After graduation, life moves pretty fast–and sometimes in directions you never expected. At least, that’s the case for alumna Rachel Landgraf who graduated with her Master’s degree in New Media Studies in 2017. For the last three and a half years, she has been working for United Airlines. We had the chance to catch up with her recently to see what she’s been up to, where her academic work has taken her and to see if she had any advice to share.
What do you do for a living? Is it what you believed you’d be doing after grad school?
Currently, I work in the Corporate Communications department for United Airlines. I’ve been at United for a little over three and a half years now. While at United, I’ve been on the internal communications team. I started on the enterprise-wide team where we create, write and publish stories for our employees all over the world – it’s like the “news team” of United. Recently, I moved over to the operation communications team where I work closely with our inflight team. It’s still internal communications, but a lot more technical because you’re working with one [workgroup] and it’s in the operation.
I had no idea this is what I was going to be doing after grad school. I knew I wanted to stay in Chicago and that I wanted to try something very different than what I was doing before. It took a lot of work, but it’s been rewarding seeing how my education and experiences have gotten me to where I am today.
What was your academic and professional background prior to entering the MA in WRD?
When I started my Master[‘s] program at DePaul, I was one of those that came right from my undergrad at Marquette University in Milwaukee, [Wisconsin.] My academic background has always been [in] communications, specifically focused on broadcasting and corporate communications.
I always thought I was going to be a reporter or news anchor and absolutely never go to grad school (I’m a self-proclaimed ‘non-school’ person,) but my gut was telling me Chicago and DePaul is how that happened.
Throughout my schooling, I had jobs and internships related to my studies – interning at news stations in Milwaukee and Madison to working in the athletic departments for Marquette and DePaul. My jobs and internships opened so many doors for me and really helped me learn my craft. I’m a hands-on learner and knew I had to work to get those positions in order to help myself in the future.
I was so fortunate to come across my position in the athletic communications department at Marquette, that’s really where it all began. I started my role in that department as a freshman not knowing how to write a press release. By senior year, I could write many press releases for different teams, game recaps, and notes, talk with teams, broadcasters and producers, learn the ins and outs of different programs to publish communications, and more. Marquette led me to DePaul, where I landed the Graduate Assistant position in communications for the athletic department (go everything BIG EAST!) There, I continued all of my media relations work on an even higher level while working toward my Master’s. With each of those work experiences, I also got the opportunity to work [in] conference tournaments, NCAA tournaments, and most importantly, make many life-long friends and mentors and work with some of the most genuine and smart student-athletes and teams.
After graduation…I picked up freelance work, networked like crazy, and even was able to find some work at a local casting company before United. In all of those experiences, I also established some great relationships with colleagues and mentors.
Describe your career and research interests as you were going through the MA in WRD program. How did you customize the program to meet your needs?
I remember with my Master’s program, you could go a more storytelling route or a web development route. Storytelling has always been my passion, so I knew that was the route I wanted, which was 100% solidified when I had to take a required coding class in grad school before focusing on one of the routes. It wasn’t pretty.
Having storytelling as my focus, I learned how to view communications in different ways, especially digitally. I found myself being more thoughtful and applying it to my own work. So, dare I say…I liked grad school!? As a “non-school” person, yes!
Tell us a little about the job search. How did employers respond to your WRD degree?
The job search was more challenging than I thought it was going to be, but patience and persistence paid off. It made me confident in knowing my worth in the job market. A lot of work went into my professional and academic experiences, so I was determined to not settle for a job that in my heart and mind, did not seem right. I was fortunate to have many people in my corner who supported me every step of the way through this.
A lot of employers found my degree interesting and relevant to the world we live in today. If you can write, communicate and have an eye for strategically planning and producing content in ways that are constantly evolving and can speak on that with energy, passion, and investment – you’re going to get interested, even if they don’t pick you for a job at the end of the day.
What is a typical day “on the job” for you?
What I’ve learned [about] the airline industry is that you can have something new every day!
Overall, I start my day doing upkeep – checking on airline stories in the news, following up with stories and outstanding items and questions, seeing what other teams are working on, and if anything is applicable to inflight. I’ll write, post stories, review and edit lots of content, consult with other departments on how and when to communicate things they need, and more.
How has your education from DePaul influenced what you’re doing now?
My education from DePaul helped me become a stronger and more confident communicator. I was able to focus on classes and experiences while I was there that interested me, which made me feel empowered when figuring out what I wanted to do and where I wanted to be. That’s not to say I have it all figured out now, because I don’t, but I have a better mindset of how I can apply aspects of my education [to] my work.
How have you used skills and experiences from specific WRD courses in your current position?
One of my final courses was getting my portfolio together. In a lot of grad programs, you hear about having to write a big paper or do a big project. For what I was in and what I wanted to do post-grad school, that would have no benefit to my future. With this course, I was able to produce a new website and get all my projects and work together to present a final portfolio that would set me up for success in the future.
It not only helped me find a job, but it required me to design, write and publish, which are all things I do today.
It has also helped me personally outside of my current role years after I completed my degree. I took it upon myself to redesign my website and create and write content outside of the scope of my full-time job to keep my independent work and its topics strong.
Any advice for current or prospective MA in WRD students who are interested in a similar career path?
If you love what you do and are always trying to get better at it for you – key words, “for you” – you will be okay, even if you hit bumps along the way and it feels like the journey you’re on is walking from Chicago to Los Angeles instead of driving from Chicago to Evanston. What we do can be applied to any field, which is a unique gift communicators exhibit. Did I ever think I was going to make a jump from athletics to the airlines? No. Was learning a whole new world hard? Yes, but at the end of the day, I applied what I knew, asked questions, and learned from my mistakes. Now, speaking in airport codes is second nature.
I say to myself frequently – you are capable, you can communicate and you aren’t going to settle. That’s a lot easier said than done, but for me, I’ve found it to be true. Don’t be afraid to try something new or think that you aren’t qualified for something that interests you – you have to go for it.