Q:What is your current profession and what led you there?
A:I am a marketing consultant and have worked in many salaried positions with different companies in marketing roles. The realization that led me to the program is that I continued to change companies and roles because working in these positions was not satisfying my career needs. I learned that I prefer to work in environments where I can work on projects and help guide companies through strategic and innovative marketing leadership.
Q:How has this program and the class project impacted your career?
A:This program has helped me understand myself more as a leader. I chose this online program thinking it would help give me the tools to be a better marketer, which it has, but it has also done more than that. It has helped me understand the needs of businesses for growth, leadership, and organization. The program has given me the tools to have even more confidence in myself as a consultant with an executive style approach. I now look at business decisions differently, particularly focusing on how companies lead themselves when trying to grow or differentiate from the competition.
Q:What was your class project and how did that project impact your company?
A:One of my class projects was in my first class for New Product Development and Innovation, where I had to design customer workflows and process mapping. This helped me understand a more technical side of the customer's journey regarding marketing and sales, as well as helping with customer retention and loyalty. I was able to illustrate the different ways we could generate more revenue for our special events by offering different pricing and event bundles for customers. The project helped my company optimize our special event sales and increase the pre-event registration for our year-round sales projections and forecast.
Q:What would you say to a prospective student considering D'Amore-McKim for their business degree?
A:I would tell them this online program will help shape the way they look at doing business. It is intense, but a great way to increase your business acumen through case studies and projects. Studying the decisions of companies, both presently and in the past, helps with understanding the do's and don'ts of business. From learning about latent needs of the customer to the benefits of strategic partnerships, this program is one of the best investments a student can make. The professors are all so experienced, skilled, and knowledgeable in their areas of expertise. This is a true executive-style business degree that can be applied to any aspect of the business.
Q:Some say innovation can't be taught. How would you respond to that statement?
A:I would say that they should first explain what they mean by innovation and then I would respond accordingly. Yes, innovation is a hot topic and many companies think of it as trying to be the next Facebook or disruptive technology, but that frame of thinking is the opposite of what is taught in this program. Rather, innovation is how you view the way you work to grow your business and differentiate it from the competition. Innovation can be anything from optimizing organizational structure to increase the efficiencies of production. Innovation is not a taught subject, but innovative thinking is. Anyone can learn to think innovatively and with this program, you will learn how to do just that.