
Trista Cady
Graduation Year: 2011
Major/Minor: Agricultural Marketing Communications, Animal Science minor
Job Title: Account Supervisor
Employer: Harvest PR & Marketing
If you love to write, love agriculture and love to learn people's stories, you might be an agricultural marketing communications major! At UW-River Falls, I quickly realized all these things could add up to a career path.
The degree program provides experiences and learning across many different subjects – journalism, marketing, ag economics, design, advertising, public relations, online communication – plus your core CAFES classes. This breadth of knowledge really serves the diverse opportunities that you find on this career path.
I'm currently an account supervisor at a full-service PR agency in Minneapolis. We have a fairly small team, so it's up to me to be an expert in communication strategy, have a thorough understanding of my client's customer – a dairy farmer, a specialty crop farmer or even consumer audiences – and be able to write an article for a national or international trade magazine. Even if you don't specialize in every aspect of the MarComm program (hey, I never mastered InDesign!), having broad knowledge is helpful when working with your colleagues, vendors and clients.
At UW-River Falls, I exercised the skills I'd need in the workplace. I'd encourage students eyeing agricultural marketing communications careers to learn how to balance school and extra-curricular activities. Practice professional skills – I joined ACT and Sigma Alpha, and attended the career fairs. Get experience and "test" possible jobs – I was a student writer with University Communications and built up a portfolio of published pieces. Take opportunities to get out of your comfort zone – I studied abroad and attended national conferences, like Agriculture Future of America.
Learn what you're passionate about in college, and you'll find a rewarding career in agricultural marketing communications.