How I use my creative writing degree IRL

When I had to pick a major, I chose Radio, Television and Film because I wanted to be a director and screenplay writer. Which, I honestly still want to get into, but that’s an adventure for another day. My first year, I started taking RTFV pre-req’s    but I was just coasting my first year, not paying attention to my GPA. Which, you had to have a minimum of a B+ and I’m pretty sure I was a C student at the time. I decided to double major in English with a concentration in Creative Writing. 

Realizing that I was advancing in creative writing but trying to get into the RTVF program was going to delay graduation, I decided to drop it. I know I loved writing fiction but my professor Jill Talbot taught me to love non-fiction. However, my plan was to go to graduate school and then figure out what I wanted to do professionally after that but I didn’t get accepted. So during my junior year, I scored an internship at a radio station my mom works at for the summer. 

Then my last semester, I was an editorial assistant at a content marketing agency. That’s where I discovered the world of marketing. During my time as an editorial assistant, I wrote blog posts for an HVAC thought leader, blog posts for D Custom’s website and social media posts. During my time there, I realized I should try and find a job in the marketing world. 

My first couple of jobs weren’t necessarily focused in writing, but eventually at Splash Media I was able to write for a couple different clients and exercise my photography skills. Because of that, I landed a job with the Integer Group as a content specialist AKA content creator. 

My creative writing skills kicked in when I started to write copy for social media for See’s Candies at Integer. I developed my writing, photography and graphic design skills there. 

Writing for brands isn’t the same, obviously. But I do get to use my creativeness when I produce videos and write stories highlighting people at my current job as a Communications Specialist for the University of North Texas. 

I write every day for UNT’s social media platforms and I get to figure out how to connect with our audience through storytelling. It’s one of the most creative jobs I’ve had but it still doesn’t completely fulfill that creative drive I have which is why I make videos for my YouTube channel and create content for my blog. 

Coming soon: short stories! Stay tuned.