Third and final of our recent graduate spotlights is on Economics major and Entrepreneurship minor, Christina Townsend. Currently, Christina runs her own business, Illumination Consulting, and serves as its Chief Creative Officer. She was highly involved at Miami as a mentor and tutor for the Clubhouse kids’ program, a leader of Creativity City for WCIW, and lead TA for ESP 321 for many semesters. She shared with us some of her insights from being a servant leader and creative rockstar in the Entrepreneurship program.

Tell us a little about your role; what do you do day-to-day?

I am the founder of Illumination Consulting, and currently its sole member. I started it last June as I finished my degrees from Miami. The mission of Illumination in its simplest form is to provide branding and marketing assistance to small businesses that have limited resources but a need for large growth. My day-to-day job is constantly evolving, which is part of what keeps it interesting. As the only person in my company, I am fully responsible for and accountable to myself. I manage all client relations, do big picture strategizing, and perform the more tactical daily tasks needed to get my client’s company from point A to point B. Sometimes this means brainstorming sessions of how to bring new leads to the company and convert them, while other times it means building a social media graphic or analyzing a Google Ads test. I usually do not know what exactly my day will look like when I wake up until I check my Trello boards and Slack messages.

What experiences through the ESP program prepared you for the professional world? 

I spent a lot of my time in the entrepreneurship program working with clients. The class that most closely translates to my current work is ESP 321, which is Mark Lacker’s Agile Marketing & Scrum class. I took the course during my second semester junior year, then acted as the TA for it in the three semesters following. In that class, we practiced Agile methodologies to work more effectively as a team, we learned digital marketing tools, we discovered how to be adaptable and scrappy in a setting where we needed high growth with low resources, and we quantified repeatable strategies that a client can put into place immediately. As a TA, I also gained experience in peer leading/coaching and learned on-the-spot how to put out fires as they arose. I was able to work alongside Mark to develop and adjust the course as we went, leading teams to success and ultimately providing great value for the clients. While I’m equally grateful for other courses, such as Friedman’s 351 and 461 creativity courses and Beth Troy’s Advancing Women in Entrepreneurship special topic that also played a role in shaping me into who I am today, my work with Mark prepared me most for where I am at the moment. 

What skills did you gain from ESP that you have continued to use after graduation? 

Agile project management and creative brainstorming are the tools I use the most. These are built into how I work in general, especially with clients. A current example of both includes my close work with a client in the aftermath of COVID-19. The quarantine has forced us into an interesting position where holes in our previous marketing efforts are being revealed and a need for new, innovative ideas is growing. Two of the biggest pieces of my experience in the entrepreneurship program that have become essential are my Agile Marketing and Creative Problem Solving expertise. Both processes are vital to being adaptable in the current environment. As soon as a need for new ways of reaching prospects and turning them into leads was brought to me, I started leading two important efforts. One is a re-emphasis on Scrum Methodologies (Agile Management) for how we structure our workload. The client asked me to run our project boards and daily stand-ups to assure full transparency in our work, as well as daily progress on the most important projects. In addition, I am heading a brainstorming focus group to bring outside, third-party perspectives into our marketing efforts. Everything from the people I am inviting to the questions I’ll ask them to the development and implementation strategies I’ll use afterward stems from my knowledge of and experience with creative problem solving gained from the Institute.

What about the transition to the professional world was surprising or challenging? 

For me, the most challenging part has been holding myself accountable and building my own schedule. I am in a somewhat unique situation, where I did not go get a “normal” 9-5 job. I don’t have a supervisor. I’m not reporting to anyone and no one is reporting to me. I don’t even use an office building, I just work from home. So, even before the current craziness with COVID-19, I was completely responsible for my workdays, trying to balance the post-grad transition to adulthood with new duties to my clients. The amount of work I get done in a day is solely reliant on me. Even if my workload is light on a specific day because I am in-between projects with clients, it is still on me to seek out the work I need to keep my business and life running. The hardest part of running the ship solo for me has been the lack of built-in connection with others. Because this is important to me and not organically part of my job currently, I have to be intentional about creating it for myself.

What advice would you give underclassmen in the Entrepreneurship program? 

Take your work seriously, but don’t take yourself too seriously. Both in and out of the Institute, you will have countless opportunities to do work that is exciting and makes an impact. Take it seriously. Don’t blow off classes or projects. Instead, hold yourself to a high standard and be accountable to yourself in doing work that matters to you. We oftentimes as students take a passive approach to our education and simply check off boxes for our assignments, but you will be a better person for the parts of your time at Miami that you approach actively. That being said, it’s easy to get caught up in the stress and overwhelm ourselves. All students, but especially those with an inclination toward fields like entrepreneurship, are at risk of burnout. It’s a very real problem that most of us face at some point in our college careers, including those who pridefully assume they never will. My best advice for avoiding it is while you should take your work seriously, you should also leave room for fun/relaxing/self-care/etc. I am always at my top performance as a student, employee, team member, consultant, and person when I am balancing my drive to work hard with my mental and emotional health needs. If you aren’t able to find enjoyment, laughter, excitement, and fulfillment in your days, you are likely prioritizing your workload over yourself, and I would highly recommend an internal audit of your life to see where there is room for a little more play.

What is a fond memory you have from your time in Entrepreneurship? 

I have so many, it’s hard to choose. I genuinely loved my time in the program and believe it shaped me into a stronger, smarter, all-around better human. One memory that sticks out to me, however, is from last spring when I volunteered at Social Innovation Weekend. Most of the Saturday, I was running around getting supplies for people or manning the help desk to make sure no one needed anything. But when about 8pm or so hit, I decided to walk around to the rooms to check on teams and see what they were working on. One group in particular stood out. They were looking at ways to improve the lives of kids who come from homes affected by opioid addiction, in order to break the cycle and help empower them to brighter futures. As I sat in with two faculty members (Mark Lacker and Todd Stuart) giving feedback on their idea, I came to a realization that I was a thought leader on the subject. For most of my college career, I either volunteered at or led a children’s ministry through my church that worked with underprivileged kids in the Oxford area. We met with them once a week for tutoring and mentoring, oftentimes acting as one of the most stable, consistent pieces of their lives. Multiple of the children I had worked closely with over the years came from bad home lives, including ones where drugs were present, parents were in-and-out of jail, and custody was changing constantly. I shared my experiences with the team and gave input on what types of programs, both academic-related and otherwise, would most benefit children in those circumstances. I was able to tell stories from one of the most important pieces of my life to provide insight into the deeper needs and desires of the kids this team was targeting. When we left the room, Mark and Todd both complimented me on my use of personal experience and expertise on the subject. What stands out most, though, was not me being able to help those students. It was a connection I had never fully made before of truly understanding where the intersection could be between the mission-driven work I’ve always been passionate about and the entrepreneurial education I was pursuing. It has even encouraged me to re-imagine my future and how I can continue to use my entrepreneurship degree moving forward to make a positive impact.

The second in our series of recent graduate spotlights is 2018 grad, Amber Hallmann. Amber triple majored in Entrepreneurship, Interactive Media Studies, and Marketing and is now a Client Engagement Specialist at Quicksilver Studios in Chicago. She previously worked at The Garage Group as an Associate Innovation and Growth Strategist. During her time in Entrepreneurship at Miami, Amber led Igoodea and WCIW, participated in Startup Weekend many times, interned through the Altman Internship program, and now serves as an advisory board member for WCIW. Today, Amber shares with us some of her favorite experiences in ESP and lessons from the working world.

Tell us a little about your role; what do you do day-to-day?

My role is a hybrid of account management and marketing so my day to day is never the same, but usually involves many different forms of marketing. I am responsible for bringing in new business as well as engaging with current clients and enhancing their experience. Some days I am physically at networking events and in-person meetings while others I work more on the background; writing content, updating our website and social media pages, emailing prospects and sitting in on pitches. A big part of our business is branding so I make our brand and messaging consistent across all our assets and our company. Some of my days are spent ensuring we build out an entire identity by ideating and iterating on who we are, what we do, and why we do it.

What experiences through the Entrepreneurship program prepared you for your role and the professional world? 

Oh gosh, so many! Creating brand identities, business model innovation, facilitating ideation sessions, and having real-world internships are just some of the ESP program experiences which prepared me. Startup Weekend comes to mind as a game changer from an exposure to business models standpoint. The team you work on but also all the types of business you are exposed to allow you to better understand the business and potential ways you can scale. We are scaling at Quicksilver right now and that has been very useful. Igoodea and WCIW prepared me the most from an anything and everything aspect. Thinking outside of the box, leadership, organization management, negotiations, and the list continues. Those two experiences really taught me how to think on my feet, be a team member, and make things happen. Those are the skills you really need in any role. Oh! And internships! The way ESP does internships is unlike any other. I learned how to work in many different situations with different people and on meaningful projects with the support of my professors, which was such an awesome opportunity.

What skills did you gain from ESP that you have continued to use after graduation?

Personal branding comes to mind first. Creating and developing my personal brand was so important and those lessons directly carried over to my new role developing clients’ brands and Quicksilver as a company. In ESP, I not only had the opportunity to create my own personal brand and learn the tools of doing so, but I was also able to run innovation sessions for Igoodea and guests of ESP. These real-world opportunities and experiences (which you should always say yes to) gave me so many soft and hard skills that I still use every day. In client sessions now, I even hear faculty members repeating cues such as “read the room”.

What about the transition to the professional world was surprising or challenging? 

Honestly, I would have felt so much less prepared if it weren’t for the real-world projects and thinking that ESP prepared us for (I’ve actually had friends in other majors say how they wished they took an ESP class so they would have learned some of the things I did). There were not many surprising things but even when there was, I could pick up the phone and at least one of the ESP professors was there to offer advice or guidance on how to handle the situation. Challenging… yes, I mean who isn’t challenged after graduation. It is important that people know it is challenging to start a new job, find your place, move to a big city and so many other transitions, but that you aren’t alone. Everyone has times like this but if you really made an effort during your time in the ESP program, you already know you can call on any student or faculty member in that family for support. The program is real-world for a reason, the lessons you learn and people you meet don’t just disappear after graduation.

What advice would you give underclassmen in the ESP program? 

Do everything. You won’t regret taking the harder class, doing Startup Weekend multiple times, going to office hours, or even just sitting in the conference room and meeting random people. Take advantage of the professors and older students who push you. Cutting corners isn’t going to teach you anything, so go interview the 20 people for class. You will get better at it every time and you will be even more prepared when you need to meet with clients for the first time. Lastly, ask questions, ask to help, ask to do more, ask to sit it in on a conversation, just ask and they will help make it happen. The worst answer you will get is “no” and trust me, most of the time anyone in the ESP hallway will never tell you “no”.

Does any memory stick out to you from your time in Entrepreneurship? 

Oh wow, one fond memory? There are too many, but most of them happened in that hallway. I met my best friends in the conference room. Late nights ideating, working on projects, eating snacks during Startup Weekend, and so many more. We all might be a little weird, but we all work hard and know what it takes and support each other. The memories and friendships I made are still some of my dearest and I wish we were all in that conference room every Wednesday, not spread across the country.

Interviewee: Amber Hallmann. Interviewer: Maryanne Smith.

Charlie Naus (Economics & Entrepreneurship) and Logan Romaine (Strategic Communication & Entrepreneurship) finished their degrees last May before heading out to Denver, Colorado to run their own company. After four years at Miami, they decided not to go the “normal” route out of school, but rather to continue the creative agency they started in college focused on branding, content creation, and digital marketing.

The idea for CarsonDoyle Creatives first came into existence when Charlie and his childhood buddy Thomas Brazier decided to use their creative minds to promote the latter’s rapping career. Charlie acted as Thomas’s manager, developing a brand for his music from album covers to social media campaigns. A couple years later at Miami, Charlie found himself living across from two guys who were working on a company with a great business model but no cohesive brand. Thinking back to his previous success promoting Thomas’s music, he called up his old friend and the next thing he knew, the two were taking on the marketing for the company. They built a brand, created commercials, and launched a $25k Kickstarter. From there, they began building up a clientele and CarsonDoyle was officially born.

Today, the team consists of eight individuals with Charlie acting as the Managing Director (he doesn’t like the title CEO). From the beginning, he knew they’d eventually have to bring on more people, which became one of his biggest hurdles. Finding the right person was much harder than expected. Luckily, this is when he met Logan Romaine, who would come on board as the Strategy Director. “Logan and I found each other…which was huge. We needed another person on the team that understood the vision,” Charlie explains, “Logan connected with Thomas and I quite seamlessly.”

Logan leads strategy creation at CarsonDoyle, which involves “asking a lot of questions, researching competitors and target market consumers, and balancing known-to-work methods with innovative ideas.” He credits many of his entrepreneurship experiences at the John W. Altman Institute with helping prepare him for his post-grad life. From Mark Lacker’s 321 Agile Marketing and Scrum course, where the two learned they work well together and have a knack for developing marketing strategies for clients to Jim Friedman’s creativity courses that shape how they approach research and brainstorming when building ideas. Toward the end of his third year at Miami, Logan chose to join the company “for a multitude of reasons,” but mostly because it gave him the best opportunity to keep learning. Coming from a program that constantly pushed him out of his comfort zone, he knew he wanted a job that could do the same by offering him a chance to “learn by doing, learn fast, and gain experience in many different areas.” Not many entry-level jobs provide this, but the position with CarsonDoyle does.

Similarly, Charlie also professes that every experience in the entrepreneurship program truly influenced him as a professional. He cannot think of a class where he felt he was simply going through the motions. In fact, as a student, he constantly worked with people and on projects that excited him, which has inspired the same for his company. “The entrepreneurship department taught me not to settle for mediocrity and to embrace ambiguity — two things that drive my everyday existence as an agency owner and entrepreneur.” Graduating from the Institute prepared him for a career of working with different brands to solve a diverse set of problems, making it so no two days are the same.

With such a small team and a young company, each day is ambiguous with a vast collection of responsibilities. The two recognize how real the possibility of burning out is because when there is constantly more work to be done, you must build and follow intentional routines for work-life balance. Whether it means reading in the morning, working out in the middle of the day, shutting down the computer by a set time, or planning time with friends, Charlie and Logan know how to rest in a way that makes their work more productive and their lives more well-rounded. They recognize the importance of emotional and mental well-being for every member of the CarsonDoyle team, as it directly affects the business. For this reason, they prioritize individual happiness as a core component of running the company.

In addition, the entrepreneurs have discovered through their time at Miami and beyond the importance of defining success. For them, company success and personal success have become greatly intertwined. Up until this point, Charlie notes his main objective has simply revolved around staying in business. As CarsonDoyle grows, however, both place their success on the clients who join them and the work they accomplish. They call each emerging consumer product company they onboard and each project they complete that causes people to think differently a win. Charlie firmly believes focusing on “continuing to make excellent work will yield any opportunity [they] want in the future.” On a personal level, success comes from the learnings they gain and the daily fulfillment they feel by driving their careers through a company all their own.

For their parting thoughts, the two entrepreneurs wanted to leave those aspiring to follow in their footsteps with a few pieces of advice. Logan warns that “running your own business, especially right out of school, sounds a lot sexier than it is.” Each day brings new decisions to make that they have never faced before. But if you are prepared for the high-pressure do or die stakes, “It is a rewarding path to take in terms of learning, growth, and a sense of fulfillment.” Charlie adds that he would not trade his last six months for anything saying, “If you have a vision, a team, and a product/service you’re excited about, I urge you to pursue it until you have done everything in your power to keep it alive.” 

A huge thank you to Charlie Naus and Logan Romaine for all they have contributed to the Institute first as students and now as professionals.

Contributed by Christina Townsend