“The rate at which women are amassing wealth and exerting influence is unprecedented. Yet the work that is supposed to motivate them springs almost entirely from a male perspective. The advertising business is a $33 billion industry. Misunderstanding female consumers, from a business perspective, is sheer lunacy.” – Kat Gordon
As an advertising copywriter and creative director, Kat Gordon was tired of being a part of an industry lead by males. She discovered that only 3% of creative directors within the advertising industry are women. So, she set out to create the 3% Conference in order to teach men and women in agencies and on the client side how to address these issues in new ways and offer something that has been sorely lacking for female creatives: a sense of community. Today, two years after its first conference in 2012, the 3% Conference has expanded into a “2-day, 400 person event in San Francisco, multi-city road shows throughout the year, a vibrant online community on multiple social platforms, a student scholarship fund, a creative award, and a business blog to support the crusade,” according to its website.
Cindy Gallop, closing keynote speaker at the 2014 conference.
This year, two of BU’s College of Communication advertising graduate students earned a trip to this year’s conference in San Francisco after winning the 3% student competition. This year’s creative challenge was to imagine that the ratio of female-to-male Creative Directors has increased 300%. Working in teams of two, students had to create a poster to announce this news to the industry to motivate folks to attend the conference and keep the movement going. Iona Holloway (COM ’16) and Annie Papadellis (COM ’16) were one of the top 10 winners (20 students total since they worked in pairs) to win the competition.
Holloway and Papadellis’s winning submission.
“I think it’s great,” explains Holloway and Papadellis’ professor at COM, Pegeen Ryan. “It’s very real life. You’re going to be entering award shows and competitions when you’re in agencies. It gives you real and fairly tight deadlines; it gives you stipulations on what you’re working on. Kudos to them for taking on the extra work.”
Ryan worked with both of her students throughout the entire process, helping them to edit and perfect their ideas for submission. The two were ultimately declared one of 10 pairs of winners from distinguished schools around the country, Brown University, Miami Ad School NY, University of Texas, Miami Ad School SF, Missouri School of Journalism and City College of New York. Besides tickets to The 3% Conference in San Francisco, winners also received a travel stipend, a gift bag from their sponsor Adobe and attendance at a portfolio review lunch during the conference.
Sarah Granger, author of The Digital Mystique, speaks at conference. Photo credit 3% Conference.
“The conference was great,” says Holloway. “It reinforced how I’m really going to have to kick my own ass if I want to really succeed as a woman in the industry, which I don’t see as a bad thing.”
Prof. Ryan was particularly excited about the networking opportunities for the young women. The students were able to network with people from across the country, giving them contacts to potentially use in their job search after graduation.
Though the numbers have risen, there is still inequality in the advertising industry. “It’s amazing to me that the majority of consumer are women, and more men are creating the advertising that these women see,” explains Papadellis. “It baffles me they still haven’t changed their approach,” she says.
However Holloway is excited for the future, as she believes “Women are brilliant, as are men. There’s no reason why the advertising industry can’t reflect the society it serves. It might take a while, but it will happen.”
I’ve been through four seasons of Division 1 soccer competition (and thanks to one red-shirt year, I’ve got another coming up next fall); so you’d think I’d be pretty good at managing my time by now, right?
WRONG! (Just kidding, I actually have gotten pretty good at it, but that was more dramatic right?) Honestly, it never gets easier or less stressful. And this past semester, being in grad school added that extra workload that nearly put me over the edge.
Me (in grey) and my teammate, Ariana Aston, celebrate after beating Navy in our conference opener this year.
The NCAA designates 20 hours a week of required activities for Division 1 athletes while in season. This is supposed to give students time to actually be students and maybe even have a social life. But what they don’t take into account is all the other little things that come along with being a student athlete. To explain, let me give you a better idea as to what my schedule looks like as a grad student-athlete:
Practice every day (except for game day and the one required day off per week)
Lift twice a week
Team meeting once a week (and the occasionally individual goal-setting meeting with Coach)
Extra workouts once a week
Games, for which the NCAA automatically designates three hours for competition. That means that travel time – whether it’s the 10 minute drive to Harvard, the six hour bus ride to Bucknell or the flight down to Navy (both of which are just two of our many overnight trips) – doesn’t really count.
Leadership meetings (as a captain)
Doctor’s appointments and rehabilitation in the athletic training room (four years of throwing yourself on the ground takes a toll on the body)
Yeah, it’s a lot more than 20 hours. Yet, somehow I’m supposed to still have time to go to class (which I sometimes have to miss due to travel), do homework (when I’m not at practice or in the training room), and schedule group meetings with my poor classmates who always have to work around my busy schedule. Work? Friends? Boyfriend? Netflix? SLEEP? Forget it!
My teammates and I (hidden in the mix) celebrating after winning the Patriot League Championship at Colgate University.
Okay, so I may be a little dramatic, but it really feels like I barely had a second to stop and breathe this semester. However, I can’t say that I would ever change it. I love soccer. I love all the friends and experiences I’ve gained from playing in college. Plus, I absolutely loathe boredom. So all in all, I never would have changed a thing. It’s tough, but it is possible to be in grad school and play a sport and even have time to write for this blog!
Yes, it’s true: you can still be a college sports fan while in grad school! In fact, this year, Boston University has had some exceptionally exciting teams that have led fans on an entertaining journey. Point in case, the BU men’s soccer team.
Back in August, the team started their season off with a dramatic win, scoring in the last second of overtime to beat Fordham 1-0. They rounded out opening weekend with a win over Iona during a torrential downpour. Alright, so they won their first two games. What’s the big deal? Well, this happened to be the first time the Terriers opened their season with a 2-0-0 record since 2001. Things were off to a great start for the boys of BU.
(Photo: Mike Tureski) Senior goalkeeper Nick Thomson (in blue) celebrates a win over Fordham with the rest of his team dogpiles over Lucas McBride (unseen), the junior who put away the winning goal.
The team hit a few bumps through the rest of their non-conference schedule, marking two losses in early September. However, by the time they reached conference play, the Terriers were ready to go. The men defeated both Navy and Army in their first two games of Patriot League play, setting the tone for the rest of their season. For their next seven conference games, they were able to remain undefeated, rounding out their regular season play with six wins and three ties.
The Terriers earned the right to host the Patriot League conference tournament on their home field. However, they had to overcome Army in order to make it to the next game, or else the championship would be played on Nickerson Field by two out-of-state competitors.
Just like they did in their opening weekend, the men had to show extreme grit to come out on top. They had some serious chances throughout regulation play, but were unable to put the ball in the back of the net. That is until the last two minutes of double overtime, when senior Cameron Souri served the ball across straight to the head of fellow classmate Dominique Badji, who was able to direct the ball on goal and away from Army’s keeper.
Unfortunately, the drama wasn’t quite over for the Terriers as they headed into the championship game against Bucknell two days later: they fell down a goal, then tied it up, then fell down another good, then tied it up again. But in the first overtime, Bucknell finished off the job, claiming the Patriot League title with a 3-2 win over BU.
(Photo: Sofi Laurito) The team gathers together before the whistle to begin the Patriot League championship game.
Though they couldn’t come away with a win in the end, the Terriers have much to be proud of. This year’s team was the first team in 20 years to go through a conference schedule without a single loss. They were ranked 24th in the country by the NSCAA and finished the season with an 11-3-4 overall record. Several players earned All-Conference honors, including Coach of the Year Neil Roberts, Offensive Player of the Year Dominique Badji, and Rookie of the Year Bjarki Benediktsson.
See, you don't have to stop rooting for collegiate sports, even if it isn't for your alma mater... Go Terriers!
On November 16, Boston University Men’s Basketball team competed in the Coaches vs. Cancer triple-header at the TD Garden. UMASS, Holy Cross, Boston College, Northeastern and Harvard University all participated in the two-day tournament, which marked the start to the BU Men’s Basketball season.
A week ago, I wrote a post explaining the significance of this event (check it out here). Each participating school chose one representative to raise at least $1,500 for the American Cancer Society (ACS). With great success, each school reached their goal days before the tournament even took place.
BU chose College of Communication student Connor Lenahan to be the school’s representative and spearhead all fundraising (if you didn’t get a chance to read about Connor’s story in my last post, make sure you check it out here).
Although BU lost their game to Northeastern, players and fans still felt like winners, especially Connor. ACS donations were collected right up until the start of the first game at 1 p.m. on Sunday. During the second game’s halftime, the two schools who raised the most money were announced—Harvard University and Boston University. BU came in first raising a total of $1,835 and Harvard second with a total of $1,830.
As the winner of the ACS fundraising competition, Connor was invited to center court to live out a lifelong dream of playing basketball on an NBA court, despite his disability. Connor participated in a shootout against a Harvard professor and superfan.
Although he did not win the shootout, Connor was still excited that he played basketball on the same court that Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen have played on… something he will forever be able to brag to his friends about. But above all, Connor felt humbled to have been blessed with the opportunity to give back to such a great cause like the American Cancer Society—something he hopes to continue with in the future.
One of the greatest components to Boston University College of Communication’s Journalism graduate program is the professional project. When I say “greatest,” I don’t mean easy, fun or relaxing. As with anything great comes hard work, and that is exactly what the professional project showcases. After three semesters worth of classes, sleepless nights, and every ounce of blood, sweat and tears you have finally reached the end. You are now a mere shadow of what you were when you first entered grad school, and your professional project is your opportunity to show everyone else that transformation.
What is a professional project? I will explain. All candidates for the MS in Journalism must submit a professional project in their final semester. Each student arranges for a faculty member to be their adviser for the project. Upon completion, students are expected to endeavor to sell or place their work with a professional news organization.
Third semester Broadcast Journalism student Ashley Davis set out to accomplish one of the most daunting tasks and most impressive professional project to date— The Midterms 2014, a live coverage production of this year's midterm elections. I shall elaborate.
Anchor Louise Liu gets ready for The Midterms 2014.
Monday, November 5 at 6 p.m., the night before Election Day, a dress rehearsal took place. About 60 BU students (both grad and undergrad) were involved, including an impressive number of BU COM faculty and staff. Everyone had a job to do. Some were helping in the studios, a handful of students (selected by Ashley after auditioning) were anchors at the National Desk and others were scattered throughout Massachusetts, New Hampshire and even D.C. to act as call-in reporters for the live production.
Professor Cavalieri helps students with technical operations in the production studio.
Ashley went over every aspect of the entire coverage the night before and explained exactly what needed to be done. After she sent the troops on their way, she remained at COM to get ready for Tuesday, November 4. This was her professional project, and since everything was going live, there wasn’t any room for mistakes, as per usual.
Tuesday, November 4 came quickly. Some people were asked to report to the studios several hours before going live at 9 p.m. At 7:30 p.m., the anchors prepared their cut-ins—pre-made news packages (stories). These packages would air in-between 7:30 and 8:30 p.m., mixed in with some live shots, on-cam anchoring and reporters calling in from different headquarters around Massachusetts.
I spent my time on COM’s third floor in Room 321, where I worked with others to help Professor Susan Walker push out live content and numbers for the anchors to live report as votes came pouring in from states across the nation.
Ashley Davis directs on the set of The Midterms 2014.
Here is a breakdown of The Midterms 2014's amazing team and their various roles:
On campus at COM, in Studio East/West:
First Block: Anchors Supriya Muppala and Peter Zampa
Second Block: Anchors Taylor Walker and Justin Shrair
Third Block: Anchors Mikaela Lefrak and Jamie Bologna
During this block, Kate Kahn — BU professor and former Senior News Producer for WHDH-TV (NBC-Boston)— served as the live shot producer, coordinating all the live reporters. Andre Khatchaturian and Louise Liu— both Broadcast Journalism students at COM— were anchors at the National Desk. Lauren Westberg— Broadcast Journalism grad student— was a live reporter and interviewed Professor Groshek, Professor Carroll and Tom Fiedler—the Dean of COM.
Candidate Headquarters: Students were placed at all of the following locations in order to quickly report polling results back to BU’s College of Communication.
Steve Sisto— MA 6th Congressional District, Seth Moulton Headquarters
Paul Dudley—MA Governor Charlie Baker Headquarters
Ashley Paul— MA Governor Martha Coakley Headquarters
Christina Erne—The Casino
Hayley Crombleholme—MA Senate Edward Markey Headquarters
Noelia Valero—Washington D.C.
Rachel Mccubbin—NH Senate Scott Brown Headquarters
Nikita Sampath and Rebecca Sananes—NH Senate Jeanne Shaheen Headquarters
Keri McAlpine and Kathlene Gibbs—MA 6th Congressional District, Richard Tisei Headquarters
COM Professors Involved: The following faculty and staff members stayed hours and hours after they should have gone home. Instead, they helped make sure this live-production was nothing less than exceptional. Just one more example of COM's professors doing all they can to make their students succeed.
R.D. Sahl- Broadcast Journalism Professor
Susan Walker- Broadcast Journalism Professor
Christophor Cavalieri- Film & Television Professor
Jacob Groshek- Emerging Media Studies Professor
John Carroll- Mass Communication Professor
Kate Kahn- COM Professor
The large production team watches live coverage at the National Desk.
Technical Operations Team: Quite possibly the most important part of this production, these students and staff members worked hard to make sure everything in the studio was functioning and the coverage aired without flaw.
The Midterms 2014 was an immense success. Ashley Davis could not have done a better job handling such a high-stress situation, nor could she have selected a better team. Ashley never lost her composure, always made time to answer questions and kept very calm throughout the entire evening. She had so much responsibility lying squarely on her shoulders, but yielded excellent results.
Watching Ashley’s professional project come to life makes us first semester grad students realize that this time next year, a similar task is awaiting us. Although it was a little intimidating, I now feel inspired to find a professional project in which I can showcase all I have learned throughout grad school. No other institution would provide the resources, the studios and opportunities to create something so impressive and professional. Now, not only does Ashley have a remarkable production to add to her resume, but she also made history happen, right there on the third floor of COM.
Ashley Davis’ final professional project is currently being edited. Check back here to view the final publication and follow her on Twitter @ashley_m_davis to see what else she is up to.
On Wednesday, December 10 from 5-7 p.m. in Room 209, the College of Communication's Department of Journalism is hosting the Journalism Graduate Showcase. The event will feature journalism graduate students presenting excerpts of their professional projects. Seniors, graduate students and faculty members are all invited. Adult beverages will be served, so please bring your ID.
Interested in one of BU College of Communication's graduate programs? Tell us which one and why in the comments section below. You can find out more information on our website, so be sure to check it out here.
