Pursuing her passion
Sally-Anne Kaminski has her dream job right now; she's an account executive in advertising for the largest bank in Wisconsin. "I absolutely love it," Sally-Anne says of her budding career. "This company could not be a better fit for me." But the 2006 graduate wasn't always interested in advertising. She started at Miami as a mass communications major and was "dead set" on being a television news reporter.
Balancing act
At the end of Sally-Anne's junior year, she struggled with choosing her senior capstone, the final class for her major. As a member of the varsity synchronized skating team, she was already crunched for time. "I knew taking the TV capstone wasn't an option because I'd miss too much class," she said. Instead, she took the advice of a professor she'd had since her first year at Miami.
Finding her niche
Sally-Anne's professor encouraged her to join the Laws, Hall & Associates program (now "Highwire Brand Studio"), a class in which students compete in teams to create a winning marketing campaign for an actual client. "I did it the first semester of my senior year, and I knew right away that I'd be better at advertising than journalism," Sally-Anne said.
Connections are everything
Since she got such a late start choosing the career she wanted, Sally-Anne had no internships or experience related to her job. While home in Milwaukee over spring break, her dad set her up with a friend who worked at Marshall and Ilsley Corp. Sally-Anne met with several company employees, but at the time only thought of the meeting as practice to polish her interviewing skills and résumé. Soon after, Sally-Anne was offered a paid internship from one of the people she had met.
Movin' on up
After only seven weeks, Sally-Anne was promoted to a full-time position, replacing an account executive who left the company. Her responsibilities include project management, billboards, TV and radio ads for an entire business banking team, and marketing for about 45 bank branches in Arizona. And that's not all. She's also the managing editor of a small monthly business magazine, so her journalism skills helped after all.
Miami buffet
Sally-Anne says her involvement in several activities at Miami and her wide array of classes helped her figure out which career path she wanted to take. "If you can't find something in the field you want right away, look for something similar," she said. "Any way you can get your foot in the door is great."
