By Felicia Holt
Piedmont Community College
Roxboro, North Carolina
What does an executive assistant to the president and communications manager have in common?
More than you might think. You might also be wondering how in the world the president’s assistant ended up in marketing.
Long story short, I graduated from college with a degree in communication but held various roles after college which led me to an administrative assistant position at Piedmont Community College, which later led me to becoming the executive assistant to the president and board of trustees. The president at the time knew I had a background in writing and made it a point to give me opportunities to strengthen this muscle.
In fact, after several employees from the marketing and communications area left, I was entrusted with managing social media in the interim. Woah. Talk about a huge responsibility.
What I didn’t realize at the time was that it was setting me up to become the communications specialist and now communications manager.
When I was in college one of my journalism professors said that in this field you have to know a little bit about a lot of different subjects. Turns out this is also true when you’re the president’s assistant.
Working with the president I had to have a general understanding of a variety of topics. When marketing for a community college, you not only have to have a general understanding of every area of the college, but day to day you never know if you’re going to be a writer, graphic designer, photographer or videographer. (Maybe that’s just me since I’m at a small rural college, but I’m sure there’s someone out there who can relate to that.)
Another similarity is that the work never ends. There’s no downtime over the summer like in other areas of the college; it’s constant full speed ahead. But this is also what makes both jobs a lot of fun. Things are constantly changing and there’s variety in the work.
As we all know, the president is the face of the college. Any public facing material coming from the president’s office or marketing is a direct reflection of the college and president. Both roles hold a lot of weight in gaining and maintaining trust from the public and stakeholders. From working directly with the president, I had inside knowledge to how vital this is.
Amongst the similarities, the stark difference was going from my sole focus being assisting the president and 14 board members, to pretty much assisting everyone on campus since there are many, many areas to promote. But this difference is the reason I’ve had the opportunity to form relationships with people I used to rarely see and have more opportunities to interact with students.
Starting out as the president’s assistant truly laid a solid foundation for my current role. The things I learned will benefit me for years to come. So next time you see your president’s assistant, remember that they’re wearing just as many (and similar) hats as you are.
Felicia Holt is the communications manager at Piedmont Community College in Roxboro, North Carolina.
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