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Degree and Year: MA '98 Company: Katey Charles Communications Company Web Site: http://www.kateycharles.com/ Title: President and Owner City and State: St. Louis, Mo.
We help our clients develop professional e-mail newsletters. We provide consulting services, writing, graphic design and HTML programming, and we license the technology our clients need to send e-mail newsletter and e-marketing campaigns and track the results. What do you do? I do everything. I meet with clients to discuss strategy, write and edit copy, hire out photographers, graphic designers and HTML programmers. How did you get your job? I always wanted to do something entrepreneurial. In January of 2003 I was laid off, and the company that I was working for asked me to do freelance work. I decided that this was the best time for me to start my own business. Best professional lesson learned at J-School? Even if I am not working at a job at a magazine or paper, all my skills apply to other fields. The J-School creates a solid foundation of writing, editing and design skills that allows you to work in any field. What is your favorite J-School memory? Sitting in Heidelberg between classes doing crossword puzzles to relieve stress. What would be your best advice to current students? To know and realize that when you graduate from the J-School you have a lot to offer at any agency or company. Be confident in what you've learned. What do you consider to be your greatest professional achievement? Starting my own business in communications. It's really an amazing process to build your own company. There are constant challenges, but the flipside of that is, there are constant opportunities for personal and professional growth. And I love the freedom! What makes you good at your job? A combination of internal drive to create a successful business and confidence in my skills from Mizzou. My curriculum at Mizzou included editing, graphic design, writing and multimedia. These technical skills have prepared me very well. Who would you like to work with and why? In a sense I had my dream job when I worked as head of communications for artist Mary Engelbreit. I wanted to work for someone who was spreading positive and inspiring others. Now I have a variety of clients who are effecting positive change in society - school districts, artists, foster homes, homeless services, professional leaders and others - and I enjoyed being a small partner in their efforts. What are your next career steps? I will continue to nurture this e-mail communications business. What did you want to be as a kid? My dad was a lawyer, so I wanted to be one just like him as a kid. I also used to wish that I could draw so that I could be an artist. 
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| Revised: 20 April 2007. Copyright © 2008 The Curators of the University of Missouri | Contact the J-School | |
