Miranda, we have missed you at Her Campus Winona State! How have you been?
Fantastic! Staying incredibly busy, per usual. I’ve missed all of you ladies too!
First of all, you have an amazing, thriving club on campus! How does it feel knowing you brought HC to WSU?
I absolutely love hearing that! I still follow HC every week and love to see all the great content you ladies are making! Mostly, I’m proud of the community that you all have created and kept through this club for all your writers. Boss ladies are the best ladies.
What is your typical agenda for a day at your current job?
Currently, I am an Art Director at an ad agency. At FRWD we work on brands including Cameron’s Coffee, Warheads, Tyson, Red Lobster, Scholastic, and a whole slew of others.
Each brand has it’s own unique projects and business objectives, so my days vary greatly. Some days I’m shooting content for social and designing websites, and some days I’m working on brand strategy and package design. Or my latest exciting day at work; art directing a video shoot for a TV spot.
The best parts of my days include all of our non-client extracurriculars including whiskey club, playing with the office dogs, lounging in a bean bag in the ball pit, and of course, Flip Cup Friday (office keg included).
How is grad-life treating you?
Grad life is fantastic! But to be honest, it was a hard adjustment from seeing your friends every day to having to create a whole new “adultish” life. I still keep myself just as busy in my post-grad life as I was in Winona, which is exciting and drives me crazy at the same time.
What are you missing the most about WSU?
2 things: 1. Deep fried pizza rolls from West Campus. 2. My friends.
And that’s not to say that I don’t have friends. Life is just so much better when you can walk outside your house and see someone you know and just hang out for a while. I miss all the people that used to be a part of my day to day; The Her Campus fam, MCOM classmates, and of course, all the wonderful humans that packed into Gabby’s every weekend.
Tell us about your recent, successful projects “Of Wood and Weld” and “The Printable Project”!
Thank you for asking! My two side hustles keep me incredibly busy. I started The Printable Project to attempt to get my non-design friends interested in what I do. After I started making monthly freebies, the demand kept raising to continue making them! The Printable Project is actually what helped me land my current job. It showed that I was passionate about design, outside of being paid to do so. I currently have traffic on The Printable Project from over 120 different countries!
After I started my job at FRWD, I found that it was hard to find the motivation to go home after work and keep designing things for free for The Printable Project, so essentially Of Wood & Weld was born out of boredom. I wanted to find a hobby that allowed me to get away from a screen and still be creative, so I became a self-taught woodworker. My boyfriend and I make home décor and furniture out of wood and metal and have been selling on Etsy and in local craft shows. People are shocked to find out that I know how to operate a table saw and that I asked for a drill kit and hand sander for Christmas.
If you could go back to WSU and relive one more day, what day would that be?
The day 70 of us tubed down the dodge river was easily one of my favorite days. Or the zombie pub crawl where my friends and I all dressed up like grandmas. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed harder than I did that day.
What are your goals for the next 5 years?
What a question! Career wise, I am excited to continue learning and growing, but I am learning about so many career paths that I never knew existed in my industry, so I have no idea where I will end up. And that is very exciting to me! As for tangible goals;
1. Write a children’s book
2. Own a French Bulldog
3. Move out of my parents’ house (hopefully that’s a 5 month plan instead of 5 year, but seriously, no shame in the money saving game)