Skip to main content
Brooke Randell

E-Commerce Marketer

Hidden image
"You will be surprised to discover how bad most people are at writing. It’s a skill you probably take for granted, but is actually very valuable and will be attractive to future employers."
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage: overrideTextColor: overrideTextAlignment:

When did you graduate from BYU?

BA English 2013

What is your job/position? And how would you describe what you do in that job/position?

I am a lead marketing associate at an e-commerce jewelry retailer called Brilliant Earth. I've worn a lot of hats in my role including writing copy for the website and new jewelry collections, owning the blog strategy and SEO content creation, writing quizzes and listicles, crafting social media posts, responding to customer comments and questions as the public-facing voice of the brand, assisting with public relations pitching and briefs, coordinating celebrity and influencer partnerships, and more. Currently I am most focused on social media. I am the community manager and respond to all inbound comments and inquiries. I also help brainstorm and strategize for our social channels, especially TikTok and Instagram. I manage the strategy and content for weekly Instagram and TikTok livestreams. I also collect and request rights for UGC on social media.

Describe the path that you took from your BYU English degree to your current career, highlighting the important realizations and turning points that paved the path for you.

The biggest things I've learned and would pass on to English majors graduating soon are:

  1. Use any connection you can possibly find. I remember getting frustrated at this advice when I was graduating because I felt like I had no connections, but you have more than you think. If you are a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or BYU alumni, that is already a huge network you can tap into. Reach out to friends, family members, family friends, members of your church, teachers, and anyone else you can think of who might help you get your foot in the door somewhere. Don't be demanding or expect to be handed a job, but most people will be receptive to you reaching out politely and professionally to inquire about opportunities or to ask to speak with them about their job or industry. Most people are incentivized by their employers when they recommend someone who ends up being hired, so many people would be happy to refer you for that referral bonus.  
  2. Even if the role is not your dream job or your end goal, just start working in a professional or corporate setting as soon as you can. Experience is experience, and any job can be a stepping-stone to something bigger and better. Once you've been employed, it's easier to find new opportunities. You do not owe any job or employer your life, and it's absolutely okay to get some experience and get out.  
  3. It's okay to not know what you want to do right away! I thought I would go into publishing but ended up falling into public relations and marketing, and I love what I do now. Also, it's totally normal to do what you need to do to pay the bills in the meantime while you're looking for full-time work. In between looking for my "college degree" jobs, I worked at a historic movie theater, was a dog sitter, was a barista in a Barnes and Noble, and did day jobs as a movie and TV extra.  
  4. Take classes that will help you be well rounded when applying for jobs. In addition to majoring in English, I minored in editing at BYU, and it was a huge help. Most, if not all, of the classes required by my minor gave me very practical skills that could be applied to a variety of industries. For example, I had to take a few basic design classes, and that has helped me in every role I've held since. Try your hand at different writing styles like technical, journalistic, or blog writing. Brush up on the latest SEO tactics. Learn some basic HTML. Your ability to write and synthesize information will already be a huge plus to employers, so build off of that where you can.  
  5. Finally, say yes to things you feel you might not be qualified for yet or that intimidate you. Unfortunately, it's pretty standard today for employers to ask for a giant laundry list of qualifications for what they call "entry-level" positions. But practically speaking, they know and expect that they will need to provide you with on-the-job training when they are hiring someone fresh out of college. Apply anyway! If you don't, the only one rejecting you is you. My first full-time job after graduating was at a small sign-making business owned by a member of my parent's church. I was originally hired as a receptionist, but my boss was a strong believer that the company could grow quickly with organic inbound marketing. He tasked me with taking over all marketing efforts, and I basically taught myself on the job. I wrote hundreds of blog posts about signage, drafted email newsletters, posted on social media, created website landing pages, and even worked with our vendors on pitching articles that resulted in our company being covered in industry magazines. After about a year there, I had grown our social following by over 200%, had written way too many blogs about PVC and vinyl, and was realizing that there weren't going to be any more significant growth opportunities for me there. I started looking for other marketing jobs that would take me to another city or state where I could have more options. Through a series of very lucky circumstances, I connected with a French family based near Bordeaux and was hired to be a marketing intern for one of their retail businesses. It was terrifying to say yes to moving and working abroad in a country where I knew no one and was not fluent in the language, but I knew I would regret it later in life if I didn't take the chance. It was a tough adjustment at first, but I quickly strengthened my French and got experience writing copy in French, managing the company's social media pages, and learning more design skills to edit product imagery for their website. After my work visa was up, I moved back home to Nashville and began looking for jobs again. I struggled to find anything local, so I applied to jobs all over the country. The first job I heard from that I was interested in was for a public relations internship at an agency based in San Francisco. I felt totally underqualified because I honestly didn't even know what public relations was, but I did some homework before my interview and was hired a few days later if I could move to California in the next three weeks. Again, this was a big leap of faith since I didn't know anyone there, and I didn't know if they would hire me full time after the internship. But I said yes and drove across the country and ended up staying with the extended family of some family friends until I could find my own place. This job was another crash course, and I quickly learned the ropes in public relations including how to write pitches, create briefing documents on journalists and outlets, ghostwrite articles, run ambassador programs, organize events, and work directly with clients. Thankfully, I was hired full time, and I spent the next four years working on the Microsoft account. I started to get burnt out on PR, which is very fast paced and hectic, and decided I wanted to transition back to marketing. I also decided I wanted to move out of the tech space because I didn't care about it, and not caring about what you're doing makes your job a lot harder. I started to apply to other jobs, and it took a while because the only employers that were biting were other tech companies or tech PR firms who liked my Microsoft experience. I knew what I wanted and held out for something different. I finally got an interview with jewelry retailer Brilliant Earth, which I was very excited about. The interview process was intensive—I had to provide writing samples, be interviewed by many different people, and analyze their social media feeds in front of them—but in the end I was hired as a marketing associate. It was somewhat of a lateral move, and if I had stayed in PR, I would have been able to get a much better title and starting salary, but I considered it an investment in my future career path. I've now been with Brilliant Earth since 2019, and I absolutely love it! It's great to work for a company with a strong giving-back mission. I've had really amazing opportunities including helping coordinate styling for red-carpet moments like the Oscars and partnerships with big A-list celebrities like Kourtney Kardashian. I've learned and grown a lot and feel lucky for where my career path has taken me so far. I have no plans on leaving Brilliant Earth soon, but it's exciting to know that it's opened up a new world of opportunities!  

What are the specific skills that you cultivated as an English major that you now use in your professional life? And how do you use those skills in ways that set you apart from your colleagues?

Once you go into the real world, you will be surprised to discover how bad most people are at writing. I'm not saying this to be snarky; it's simply a fact. It's a skill you probably take for granted, but that is actually very valuable and that will be very attractive to future employers. Clear communication skills are integral to every industry you can think of. The analytical thinking you learn as an English major is also extremely applicable to a lot of business use cases. In your studies you've also likely become adept at arguing or proving a certain viewpoint, which is always useful. Readers and writers are also often empathetic and observant because they are used to digesting thoughts, feelings, viewpoints, and experiences outside of their own. These people skills can make you diplomatic and flexible. Finally, the creativity and out-of-the-box thinking you cultivated during your studies will help you bring a fresh perspective and unique ideas to any task you're given.

What are some of the surprising ways in which your English degree helped you in your life?

I think the most surprising way my English degree has helped me is just with basic cultural literacy. It's surprising how helpful it is to be the one who knows and can make the references.

What do you wish you had known as an English major? Is there any advice you’d like to share with current students?

I wish I had done more internships while still at school. I think not doing this delayed me a bit after graduation. I was worried about money and student loans because my family couldn't help me pay for college, so I think I was hyper-focused on getting out in four years and working multiple service industry jobs when I wasn't in class. At the time I thought an internship would push out my graduation date and that I couldn't afford to do an unpaid internship. But I do think doing that would have helped me jump into full-time work faster after I graduated.

Contact

brooke.randell@gmail.com