Megan Riksen:

Hello and welcome to the Work Lake a Laker podcast. I'm Megan Riksen, and I am joined by Grace Joaquin, my co-host. And we have a third person coming in today who I'll introduce now. Her name is Lisa Knapp. She is an associate director here with us in the career center, and she is also the career advisor for the communication and the arts career community, which is what we're focusing on today. So welcome, Lisa.

Lisa Knapp:

Thank you Megan.

Megan Riksen:

Excited to have you here to talk about communication in the arts.

Grace Joaquin:

And there are a lot of ways to work in this field and many ways to get there. For today, we are going to highlight four very general areas within this industry. Written communication, digital and visual communication, broadcasting and journalism, and performing arts. And just as a disclaimer, while we may be talking about these things, these areas independently, it's not unusual for someone working in the field to experience overlap of these areas in the work that they do.

Megan Riksen:

Yeah, I think that happens all the time. I can attest to that fact working here in marketing and communications for the Career Center. We're doing written communication, digital visual. We're not really doing any broadcasting. Well, I guess we are, so we call this podcast.

Grace Joaquin:

Right now.

Megan Riksen:

Yeah, we're definitely writing pieces. Performing arts maybe is the one where we don't do quite as much of, but we do give a lot of presentations.

Grace Joaquin:

TikToks, occasionally.

Megan Riksen:

There you go, <laugh>. Okay. So see, we cover it all. <Laugh>. All right. So let's start with the first one. So Lisa, as our expert we've brought in today let's talk about written communication. And can you just talk to us a little bit about what some of the career paths might look like for students who want to focus on writing?

Lisa Knapp:

I sure can. So a lot of students want a writing heavy position, which means that during the course of their workday, they're writing anywhere from 40 to 80% of the day. And that is, you know, a butts in seats role. Some of the places where you can do that. And that does not mean that these entire industries only do writing. But they have places where you can find these writing-heavy roles include the world of publishing and editing. It includes corporate communications departments. A lot of people don't think about being a writer at a place like Domino's, but there are people there that are writing 40 to 80% of their day. Possibly a public relations agency. Public relations is very writing heavy as they write for their stakeholders. They write for the media, they're writing to promote whatever their client's needs are. And technical writing is another field that a lot of students have heard about but don't necessarily know about. Technical writing involves taking complicated material and putting it into language that the user can understand. So maybe like those bookshelves you get from IKEA that come with instructions. If you've had a really good technical writer, you can get that IKEA bookshelf built in the amount of time they say you can. Sure. But if your technical writer needs a little more practice, it might take a little extra time. Another place that a lot of content creation happens is in the world of broadcasting and journalism, but we will talk about that later. But there are a lot of very writing heavy jobs there as well.

Megan Riksen:

Right. Even though you would probably agree you're going to be doing writing in the field of communication in the arts, most likely In whichever job you choose.

Lisa Knapp:

Yes. Whatever job. And I should add that there aren't a lot of jobs out there, if you type in writer, you're not going to find a lot of jobs with that job title. In fact, a lot of the jobs that happen in corporate settings and nonprofit settings will say things like communication specialist, content creation, and often even be administrative assistants or assistant to somebody. Marketing might be the title. So, so really looking at those job duties in the job postings or when you're talking to somebody from those organizations to say, I really like to sit and write. Will this role afford me? The opportunity to do that regardless of the job title is really important.

Megan Riksen:

Okay. Yeah. That's great. So yeah, clearly a lot of ways that written communication can be integrated into different job types and industries. Something I've noticed in my work is how technology has found its way into this industry in a huge, huge way. We are using technology for pretty much everything we do, but specifically as it relates to digital and visual communication areas. Lisa, what did those jobs look like?

Lisa Knapp:

Right. So we know we live in a visual world now, whether that is still visuals like photography or graphic design, creating a post on Canva to put out on social media. Social media is very visual. Whether it's something along that lines or it's illustration or visual arts that are like motion graphics is an area that's really hot right now, but also film and video. A lot of our film and video alum are working in marketing departments, corporate communications. They're working for every industry that you can imagine because it is a visual world. So -

Megan Riksen:

And I know, I'm just going to jump in there because you've done a lot of work with our film and video students and you've gotten to travel and see where they are. Do you have a favorite example of a film and video alum that you visited?

Lisa Knapp:

Oh, that's probably not fair to put me on the spot like that, but -

Megan Riksen:

Sorry. I'm doing it. Or a top couple.

Lisa Knapp:

A top couple. So I really loved visiting ESPN, where we have an alumni who started in kind of production, the camera work, things of that nature, some editing, and now he's doing marketing. So this has been pre pandemic that we visited him but he had just gotten back from Los Angeles where he had spent a day with a basketball star and a top 10 recording artist doing some funny videos around one of the big movie releases for a little stint. So he had spent the day with two famous people doing TikTok videos all day long. He said he has never laughed so hard in his life. And then his job for the rest of the week was to kind of get that content curated, refined, and then plugged into their media plan for the release date to promote both the singer, the movie, and the basketball player. And I think something that was happening in the world of sports. So that was a really cool opportunity to see somebody doing that. But we also have an alumni, an illustration alumni who literally is illustrating textbooks. You never think about that when you are flipping through your textbook or online looking at that, but somebody created that visual of the heart and labeled all those parts. And if they're not very good at that, you're going to have a hard time studying. And so, so having those skills, especially those niche skills often are, are really important. So those are two of probably my favorite videos or favorite film and video. Or graphic design illustration majors that we've visited along the way. You know, another thing to think about is digital marketing happens a lot in the marketing world, right? So there's the backside of that, that a lot of our communications, especially those in the digital and visual arenas, are looking at how does this visual impact the audience impact consumer behavior make a difference, maybe because I chose, you know, the perfect elements in a social media post, more people donated to help my cause in a non-profit arena.

Megan Riksen:

Oh, I like how you brought that in.

Lisa Knapp:

It's everywhere. It's everywhere. So I think that those are important things. Document design is another visual area that we don't think about very often, but we've all used forms. We've all gone to people's websites and seen how, how things look and how we interact with that. And so there's just a lot you can do visually in the communications field.

Megan Riksen:

Cool. Thanks.

Grace Joaquin:

I have not really thought of document design, actually, so that's an interesting way to look at it too. And we, we actually have an interview with an alum who has real world experience in this field. So we're going to hear from GVSU alum, Jacob DeWeerd, who also was an intern in our office. And he is currently working as a content creator at Geonexus. So Jacob, what did you study at GVSU and where are you currently working?

Jacob DeWeerd:

I majored in writing and minored in digital studies. I picked that degree path to, I guess satisfy a lifelong interest in writing journalism, content creation, and generally just understanding how people communicated online. Right now, I currently work from home for a company named Geonexus. They're based out of Ann Arbor. They are a software as a service company that primarily partners with utility companies and municipalities. I started working there like three days after graduation, so I didn't get much of a break right after graduating, but it was all right.

Megan Riksen:

That's great. Thanks Jake. Can you tell us a little about your role and the work that you do?

Jacob DeWeerd:

My official title at Geonexus is content creator. So that basically means I handle almost all of the content creation for a Geonexus's website. There's social media and other customer facing platforms like newsletters and stuff like that. This usually includes things like blogs, graphic designs, social media posts, short, informational little videos, and basically anything else that you would find on a, a typical LinkedIn page for a company. I usually use tools like Microsoft Office and Canva for most of my day-to-Day workflow. It's not just me creating content, though. I work on a small team with four other professionals that all collaborate to fulfill Geonexus's content and marketing needs.

Grace Joaquin:

Wow. It sounds like you have a lot of variety in your work. That's super neat. Can you tell us what your favorite part of your work is?

Jacob DeWeerd:

I would say that I love how independent my role is. I have a ton of freedom when it comes to formulating ideas, designing images from scratch and putting my own personal spit on things. Of course, not everything I try to implement gets past the various review stages, but I'm not confined to a, a super strict design language or a really professional tone of voice. Like some companies force upon their content creators. It makes it way easier to create content that I'm proud of and it makes the job a lot more fun when I can try new things every once in a while.

Megan Riksen:

Yeah. That sounds like really interesting work. I can see why you like that. So let's finish up with, what advice would you give to students interested in doing something similar?

Jacob DeWeerd:

I would say don't be afraid to put your name out there for a role you might not think you're totally qualified for. If I remember correctly, Geonexus was originally looking for somebody with two to three years of experience in content writing, but I was able to join the team straight after graduating. Part of the reason for that is that I worked three or four different jobs while I was an undergrad. That gave me all kinds of great experience, but I was also really forward with the Geonexus team about my confidence and my abilities. Sometimes confidence and determination can really set you apart from other candidates you might be competing against during the job search process. Also, I would definitely create a portfolio of your most impressive work. I did this as part of one of my writing classes. I can't really remember which one off the top of my head unfortunately, but it was a huge help. I had my portfolio featured right at the top of my LinkedIn account and my resume and prospective employers could check it out to see documents I designed, news pieces I'd written and view all kinds of other content that I posted on other quarters of the internet. If you have web design skills, it also gives you an amazing opportunity to show off your skills in that regard. So yeah, definitely create a digital portfolio of some kind. If you're interested in online content creation, it really comes in handy during the job search process.

Grace Joaquin:

Thank you, Jake. What great advice, and I love that you mentioned portfolios because that is an area that I personally have less experience with, with the majors that I have worked with. So I like to hear a good example of when that has been effective. So thank you for that. And it was really great catching up with you.

Megan Riksen:

All right. So that those few clips that we just listened to were prerecorded and we actually have a little bit of an update on Jacob's career path. He has left Geonexus and is now working at GVSU. So we are, we're very excited to have him back in the family. So thanks again, Jake. Alright, so let's focus now on broadcasting and journalism as our next area. Lisa, I know you used to be a journalist yourself. Can you tell us a little bit about that and then just about this area in general, please.

Lisa Knapp:

I will. I'm happy to. So students that have worked with me, especially from the broadcasting and journalism major, know that I hold this field in high regard, in part because I have a kinship to it. I started writing for the newspaper when I was in high school already, and I never thought about it as a career path. It was just something I did. And then after graduating with a degree in communications and English, I went into teaching. But on the side I was always kind of curating opportunities to write for publications, whether it was a local magazine, a newspaper, or even sometimes newsletters that were going out. Those are, those use your journalistic skills of interviewing, determining whether something is newsworthy, creating the content, getting it refined, and all of that good stuff. Getting it to publication on time by the deadline, which my colleagues are probably laughing because I'm not known for being somebody who's super on time. I'm usually late.

Megan Riksen:

But Lisa, when you get us something, it's the best. You always doing a great job.

Lisa Knapp:

Thank you. Thank you. I, I begged for that compliment, right. But, but deadlines are fun to, to kind of race against that deadline and deliver something. It's also a position of great honor, I think because you are serving society in a way that is holding a mirror up and letting, letting us see ourselves sometimes. And we don't like that. So we want to holler at the media and, and all of that. But I won't talk much more about that part of it. But I will say there are a lot of jobs and a lot of jobs that are overlapping. So there's print journalism, there is broadcast journalism, there is podcasting, there are all of these things. And really what you need to go into journalism and broadcasting in the media in general is having a toolkit ready. And that's where using, kind of like what Jacob talked about, how you use all these overlapping skills, that is especially true as a journalist because you may be asked to take a picture when you're not technically the photographer. You might be shooting video, you may be on the road writing real time, giving updates, and that might be then tweeted or put onto a social media site. So that ability to be real time, making quick decisions, determining what's newsworthy, while building long-term relationships with people so that you have sources to go to that trust you. You can get good information and you can deliver a really good impact with your story. So, so like you can, you can see I'm excited about this but I, I like all of the communications field and obviously didn't choose to stay a journalist. I chose to use my communication skills in other ways. I did also think when we're talking about journalism, it did make me think about the fact that a lot of our students in film and video will find their way into broadcast journalism because of the overlap of production, the equipment, having hands on. And that got me thinking about another alumni that I loved visiting because we were in Chicago and we got to go to a place called Cinespace, which is this huge sound studio warehouse, television studio, and all of the sites for Chicago Hope, Chicago Fire, Chicago PD. We saw the cast from Chicago Fire eating their lunch in between takes and our alumni was a production assistant there and got to make sure the day ran smoothly and do all of these, these things both with equipment but also then with the flow of the day. So that was another alumni visit. I just wanted to throw that in there. It was so cool.

Grace Joaquin:

I'm glad you shared that as a fun one. And finally, can you tell us a little bit more about performing arts? I think a lot of people when they hear that, they instantly just think of performers. But there are a lot of ways you can work in that area and not be on stage. So can you elaborate on that?

Lisa Knapp:

I will. And let me preface this with, I have been called by grandmas four times in my career as a career advisor. And three of them were about grandchildren that were going into the performing arts because their grandmas were very concerned that they would not be gainfully employed when they left Grand Valley. Now performance is a viable career path that a lot of people, whether it's music, dance, theater, even, you know, studio arts in some way as a performance, when you're putting together your show and it's got a theme and people are interacting and engaging with it there are a lot of people that make very good livings doing that work. And it's a very fulfilling career and it helps them meet a lot of their values and their career goals. And so, do not hear me say that that is a bad way to go. And there are supports in place to help you figure that out. We have alumni that mentor our students and our new grads in the performing arts. We have resources available to them as it relates to going into what they might call freelance work, which I prefer to call self-employment. And there are a lot of opportunities to build, to build your work in that arena. But if you majored in what you loved, which was maybe theater or dance or or music, and then you're trying to do what you're best at and you have some values maybe to have a more traditional day that goes from nine to five. And you want healthcare benefits that are definitely spelled out in writing. Not that self-employment doesn't bring that, but, but not as quickly usually. And if that's something that you're looking at, a lot of times we will work with our students and our alumni in those areas and help get them connected to kind of adjacent career paths where they're using their knowledge base, what they know about performance, what they know about music, and they're taking that out into the workplace. So one thing that come, one person that comes to mind was a clarinetist. Did a little bit of work in, I think the, one of the symphonies or the orchestra but decided that that wasn't the right path for herself. And so she started making this huge list of all the things that were connected to being a clarinetist and performance. And that particular, I can't remember if it's symphony or orchestra, I know one's all woodwinds and one has other things. So don't hold me to that, that that name. But, but made this huge list and I think came back with like 127 companies ranging from the music stands that she could choose from to who's printing sheet music to who's selling clarinets, to who's selling reeds to who's repairing clarinets to who's -

Megan Riksen:

Wow. That's so smart.

Lisa Knapp:

Yes. It was so smart. And you know, when I sent her off with that assignment, let's think of the places and the people that are working with and supporting the performers. I thought it would be like 10 places. So when she came with this huge list, then we started saying, okay, what would be some top top companies? Let's research those. Let's see what are some of the roles they have there? What are some other things you've done in your life that might equip you to do that role in conjunction with that knowledge base? Because I would rather buy a clarinet from somebody who's used one, knows how it works, has all the details, than somebody who is just good at sales. Right? So, so there are a lot of things. It can be a foundational degree that takes you a lot of different places. So I encouraged all three of those grandmas to give their student their un un unfettered, I don't know what the right word is there. I've lost my words. But to give them all of their support and and love as they pursued that.

Megan Riksen:

In whatever way that turned out to be.

Lisa Knapp:

Yes, in whatever way that turned out to be.

Megan Riksen:

Yep. Yep.

Grace Joaquin:

I love hearing Lisa talk about these topics because she's so enthusiastic and you can just see how great of an advisor she is. You can hear it in her voice, I should say. So make sure to visit with her if you are interested in any of these fields.

Lisa Knapp:

Right. If I keep getting all these compliments, I might be on a podcast again. Thank you.

Megan Riksen:

Yes.

Lisa Knapp:

Thank you. Thank you.

Megan Riksen:

You are invited back. So yeah, with that we are going to say goodbye and thank you to Lisa for joining us today.

Lisa Knapp:

You are welcome. And thank you so much for doing this podcast. I think a lot of times people think communications is so general that you can't do anything specific and that's really just not true.

Megan Riksen:

Right. Great.

Grace Joaquin:

Thank you Lisa.

Megan Riksen:

Right, so now we have the pleasure of one additional interview to learn a little bit more about the performance industry. So let's get a look behind the scenes from Emma Hankey who works at Disney. She's a GVSU alum as well. So let's get started with what did you study at GVSU and where are you currently working?

Emma Hankey:

When I went to Grand Valley State University, I studied film as my major and general business as my minor. I currently work as a media and events producer at Edge Factory in Orlando, Florida.

Grace Joaquin:

Well, that sounds fun. I love Disney. Can you tell us a little bit about your role and the work that you do?

Emma Hankey:

I moved to Orlando, Florida to continue my education at the University of Central Florida, as well as work at Walt Disney World in their media production department. At UCF, I'm working towards my master's in destination marketing and event management with a focus on international mega events. Through that role, in my experience in production at Disney, I am able to continue my career as a essentially creative producer at Edge Factory producing media and events. Each, each event that we work is different and has different job responsibilities and timelines and assets that are needed to produce the media and event. The best way to describe it is the visual and creative elements of the event are things that I produce. For example, if you take the Oscars and you're looking at the stage and you see the graphics and all the LED screens behind you, that change with each presenter in each award, each of those graphics has to be produced before the event. That is one thing that I may do before an event. Another thing I may do is show call. So I will sit there with the headphone and I will cue presenters. I will cue graphic changes on the screen. I will cue music. I will visually cue anything that you see on the stage, on the screen As an audience member. Another thing that I could do is produce videos that will be shown at the event. For example, I'm currently producing about 24 25 segment videos that are interviews. Each one is about five minutes. And I have flown to each of these individual businesses around the country and produced a few videos at each location. I've conducted the interview, I've hired the videographer, I've set the production schedule, and now I'm in post-production and working with our editors, graphics and motion teams to finish the project to be shown at our client's event in April. That is another aspect of my job. It entirely depends on the client and their event needs, but essentially think of us as the creative component of an event.

Megan Riksen:

Wow. That really sounds like you do a ton in your role. It sounds very interesting. So tell us what you enjoy the most about your work.

Emma Hankey:

My favorite part about this job is my ability to combine my interests in media production and event production. In this role as a creative producer, another aspect that I'm really enjoying is the ability and opportunity to travel to a variety of cities across the country. So far in this job, I've traveled to Vegas to produce events there at the hotels. And I recently came back from Philly last week where I filmed some interviews for an event that I'll be going to in San Diego next month. The opportunity to see various cities while being creative has been a goal of mine. And now that I'm doing it, I can say it's one of my favorite parts of the job.

Grace Joaquin:

That sounds like so much fun to be able to travel all over and do work that you love. Do you have any advice for students who are interested in doing something similar?

Emma Hankey:

The advice I'd give to students is really research the field and find positions that interest you. Beyond that, the positions you currently know. There is more than just the director, the cinematographer, art wardrobe. There are so many positions that exist in media production and it just takes some research and finding what your passions are to point you in the right direction. For me, I have always been interested in media production and event production. So through time and through conversations with other people, I learned of the role creative event producer. This job sparked my interest and I continued putting in effort to gain experience in both sectors, which led me to this role now. And I think without those conversations and without me expressing my interest to other people, I would've never learned of a position like this. So really researching, talking to people and knowing what you are interested in. If you're interested in directing, learn about the different type of directors that exist. There's more directors than just films. There's stage directors, there's commercial directors, music, video directors, event directors. There are so many types of directors, there's so many types of producers, there's so many types of wardrobe, individuals in art departments. There's so many types out there. So really researching and discussing and just asking questions about how people got to where they are, what people want to do. And just learning the roles, I think will be the most beneficial to point you in the right direction of where you want to go.

Megan Riksen:

Well, I think that is all really excellent advice. So thank you so much Emma, for sharing your perspectives.

Grace Joaquin:

And we really just scratched the surface when it comes to careers in communication in the arts. But hopefully you were able to get a glimpse into some of the career paths within the industry.

Megan Riksen:

Yeah, I feel like my mind is a little blown. Like there, there were just so many new things that I learned about or new ways of thinking about a specific industry that you think you know about.

Grace Joaquin:

Totally.

Megan Riksen:

Yeah. This is a really cool field.

Grace Joaquin:

It's so fun. I feel like if I had, you know, a second life, maybe I would've gone - you are in this field now.

Megan Riksen:

I mean I am doing this. But yeah, the world out there is so big and vast within this area.

Grace Joaquin:

Yeah, it's exciting.

Megan Riksen:

It is. All right. Well thank you so much to everyone who participated today. Lisa Knapp, Jacob DeWeerd, and Emma Hankey. We really loved hearing from you. As a listener, if you are like me and feeling a little bit overwhelmed be sure to head to our website because we have a ton of information on there. Specifically our communication and the arts career community would be a great place to start. But in the show notes, we'll also link out to a bunch of different departments at Grand Valley where you can learn more about these specific areas. All right. So thank you so much to everyone for listening, and we hope you tune into a future episode soon.