Meet Christy Butler, a senior brand manager.
In a few sentences, describe your post-Biola work/life journey.
I didn’t have a clear plan after graduation, so started close to home, working in Biola’s IT Helpdesk – during my time there I got interested in project management. After a few years, I leveraged that experience and started freelancing as a project manager in advertising & marketing. From there, I made a jump to global brand communications at Oakley, then went back to the Ad agency world, where I now work on brand advertising for Hyundai.
What is your specific position [at the organization/company where you work]? And how did getting an English degree prepare you for the job?
I’m a senior brand manager at Innocean Worldwide, an advertising agency that is a sister company to Hyundai, Kia and Genesis.
In my work, one of the biggest responsibilities is managing expectations by clearly communicating client requests to the agency, and communicating intel from the agency back to my clients. So being able to think and write clearly, navigate opposing lines of thought, and synthesize complex perspectives is always needed, and these skills were developed and sharpened during my time as an English major.
What was a favorite class or experience you had while a Biola English major?
Kleist’s Shakespearian Tragedies class was epic.
What about life after college was most surprising to you?
I was surprised by how much more fulfilling it was – I had expected to find that I missed academic life, and I did, but the hopeful thing is that the more skilled you become in a certain area, the more interesting and rewarding that work becomes. So professional work that you may not have initially thought was career material can still become terribly interesting as you become more knowledgeable and skilled.
What advice would you give to a current Biolan majoring in English? Or what’s something you did in college that later helped you professionally?
English majors get a bad reputation for not having any “real” skills, and while that is mostly BS, also make sure that you know how to use Excel, how to build and present a decent keynote, and always be sure to write thank you notes after interviews.
Are you reading lately, and if so, what?
I’m currently reading Goodnight Moon about 10 times per night to my daughter, and re-reading Half-Blood Prince as well as The Elegance of the Hedgehog to myself.