If someone would have asked me where I‘d see myself after graduating Newman almost twelve years ago, I wouldn’t have imagined living in Charlotte, NC with my husband, a dog, and working under the parent company that owns Mercedes Benz and Freightliner.

After graduating from the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire in 2013 with an undergraduate degree in Public Relations, I moved back to Wausau and worked at Greenheck Fan Corporation, first as a marketing intern, and eventually full-time as an International Marketing Specialist. It wasn’t the job or location I had in mind after graduation but years of working with colleagues all over the world truly helped shape where I am today. I also can credit my time at Greenheck for introducing me to my husband!
I realized during the first year in a professional job that I still missed the classroom experience and continued education, so I decided to pursue my Master’s in Communications from Purdue University. Juggling a full time job, classes, and planning a wedding was an adventure, but all prevailed!

In 2018, we made the trek down to Charlotte, NC for my husband’s job (NASCAR country) and I was blessed with the opportunity to continue to work for Greenheck out of their Shelby, NC location until I landed my current job as a Digital Marketing Program Manager at Daimler Trucks North America. My role includes maintaining our sales tools app, lead generation and marketing automation for our 400+ dealer network under the Freightliner, Western Star and Detroit Diesel brands.

I will always credit Newman’s Senior Project program for my interest in marketing and communications and attribute the superb academics to where I am in my career. Stories like mine are a testament to the investment that Newman makes in their students today.

It is almost overwhelming to think of all the changes that have happened since graduating from Newman in 2014. I spent one year at Marquette University, transferred to the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, and graduated with my Bachelor of Arts in Spanish. I spent some time studying abroad in Madrid, Spain during my time at UWM, where I was immersed in the Spanish culture, language, and way of life, and I loved every single piece of it. I then spent three weeks traveling through Spain, Germany, Italy, and Ireland where I officially caught the international travel bug!

After graduation, I was accepted into the Direct Entry Master of Science in Nursing program at the MGH Institute of Health Professions in Boston, MA where I am specializing in pediatric primary care. To tie things back to Newman, I have utilized my Senior Project focused on food allergies in the pediatric population numerous times in my studies here. It was the starting point for my Scholarly Project which is our rigorous research project required for graduation. If it weren’t for Senior Project, I would have never developed my true passion for food allergies.

I feel the need to touch on attending nurse practitioner school during a worldwide pandemic. It has been quite a whirlwind. 10+ COVID tests, weeks of quarantine hundreds of miles away from family, zoom classes, semesters of not being able to have clinicals because hospitals and clinics couldn’t put us in danger, and now months of playing catch up to be able to graduate on time. What a ride it has been, but I am here to say that I have hope for the future. On January 5th, I officially received my first dose of the COVID vaccine! I have never seen so much excitement, emotions, and hope as many other medical professionals around me received their vaccines. There is a light at the end of this very long tunnel.

Other life updates include that my fiancé proposed in May of 2019, we are currently in wedding planning mode, and will be getting married in Milwaukee in August of 2021. My fiancé recently landed an awesome job with Skyward in Dallas, TX, so I will be making the move to Dallas following graduation in May. For those who don’t know, Dallas/Fort Worth is my original stomping grounds before moving to Wausau, so I’m very excited
to head back to the place I first called home!

I am proud to be an alumna of Newman, and I am so grateful for all of the experiences this school has given me to be successful in various aspects of life.