Taylor Aquan, BBA ’19
Taylor came to Michigan Ross as a transfer student from another university, the least common path. She knew Ross was where she wanted to study, and one major reason was the philosophy of learning by doing.
“I really liked the action-based learning approach, because I think I'm more of a hands-on learner,” she says. “It gives me the ability to do something, and maybe mess up and then learn from that, versus just having someone just talk about concepts.”
She also arrived at Ross with a firm career interest: entertainment marketing. “I'd like to work in partnerships and development,” she says. “Looking at how to pair two brands, and get that out to a consumer, and then be able to capture a new audience.”
She’s already gained some valuable experience, spending one summer doing marketing for the CW television network and the next summer working in brand partnerships at the Capitol Music Group in Los Angeles. Her Ross classes, though, are also key in building the foundation for her career goals.
One favorite class was Social Media Marketing with Lecturer Marcus Collins. “That was such a great prep class, even if you're not interested in marketing. It centers on how, in business, we look at people. We tend to look at them as demographics. And you can't look at people like that; they're not just facts on a spreadsheet that you can group together. For example, millennials. He says, ‘Millennial is just an age range. You can't target millennials all the same, because they're not cut from the same cloth.’ That was really interesting, and it changes your perspective. That class also allowed me to do a consulting marketing project. I've been able to call upon that for interviews, and it's been really helpful.”
Taylor’s extracurricular activities have also helped advance her goals. She’s vice president of marketing for Michigan Business Women, and she’s president of the Ross Entertainment + Digital Media Club. “I handle corporate relations and alumni, so if there are any recruiters that we can reach out to, I make those connections. And if there are any alumni that students are interested in reaching out to, I connect them.”
Even if she doesn’t stay in entertainment marketing forever, Taylor knows her Ross education will serve her well. “The way that Ross' curriculum is structured is preparing me to do anything. I’m able to (someday) jump to CPG marketing if I want to, or even finance. In interviews that's something that I've been able to sell myself with: Even though I'm interested in marketing, I can draw on those different perspectives. I can look at the financials of a marketing campaign because I took accounting and finance. I'm prepared to do anything I want to do.”