Monica Muehfeld is currently a Marketing Associate at Discover Financial Services. She received her B.A. in Communication from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2012. Monica is responsible for planning, creating, and producing marketing collateral to promote international B2B relationships. She works on a large variety of projects including sell sheets, infographics, digital ads, and more.
What is your favorite part about your current position?
I love seeing ideas turn into the real thing. I enjoy the challenge of crafting stories and communication to so many different audiences. I am able to use my communication skills and my creative/design skills at the same time and nothing makes me happier. I also love how international it is, I learn so much everyday about how the world does business together.
What aspects of your education as a communication student have been most beneficial to your career?
As a communication student I learned to always analyze who you are talking to. I ask this question every day. Communication is not effective unless it’s tailored to your audience. Whether it’s to an interviewer, your boss, businesses in Hong Kong, a team in the UK, clients in France, what you say and how you say it matters. Communication has also taught me about leadership. My leadership experiences as a student in the Communication Department have been invaluable to me. Oftentimes, people turn to you as a leader since you can communicate clearly what is happening and what the vision is.
What advice do you have for undergraduate students who are majoring or minoring in Communication?
If at all possible, study abroad. Studying abroad has given me perspective I never would have had. Explore. Don’t spread yourself too thin, but make sure you give quality work to your classes and organizations. Take calculated risks. NETWORK. All the jobs I’ve had in my life have been due to some form of networking. Don’t stop learning after you graduate. I took graphic design classes at a community college after work hours and that’s no doubt helped me get me to where I am today. Leave your comfort zone, that’s when you learn the most. It’s hard to be outside your comfort zone but looking back, those times have been the most valuable to me.
Favorite spot on the Illinois campus?
I wish I could say Lincoln hall but it was renovating pretty much the entire time I was there. Instead, it was the Union. That’s where I studied, slept, ate, met up with people, caught up on homework, and looked out onto the quad.