My degree was English with a Print Journalism Minor. I worked in journalism for about 8 years after graduating from MU, spending most of that time working for weeklies produced by Engle Publishing out of Mount Joy. It was a fun job and I was getting paid to write, which was great, but I eventually decided print journalism wasn’t the way I wanted to go anymore, as the newspaper industry continued to suffer. I was fortunate to find a job with Auntie Anne’s soft pretzels in Lancaster as an internal communications specialist. There, I spent five years learning how to transition my writing and communications skills into a business environment. After my time with Auntie Anne’s, I transitioned into an internal communications role with Burlington Stores and moved to Philadelphia, where I spent a few years eventually getting a different job with a company called CSL Behring. They’re a biotechnology company based out of King of Prussia, with a global presence of more than 20,000 employees in more than 30 countries. I’ve been with CSL Behring for about two and a half years and was recently promoted to a senior specialist role. I’m traveling more with this job than I ever have in my career and last fall had the pleasure of attending a conference with some of my global colleagues in Bern, Switzerland.

The most exciting part of this job for me though is that it’s given me an opportunity to get back to my roots in journalism. Our company recently launched a news site called Vita, where we share stories from our company about our patients, our culture, science and our viewpoints on biotech topics. Through this job, I not only have the chance to write articles for this site, but I also create videos to tell stories. Here is one of the videos I’m most proud of.

I definitely wouldn’t have the career I have without my time at Millersville, and I’m always grateful for what I learned from the professors in the MU English Department. I think my career path shows that even if you don’t go a traditional route with your career, you can still often find a way to do what you love if you follow your passions, as cliche as that sounds. Find things you like to do that others value and do them well and it’s likely that someone will want to hire you.