Aimee Chau
June 1, 2021
Aime Chau (2021)
Aimee Chau has been working on customer and employee experience programs with various top 100 QSR brands in the US for four years. She brings along experience in fine dining and human resources. After graduating from Truman, she pursued her Master’s in Professional Communication at Westminster College in Salt Lake City, UT. After graduating, she moved back to Kansas City where she currently resides with her two dogs. She currently works at Service Management Group as Account Manager. When she is not working, you can find her sipping drinks on a patio or enjoying live music in KC.
What year did you graduate and what was your concentration?
I graduated in December 2013 with a BA in Public Communication and a minor in English.
What extra-/co-curricular activities did you do?
I was in the sorority Alpha Sigma Alpha, the honor fraternity Phi Sigma Pi, Campus Christian Fellowship, College Democrats, and short stints on the Debate team, and Student Senate.
Aimee (3rd fr left) with her ΦΣΠ cohort (2012).
Did you go to grad school? If so, where? Was it immediately after you left Truman or did you wait? Why?
Yes, I went to graduate school straight out of Truman to Westminster College in Salt Lake City, UT. I grew up in Utah and I really love it there, so when I heard about their Master of Professional Communication program (now Master of Strategic Communication), I jumped at the opportunity. It was a great transitional period of using my Communication degree and tailoring my skills for professional settings.
What was your first job after graduation?
I was a Payroll Specialist at Paychex. They helped pay for school and got me interested in applying my communication skills in the field of HR.
Aimee hanging out (2019).
What work do you do/What are you doing now?
I am Account Manager at Service Management Group (SMG) in Kansas City, MO. I provide support to our Client Insights teams for our employee experience projects.
How has your Liberal Arts/COMM education helped you?
I did not specifically seek out a liberal arts program for Communication, but now I recommend it. It taught me flexibility and adaptiveness. Of course, communication impacts every facet of life, but being able to pivot quickly like you learn with media writing with Professor Krause and Dr. Smith – that takes you places.
Which class did you dislike at the time you took it, but now you’re grateful you took it?
Easy. Experimental Methods and Survey Research. It seems mundane now, but data is in everything you touch in your professional life – as it should be.
What was your greatest accomplishment at Truman?
We somehow sneaked a Harry Potter presentation in for Senior Seminar and brought butterbeer cupcakes. It was such a fun way to end.
Why is Truman a good place for a student to study?
You can get an education anywhere, but to have faculty remember you and be invested in your success is something special. That’s Truman.
What would you say a COMM student should absolutely do while at Truman?
Try and find applications to your coursework. The faculty does a great job of creating those situations for you, but I was better able to remember things from my Communication courses when I could tie learnings to instances where I used them.
Aimee (center) hanging out with her COMM friends off campus (2015).
What advice would you give someone who wants to go into the same line of work as you?
Actually for any line of work, try to stay in tune with industry trends. For employee experience, that means following Gallup polls, LinkedIn trends, and experience strategy platforms like SMG.
What do you miss most about campus/Kirksville?
Walking to Barnett! (Editor’s note: You are in the minority with that opinion. 
)
Aimee (center) and her ΑΣΑ sisters (2011).
What tag line would you create for the COMM department at Truman?
“Come for the education, stay for the skills.”
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?
Create a Better Workplace – it would be an elective that feeds off Organizational Communication about fostering teamwork and communication in the workplace.
What did we not ask that you think is important for people to know?
Be curious and ask tons of questions. You don’t need to know what you’re going to do after Truman or find your calling now. This is your opportunity to dabble in lots of things, you’ll have your whole professional career to hone your talent later.
If you would like to learn more of Aimee’s story, you can follow her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, or even her website.