her next goal is to get to Hollywood and pursue her dream of being a screenwriter, 希望是写喜剧或纪录片. 然而, Tiana knows that success in any field takes more than hard work: Community and self-confidence are crucial ingredients.

“As my mom would say, follow your heart, it knows you better than anyone. I often refer to the huge lesson 满帆 taught me about creating compelling stories: show, 不要告诉. 你不必把每一个细节都公布出来. Let your work speak for you and your story will tell itself.”