Name: Megan Washam
Graduation Year: 2017
Major: Advertising and Public Relations
Current Position: Product Marketing Manager at Google; CEO at The And Band
City and State: San Francisco, CA
Tell us about your career and what you do now.
I’m currently in my fourth year working at Google as a product marketing manager, and I still feel like I’m the luckiest person to be at this company—the culture and people are what make it such a magical place to work. My role is on the Google Ads team, leading scaled acquisitions marketing for the Americas. My day to day is a pretty even mix of analytics and finance—such as planning revenue targets for the upcoming quarter or reporting on performance—and creativity/strategy, spending time building out A/B tests on the Google Ads Homepage, honing in on the most effective marketing copy, etc. I also recently launched a new company—The And Brand—with a fellow alumni (Rebel Robinson). It’s a lifestyle brand designing multi-functional products for women on the go. Our mission is to celebrate those who are escaping the tidy black-and-white definitions placed on them by the world; who are declaring the paradoxical parts of themselves just as loudly as they declare those that are expected and understood. We care less about selling more and more about enabling people to buy less, so they can have emptier hands and fuller lives. Any time I’m not spending at Google or building The And Brand, I invest in my third (but maybe favorite) passion—building my career as a muay thai fighter!
What is your favorite memory from Evangel?
All of my best memories at Evangel center around the friends I made, especially the girls from L3N, and our escapes across Springfield. Also, my senior year on the softball team was so special, as we won the conference! It was a truly perfect way to end my college experience.
How did Evangel help you identify/develop your calling?
The hands-on experiences I was able to get through the communications department were instrumental in guiding me into my career. I’ll always remember the trips we made to local advertising agencies, which first sparked my interest in marketing, and the weekly visits to One Million Cups, which was key in my journey towards entrepreneurship.
How did your experience at Evangel prepare you for life after graduation?
I think the culture at Evangel is one that challenges students to think critically; to understand the why behind the what—whether that be in reference to the beliefs we hold, the decisions we make, or the job we do everyday. That is what sustains you when the day to day gets tiring or monotonous; it is what drives you to push through when things get hard.
What advice would you give a current student preparing for the workforce?
Internships are everything! I’ve helped review intern applications for Google’s APMM program a few times, and it’s incredible the amount of experience students have even by their sophomore or junior year. To be competitive, you have to find ways to get hands-on experience, even if that’s through super scrappy ways such as reaching out to local businesses and offering to help with their marketing/branding/business strategy for free (or whatever the equivalent is for your own field of study!).
What would you look for if you were in a position to hire new graduates from Evangel?
The biggest trait I would look for (in addition to the experience aspect) is the ability to learn new skills. I think it’s less important to specialize early on in school/work and more important to demonstrate a proven ability to self-teach, learn independently, and ramp up quickly. For example, I’d be impressed if someone had aced both a finance class and biology course; or had great references from a skill-based job unrelated to their major. Every role is going to require specialized knowledge that isn’t transferable and has to be picked up on the job, and the ability to pick up those needed skills quickly and confidently is something you can’t teach.