Bailey Ellingsen:
Communications and Marketing Specialist
My
Story
Chapter 1
I am from a small town in Northern Idaho. When I graduated from High School, I knew I wanted to see more of the world, so I chose to attend Furman University in South Carolina, far from home. There, I not only experienced living in an entirely different region; but I took advantage of the opportunity to study abroad in Athens, Greece my Junior year. While I grew as a person at Furman, I truly transformed in Greece. Studying abroad helped me rediscover myself and find my passions, which include traveling, writing, and making meaningful connections with others. These passions coupled with the experience and lessons learned at Furman, led me to pursue a career in Communication, Marketing, or Advertising.
Chapter 2
Upon graduating from Furman University, I began my professional career in Marketing and Communications. I continued to develop my interest and skillsets in Marketing by working as a Social Media Manager for a startup company called Hearsight. Hearsight had developed a real-time transcription app (with partnered transcription glasses) to help the hard of hearing and deaf community.
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This opportunity helped me understand what all goes into Digital Marketing. I was able to tap into my creativity to brainstorm ideas for reels, posts, and stories. The videos and images captured to showcase the company were my responsibility and I began to improve my media management skills. Connecting with the community and seeing the hope brought back into people's lives was inspiring and made me have a deeper appreciation for how much digital media can impact the world around me.
Chapter 3
While I was a Social Media Manager, I also have been working full-time as a Marketing Specialist for an Engineering Firm. While being a Social Media Manager strengthened my skillset and knowledge of the Digital Media side of Marketing, being a Marketing Specialist has furthered my knowledge of proposal development. I have learned more about copywriting, creating high-quality proposals, and leading pursuit meetings. The Marketing Specialist position has helped me understand how everyone has different criteria they look for in a product and when selling the product, you have to have a deeper understanding of your target audience to be successful. There are endless aspects to Marketing that I am excited to learn as I continue my professional journey.