Abbey Johnson
July 16, 2019
Abbey Johnson (2019)
Abbey Johnson is the youngest of three girls in her family. She lives and works in St. Louis, but also works throughout Canada. As of this year, she has been to every province in Canada except Quebec (speaking French would have helped with that). When she is not working, which is rare, she likes to travel and hang out with her friends. You can more than likely find me outdoors (hiking, four-wheeling, patio drinking, etc.) or in a vegetative state on my couch binge watching Netflix with my two cats.
What year did you graduate and what was your concentration?
I graduated May 2016 and my concentration was in Public Communication.
What extra-/co-curricular activities did you do?
Abbey (center) and sorority sisters (2015).
I was a part of Sigma Kappa and Alpha Kappa Psi.
Did you go to grad school? If so, where? Was it immediately after you left Truman or did you wait? Why?
I did not attend grad school.
What was your first job after graduation?
I started as an Account Representative at Ansira. I started on our Subaru account and reviewed advertising.
What work do you do/What are you doing now?
I am now an Account Executive at Ansira. I am the Lincoln Commitment Program – Canada Client Partnership & Operations lead and Lincoln Commitment Program – US Program Headquarters lead. A lot of my job includes working with our clients and making sure the programs are running smoothly. I work very closely with our developers and data teams, so I know a lot more than I could have ever imagined about coding. I also travel throughout Canada and visit the Lincoln dealerships for their facility reviews.
How has your Liberal Arts/COMM education helped you?
Abbey (left) and 3 other COMM students at the 2016 Iowa Caucuses.
I have been able to move up quickly by being extremely versatile and learning quickly. I believe that my Liberal Arts background has helped me adapt to new things quickly since I was always having to shift my focus throughout my time at Truman.
Which class did you dislike at the time you took it, but now you’re grateful you took it?
Public Speaking. I used to hate talking in front of people. I could barely state my order at a drive thru. Once I joined the COMM Department, public speaking became a must and I had to do it repeatedly. Eventually it stopped bothering me and I started to embrace the speeches I had to give. I’d like to think because of that skill, I have been able to impress my bosses and develop good relationships with my clients.
What was your greatest accomplishment at Truman?
Like I said earlier I could barely order in a drive-thru and now I lead meetings every week. The conquering of my fear of public speaking was my greatest accomplishment.
Why is Truman a good place for a student to study?
Truman is well known throughout Missouri. Everyone knows you had a quality education if you went there. I loved it because I was able to grow into the person I am today and had professor and student mentors who lead me along the way.
What would you say a COMM student should absolutely do while at Truman?
One of Abbey’s beautiful pictures she took in Vancouver, BC (2019).
Take a class that you find interesting, even if it has nothing to do with what you think your future job might be. I took photography for fun and I use the skills that Don Krause taught me almost every day. Whether it be for work or for pleasure, I have some amazing photos because I took a class just because I found it interesting.
What advice would you give someone who wants to go into the same line of work as you?
Work hard, be versatile, and always continue to learn. I work as hard as I can to show my bosses/team that I am a team player and they can rely on me. I have been told numerous times that my versatility is highly sought after and is one of the reasons I have been successful. Always continue to learn because you don’t know everything. You don’t stop learning once you leave college. Especially in the marketing & data field tools and information are ever changing.
What do you miss most about campus/Kirksville?
I miss being within a 5-mile radius of my friends. I never realized how much I would miss living next door to my friends until I had to drive 30+ minutes to see them.
Abbey and friends at a Blues game (2018).
What tag line would you create for the COMM department at Truman?
“Listen. Learn. Pursue.”
If you could come back to Truman and teach a class for a semester, what would be its title and what would it be about?
Abbey enjoying the outdoors (2019).
If I could teach a class, it would probably be called Little Details. It would be about how to pay attention and spot the tiniest of details in advertising. A lot of what my company does is review advertisements against the Brand’s guidelines and so you must be paying close attention or some of these companies could get fined.
What did we not ask that you think is important for people to know?
I think it is important for people to know that there are so many different jobs you can have in the marketing/advertising field that even if you don’t think you fit the description it doesn’t matter. I was always terrified in college that I was going to fail once I left because I wasn’t creative enough and all the jobs, we discussed in class wouldn’t work out for me. It turns out there are so many different things you can do the possibilities are endless. Just don’t get discouraged if the first job you land out of college isn’t the job you thought it was, because you’ll find the right job for you.
If you would like to learn more of Abbey’s story, you can follow her on Instagram or Twitter.