Links to section on this page, below:
UCSB Comm Alumni Virtual Career Series
Lighting Up Your LinkedIn Profile
Links to resources on other pages:
Career Day Describes Career Day, and summarizes past Career Days.
UCSB Comm Mentoring Program Comm Students/Mentees and Alumni Council Members/Mentors: Sign up for our new program, designed for longer-term mentee-mentor relationships, and with more features. For an overview, first go to our Digital Mentoring page.
UCSB Career Resources See the Get Hired tab on the UC Santa Barbara Career Services site. It covers: How to Succeed in Your Search: Job search strategies; Resumes; Cover letters; LinkedIn; Interviews and offers; and The first day.
UCSB Comm Alumni Virtual Career Series
We are excited to announce the UCSB Communication Alumni Council Virtual Career Series via Zoom, featuring UCSB Communication Alumni. Sessions continue the 2nd Wednesday of most months during the academic year.
We wanted to create an additional way for students to connect with alumni and learn about the many job opportunities available for comm majors. Our alumni work in a variety of industries -- from media and PR to legal, real estate, entertainment, hospitality, sports, and more. We have programmed these free Zoom sessions to be informal and interactive. The speaker will spend about 10-15 minutes sharing their career journey and discuss job opportunities in their industry. We will then open it up to a Q&A where you can ask your questions about career, networking, job opportunities, etc. Also, we welcome feedback on future sessions you'd like to see as part of this series so bring your questions and ideas to the session!
2022-2023 Virtual Career Series Presenters (and more to come!). Links to register (free) will be available several weeks before each Zoom session. Click here to download a .pdf flyer for this year's series.
Jennifer Leavitt Cruz: Building a Career in Corporate Communication
Jennifer is Vice President, Communication at PennyMac Financial Services in Westlake Village, California
February 8, 6:00 pm PT
Click here for free registration and Zoom link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/
Jennifer is an experienced and accomplished corporate communications professional, who has held positions of increasing scope and responsibility in all facets of organizational communication. She currently serves as Vice President, Communication at PennyMac Financial Services in Westlake Village, California, where she oversees a large-scale communications operation, focusing on improving strategy and execution of executive communications as well as internal impact and engagement. Jennifer obtained a BA in Communication from UCSB, where she completed a thesis on Moderators to Teammate Hostility. She obtained her MBA from the University of Southern California, with a focus on Strategy and Communication.
Desiree Flores: Careers in Entertainment & Social Impact
Desiree Flores, Director of Social Impact at United Talent Agency (UTA) Foundation
March 8, 6:00 pm PT
Click here for free registration and Zoom link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/
Desiree is the Director of Social Impact of the UTA Foundation, UTA's philanthropic arm. United Talent Agency (UTA) is a global entertainment and media company representing some of the most acclaimed figures in film, television, news, music, sports, theater, fine art, and more. Desiree oversees employee volunteerism initiatives, community partnerships, and works closely with the Chief Impact Officer to drive UTA's global social impact agenda. She leads the UTA Foundation’s Employee Social Impact team, with a focus on year-round volunteerism, youth mentorship, climate focused initiatives, and civic engagement. Desiree joined UTA as an intern in the summer of 2012, and directly after graduating from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2013, joined the entertainment company as a full-time employee in the UTA Mailroom and worked her way up the ranks to her current position. While a student at UCSB, Desiree was a Communication major and Spanish minor. She joined Alpha Phi and served as the President and VP Recruitment of the chapter. Desiree is also active in her local community serving on the Young Professional Council of LA Promise Fund, preparing students for success in college, career, and life. Desiree lives in Los Angeles with her husband, James.
Dylan Casey: Careers in Marketing & Product Management
Dylan Casey is Chief Product Officer at REEF Technologies
April 12, 6:00 pm PT
Click here for free registration and Zoom link: [to appear]
Dylan leads the Product, Engineering and Design teams to focus on Product Development for REEF's proximity platform. Prior to joining Reef, Dylan has held Product Management executive roles at Goldman Sachs, Fair, Yahoo, Path and Google. Dylan is also a retired professional cyclist, who rode for The US Postal Service Cycling Team alongside Lance Armstrong. He is an Olympian from the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney and is a 4 time national champion. While attending the University of California at Santa Barbara he earned a degree in Communication.
Save the dates:
March 8, 2023
May 10, 2023
Click on the links below to view videos of past sessions as well as topic-specific short videos. For the full UCSB Comm Alumni Council Virtual Career Series playlist on YouTube, click here.
2020
- October 14, 6pm PT: Careers in Media/Journalism with Justine Miller
- November 11, 6pm PT: Careers in Law with Karen Thorland, SVP and Deputy General Counsel MPAA, & Jake Edson, Associate at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP
- December 9, 6pm PT: Careers in Marketing with Justin Hannah, Team Lead, Marketing Technology & Ad Operations
2021
- January 13, 6pm PT: Careers in HR/Recruiting with Jamie Morgan, Head of Technical Recruiting, Cruise
- February 10, 6pm PT: Careers in Tech with John Bollen, Chief Information Officer, The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, and Alex Platt, Business Relationship Manager, Procore Technologies
- March 10, 6pm PT: Careers in Advertising, Digital Marketing, and Product with Alexei Pizarev, Director of Operations and Product Strategy, Publicis Media
- April 14, 6pm PT: Careers in Event Management with Cynthia Tucker, Assistant Director, Trojan Event Services, University of Southern California
- May 26, 6pm PT: Careers in PR with Debbie Fitzgerald, Co-owner/Principal, Fitzgerald Petersen Communications
- June 23, 6pm PT: How to Build a Brand with Noelle White, Senior Brand Manager, Heyday
- October 13, 6pm PT: Careers in Deception Detection (Research & Financial) with Norah Dunbar, Professor, Dept of Communication, and Chuck Taylor, Executive VP, Head of Financial Crimes Advisory (FCA) at AML RightSource
- November 10 6pm PT: Careers in Marketing & Tech with Claire Knowles, Marketing Communications Manager, Infineon Technologies
2022
- January 12 6pm PT: Corporate Communications with Erin Bergamo-Tacy, Chief Communications Officer for Blend Labs
- February 9 6 pm PT: From Communication to Consulting - My Unexpected Career Journey with Matt Schermerhorn, Professional Services Consultant
- March 9 6pm PT: People + Culture Careers: HR, DEI, Learning, Coaching, and Beyond with Nick Duggan
- April 13 6 pm PT: Careers in the Videogame Industry with Cody Corona
- May 11 6 pm PT: Careers in Media and Marketing with Tom Bracken
- Oct 12 6 pm PT: Advertising, Journalism & Career Searching with Kyle Garcia
- Nov 9 6 pm PT: Finance and Sales with Jonathan Gruber
- Dec 12 6 pm PT: Careers in Branding with Shamara Charney
2023
Topics: These videos gather related topics from the full-length videos in the UCSB Comm Alumni Council Virtual Career Series. Thanks to Amber Li, Alumni Council Intern, for editing these from the full videos!
- Career Advice
- Gaining Experience and Pursuing a Job Unrelated to Your Degree
- How Did My Communication Degree Help My Career?
- Importance of Business School
- Looking for Internships Related to the Communication Major
- Nature of Different Communication Careers
Past Virtual Career Series Sessions
Justine Miller, Journalism and Reporting, Oct 14, 2020
Karen Thorland and Jake Edson, Careers in Law, Nov 11, 2020
Justin Hannah, Careers in Advertising, Dec 6, 2020
Jamie Morgan, Careers in Human Resources/Recruiting, January 13, 2021
Click here to download the .ppts used in Jamie Morgan's presentation.
John Bollen and Alex Platt, Careers in Tech, February 10, 2021
Click here to download the .ppts used in John Bollen's and Alex Platt's presentations.
Alexei Pizarev, Careers in Advertising, Digital Marketing, and Product, March 10, 2021
Click here to download a .pdf "takeaway" of Alexei Pizarev's main points.
Cynthia Tucker, Careers in Event Management, April 14, 2021
Debbie Fitzgerald, Careers in Public Relations, May 26, 2021
Click here to download the .ppts accompanying Fitzgerald's presentation.
Noelle White, Brand Mgt. & Marketing, June 23, 2021
Click here to download four .ppt slides accompanying the Dunbar and Taylor presentation.
Claire Knowles, Careers in Marketing & Tech, November 10, 2021
Click here to download the .ppt slides accompanying the Knowles presentation.
Erin Bergamo-Tacy, Corporate Communications, January 12, 2022
Click here to download the .ppt slides accompanying the Bergamo-Tacy presentation.
Matt Schermerhorn, From Communication to Consulting - My Unexpected Career Journey, February 9, 2022
Click here to download the .ppt slides accompanying the Schermerhorn presentation.
Nick Duggan, People + Culture Careers: HR, DEI, Learning, Coaching, and Beyond, Mar 9, 2022
Cody Corona, Careers in the Videogame Industry, April 13, 2022
Tom Bracken, Careers in Media and Marketing, May 11, 2022
Click here to download the .ppt slides accompanying the Bracken presentation.
Kyle Garcia, Advertising, Journalism & Career Searching, Oct 12, 2022
Click here to download the .ppt slides accompanying the Garcia presentation.
Jonathan Gruber, Careers in Finance & Sales, Nov 9, 2022
Click here to download the .ppt slides accompanying the Gruber presentation.
Shamara Carney, Careers in Branding, Dec 14, 2022
Click here to download the presentation slides in .pdf format accompanying the Carney presentation.
Allison Citelli, Careers in Event Marketing, Jan 18, 2023
Click here to download the presentation slides in .pdf format accompanying the Citelli presentation
Topic Videos
These videos gather related topics from the full-length videos in the UCSB Comm Alumni Council Virtual Career Series. Thanks to Amber Li, Alumni Council Intern, for selecting the material and editing these from the full videos!
Topic: Gaining Experience and Pursuing a Job Unrelated to Your Degree
Topic: How Did My Communication Degree Help My Career?
Topic: Importance of Business School
Topic: Looking for Internships Related to the Communication Major
Topic: Nature of Different Communication Careers
Lighting Up Your LinkedIn Profile
Click here to download .pdf of 8 .ppt slides
Click here to download .pdf of 15 .ppt slides
