{"id":2478,"date":"2021-05-11T00:00:20","date_gmt":"2021-05-11T00:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.truman.edu\/commspotlight\/?p=2478"},"modified":"2021-05-10T15:43:57","modified_gmt":"2021-05-10T15:43:57","slug":"nolan20210511","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.truman.edu\/commspotlight\/2021\/05\/11\/nolan20210511\/","title":{"rendered":"Erica Nolan"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Erica Nolan (2021)<\/p><\/div>\n

Erica Nolan is a Truman alumni that left St. Louis, MO in 2018 to take on the big city of Chicago.\u00a0 She currently resides in the Northside neighborhood of Edgewater with her roommate and fellow Truman alumni, Paige Yungermann<\/a>, and works in the Investor Relations department of a private equity firm as a Marketing Coordinator. In her free time she can be found reading, cross-stitching, binge watching Netflix, or searching for the best Chi-rish bar with her fianc\u00e9, Dave.<\/p>\n

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

I graduated in 2016; I have a BA in English<\/a> with a Writing concentration with minors in Communication<\/a> and International Studies<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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

I was pretty busy.\u00a0 I was a member of Tau Lambda Sigma<\/a> (social service sorority); a journalist with the Truman Media Network<\/a>; a writing coach at the Truman State University Writing Center<\/a>; a contributor to and editor with Windfall Literary Magazine<\/a>; and a writer for The Odyssey Online<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Erica (left) and a couple of her \u03a4\u039b\u03a3 sisters supporting each other (2015).<\/p><\/div>\n

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

Not yet, but I\u2019ve been looking into online certification programs in digital marketing.<\/p>\n

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

I was working three jobs right after graduation\u2014 I had a lot more energy five years ago. In the mornings I was a\u00a0 part-time proofreader at Guide Book Publishing<\/a>, a publisher in St. Louis that produces directories for religious congregations around the United States. In the afternoons and evenings I was a bookseller at Barnes and Noble in St. Peters. Lastly, when I had a moment to breathe, I was an editorial intern at Amphorae Publishing<\/a> an indie press also in St. Louis.<\/p>\n

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Erica being “baptized” into Chicago culture (2021).<\/p><\/div>\n

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

I currently work in the Investor Relations department of a Private Equity firm in Chicago as the Marketing Coordinator.<\/p>\n

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

My Liberal Arts education taught me the importance of self-awareness. Knowing your strengths and weaknesses before entering the workforce is a must\u2014 and you\u2019ll be able to learn that at Truman.\u00a0 Take my current position as an example. I\u2019m surrounded by financial professionals that speak the language of buyouts, EBITDAs, and valuation summaries. I speak the language of sentence structure, word choice, and Oxford commas. Over the last two years, I\u2019ve become the go-to person for reading through mass emails and quarterly investor letters before they\u2019re released. Remember, every company needs a variety of skill sets to function.<\/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\u2019d have to say Dr. Smith\u2019s<\/a> Communication Law<\/a> was a course I didn\u2019t find that interesting while I was in it\u2014 but it has become an essential part of my job. I recently created a photo release form for employees at my firm because the company didn\u2019t have one and constantly work with my company\u2019s compliance team when writing copy for our LinkedIn pages and website. Pay attention in this class, it\u2019ll serve you well in the long run.<\/p>\n

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

My greatest accomplishment at Truman was having one of my Odyssey Online<\/a> articles go viral on Truman\u2019s Campus. It reached 3.1K shares in a week which, for Kirksville in 2016, was something to brag about.<\/p>\n

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Erica (right) and a friend studying abroad (2015).<\/p><\/div>\n

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

Truman gives you the chance to let your nerd flag fly. I jokingly tell people that someone saw Kirksville and thought to themselves, \u201cThis is the perfect place to send all of the nerds near and around Northeast Missouri.\u201d\u00a0 Truman teaches you that it\u2019s okay to be passionate\u2014 passionate about anything and everything. Truman\u2019s where I really learned how to be myself.<\/p>\n

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

Get involved with the Truman Media Network<\/a> as soon as you can. It\u2019s a way to get some real life experience before you need the real life experience.<\/p>\n

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

Always look for a piece of your job that you\u2019re passionate about. Not every element of your day-to-day is going to be enjoyable, but if you have at least one project you\u2019re working on that brings you fulfillment, it\u2019ll be worth it.<\/p>\n

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Erica & fianc\u00e9 celebrating St. Patrick’s day (2021).<\/p><\/div>\n

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

I\u2019m going to be extremely honest\u2014 it\u2019s AYCD at Dukum<\/a>\u2026or maybe the corn nuggets and root beer floats at Pancake City<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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

“When in doubt, bring Dr. Self<\/a> a Diet Coke.” (Editor’s note<\/em>: I like the way you think!).<\/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

Contemporary Irish Literature. We would look at works by contemporary Irish authors like Sally Rooney (Normal People), Emma Donoghue (Room), Colm Toibin (Brooklyn), etc. through different literary lenses and also discuss society in contemporary Ireland\u2014 the course could count as an English or International Studies credit.<\/p>\n

What did we not ask that you think is important for people to know?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I think it\u2019s important for people\u2014especially Truman students\u2014to realize that life isn\u2019t the straight line many of us are taught it is when we enter college. Most of us are just ticking off metaphorical boxes when we get to Truman\u2014graduate high school, go to college, get a job, etc. Truman is a place filled with people that like to follow the rules and do what society deems correct. The rest of the world doesn\u2019t work that way. Don\u2019t try to over plan your life before it\u2019s even started (and believe me, your life hasn\u2019t started yet). It\u2019s important to work hard for what you want, but it\u2019s just as important to embrace the unexpected. I wouldn\u2019t be in Chicago if I hadn\u2019t done that.<\/p>\n

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Erica (2nd fr left) and friends after graduation (2016).<\/p><\/div>\n

If you would like to learn more of Erica’s story, you can follow her on Instagram<\/a> or check out her blog, The Book Nook Chronicles<\/a>.<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n

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If <\/span><\/strong>you want to learn more about the Department of Communication, contact us!<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Erica Nolan is a Truman alumni that left St. Louis, MO in 2018 to take on the big city of Chicago.\u00a0 She currently resides in the Northside neighborhood of Edgewater with her roommate and fellow Truman alumni, Paige Yungermann, and works in the Investor Relations department of a private equity firm as a Marketing Coordinator. … 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-2478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-watdn"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.truman.edu\/commspotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2478","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=2478"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.truman.edu\/commspotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2478\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2492,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.truman.edu\/commspotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2478\/revisions\/2492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.truman.edu\/commspotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.truman.edu\/commspotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.truman.edu\/commspotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}