{"id":2226,"date":"2020-11-17T12:00:31","date_gmt":"2020-11-17T12:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.truman.edu\/commspotlight\/?p=2226"},"modified":"2021-04-26T18:52:58","modified_gmt":"2021-04-26T18:52:58","slug":"chiodini20201117","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.truman.edu\/commspotlight\/2020\/11\/17\/chiodini20201117\/","title":{"rendered":"Jessica Chiodini"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Jessica Chiodini (2020)<\/p><\/div>\n

Jessica is a St. Louis native and communication professional. As both a Communication and English major, Truman developed her skills and passion for working with people. Jessica is currently a Director of Client Services at Sapper Consulting<\/a>, a growing marketing firm in St. Louis. Outside of work (and quarantine times) she and her partner Dan love to find great coffee, host dinners, and soak up everything St. Louis has to offer.<\/p>\n

What year did you graduate and what was your concentration?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I graduated in 2015 with a concentration in Journalism<\/a> and a dual major in English<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What extra-\/co-curricular activities did you do?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I was a member of Alpha Gamma Delta<\/a> and contributed to the Truman Media Network<\/a>! I was also a preceptor for one summer at the Joseph Baldwin Academy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Jessica (2nd fr left) casually sitting around with a few of her \u0391\u0393\u0394 sisters (2015).<\/p><\/div>\n

Did you go to grad school? If so, where?\u00a0 Was it immediately after you left Truman or did you wait?\u00a0 Why?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I decided not to pursue grad school after leaving Truman and haven\u2019t found the need to go back to school in my current career path.<\/p>\n

What was your first job after graduation?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Immediately after graduating, I started a job that found me in local Sam\u2019s Clubs trying to sell products like hair straighteners and magic pillows. It was not what I imagined I would be doing after graduation, to say the least. I lasted for about the length of the summer and then quit to go figure out what my next step would be and accepted that finding a job would be my job for a while. Luckily I had a great support system at the time that allowed me to do that. And that first job….well, it\u2019s something I look back on and laugh about now!<\/p>\n

What work do you do\/What are you doing now?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I currently work at Sapper Consulting<\/a>, which is a growing marketing firm in St. Louis. Sapper aims to replace the cold call for other B2B businesses all over the country and deliver qualified sales leads through email. I started there about 3 years ago and fell in love with the \u201cstart up\u201d culture and the opportunities that it brought along. I\u2019m currently a Director in the Client Services Department and manage a team of people!<\/p>\n

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Jessica (2nd fr left) hanging out with friends (2019).<\/p><\/div>\n

How has your Liberal Arts\/COMM education helped you?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think I realized it at the time, but the liberal arts approach instilled in me the belief and confidence that I could do new, or hard, or uncomfortable things and succeed. It was non-negotiable at Truman.\u00a0 In the COMM department, we were encouraged to at least dip our toes into topics, activities, classes, etc. that would stretch you and, in the process, build your critical thinking skills.\u00a0 That allowed me to say \u201cyes,\u201d to things I might not have, even if I had to figure it out along the way. That \u201cjust say yes\u201d mentality has never steered me wrong in my career so far and has opened up more doors than I could\u2019ve imagined. I know I wouldn\u2019t have felt as optimistic in those situations had I not had 4 years of good practice doing the same thing at Truman.<\/p>\n

Which class did you dislike at the time you took it, but now you\u2019re grateful you took it?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I wouldn\u2019t say I disliked<\/em> it, but Communication Law<\/a> was a lot of work! I\u2019m so grateful for it now because it\u2019s a topic that has only gotten more and more important\/interesting since graduating and in our current landscape.<\/p>\n

What was your greatest accomplishment at Truman?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

My greatest accomplishment as Truman was completing both my English and Communication Senior Capstones at the same time (although, that was maybe bad planning on my part). They were both huge, time consuming projects. By the end of the semester, both were projects I was really proud of.<\/p>\n

Why is Truman a good place for a student to study?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

There are so many opportunities for students to get involved, both in the classroom and in other organizations. The community is there to be a part of as long as you\u2019re willing. Your dollar can go far at Truman in terms of work and life experiences!<\/p>\n

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Jessica (right) and her friend getting their game face on (2013).<\/p><\/div>\n

What would you say a COMM student should absolutely<\/u> do while at Truman?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Get a mentor in your area of study . . . which probably means utilizing office hours early and often!<\/p>\n

What advice would you give someone who wants to go into the same line of work as you?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve already alluded to this, but my best advice would be to say \u201cyes\u201d and trust your gut when presented with new opportunities. The job you take right now doesn\u2019t have to be your \u201cforever,\u201d but if it\u2019s going to grow your skills, knowledge, or understanding of yourself in some way, then it will serve you for whatever is next. I couldn\u2019t have told you exactly where\u2019d I\u2019d be working at this point in my life when I graduated, and that\u2019s OK. It may not come in the trajectory or timing you expect, but work hard, be kind, and remain open-minded.<\/p>\n

What do you miss most about campus\/Kirksville?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I miss the literal closeness of everything–friends, learning, the incredible library . . . the HyVee! Living and learning in a community like Kirksville<\/a> and a campus like Truman was something that was very special.<\/p>\n

What tag line would you create for the COMM department at Truman?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

“The Communication Department: If you do this right, you can spin it into anything”\u00a0 \"\"<\/p>\n

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?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

This might academically be a stretch, but my class would cover all things Enneagram and Myers-Briggs. I\u2019d spin it so that students could deep dive themselves to help understand the qualities of a career they might thrive in.<\/p>\n

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Jessica (2nd fr right) and a few of her \u0391\u0393\u0394 sisters celebrating graduation (2015).<\/p><\/div>\n

If you would like to learn more of Jessica’s story or if <\/span><\/strong>you want to learn more about the Department of Communication, contact us!<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jessica is a St. Louis native and communication professional. As both a Communication and English major, Truman developed her skills and passion for working with people. Jessica is currently a Director of Client Services at Sapper Consulting, a growing marketing firm in St. Louis. Outside of work (and quarantine times) she and her partner Dan … Read More →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":497,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[50608],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-watdn"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.truman.edu\/commspotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.truman.edu\/commspotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.truman.edu\/commspotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.truman.edu\/commspotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/497"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.truman.edu\/commspotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2226"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.truman.edu\/commspotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2226\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2463,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.truman.edu\/commspotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2226\/revisions\/2463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.truman.edu\/commspotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.truman.edu\/commspotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.truman.edu\/commspotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}