Alumnae Profiles

Market Maven

As a kid Paige Olney Zars ’09 crafted her own play business cards, brochures, and posters. She also liked learning the jingles to her favorite television commercials. It stands to reason that her childhood pastimes would crop up again as the focus of her career in marketing. Now all grown up, Zars works as a marketing coordinator at JohnsonRauhoff, a communications group based in Saint Joseph, Michigan, which specializes in marketing, product communications, and photography.

But Zars didn’t settle on marketing from the get-go. As a sophomore at Saint Mary’s, she leaned toward majoring in business because of the broadness of the program, but took her time to give it some serious thought. When she recalled a marketing class she took in high school and how much fun it was for her, Zars decided to go with the business major, but focus on the marketing side of things. 

Her decision paid off. “Once I entered the working world, I was shocked at how often I put my knowledge to use,” Zars says. She had taken several of Professor Bill Shannon’s marketing courses at the College and says his real-world-scale assignments gave her the hands-on experience she needed.

Zars recalls Shannon’s “advertising and promotions” course in which students designed a full pseudo marketing campaign for Martin’s Supermarkets, which they presented to corporate management as part of their grade. “The project taught me so much about a marketing campaign, from budgeting to learning the terminology, and ways to purchase media such as billboards, radio, and television spots,” says Zars. She also minored in advertising and another creative passion, dance.

Zars has come a long way from making pretend business cards. At JohnsonRauhoff she works as the liaison between clients and the creative team, a group of copywriters, graphic designers, and art directors. She is involved in market research, budgeting, and estimates. Recently, Zars worked on two photoshoots for lifestyle guru Katie Brown and even got to appear on Brown’s PBS-TV show “Katie Brown Workshop.”

In her free time Zars teaches three ballet classes at Dance Arts in Stevensville, Michigan. She is also a new member of Women’s Service League, a southwestern Michigan club dedicated to community service.

Cambodian Experience

“Experience is the basis of knowledge,” says alumna Allison Fleece, a former marketing and international business major. While a student at Saint Mary's, she spent a summer interning with The PEPY Ride in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The PEPY Ride, a nonprofit organization, seeks to increase education opportunities and offer meaningful volunteer experiences for tourists in Cambodia.

Before that, Allison was no stranger to foreign travel. She spent her entire sophomore year abroad with the Saint Mary’s Rome Program. “Rome opened my eyes to the world. I got back to the U.S. and wanted more.” Allison filled her void by getting involved with PEPYND, a project which is part of the Marketing and Global Development division of the Student International Business Council. “I was initially attracted to it, because it was international,” she says. Her avid involvement with the organization is what led her to intern in Cambodia. “I wanted to experience the PEPY mission first hand and be a more passionate leader for the cause.”

Throughout her internship, Allison worked in the organization’s main office on various marketing initiatives and letter writing campaigns. Allison said the experience solidified her decision to pursue international business and taught her that she really could work abroad if she wanted to. “There are so many different things I can do with my degree,” she says. “I now know I have the potential to benefit the world with my education."

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Cara Grabowski left Saint Mary's one step ahead in terms of her marketing degree. A business administration major with concentrations in marketing and international business, Cara also completed minors in both Spanish and math.

Cara was able to gain hands-on experience in her "Advertising and Promotion" class when she and teammates Maggie Oldham’07 and Lauren McCay ’08 worked on an assigned project from Teachers Credit Union (TCU) in South Bend. The project involved creating a marketing strategy targeting 18-24 year-olds, showing why young people should join TCU and how they can benefit from the services. Cara and her team came up with the “TCU Take One Ad Contest.” The contest was open to the public and entrants were encouraged to film their own commercials. Cara and Lauren were selected as project managers, working on the project as an independent study. 

In addition to her real world marketing experience, Cara was the Spanish Club President, participated on the fundraising committee of the Senior Board, and held the position of marketing director for SMC-TV (the campus television station). Though she credits Saint Mary’s for providing excellent business courses and opportunities to get involved on campus, she insists that “experience is key” to developing your skills and abilities in preparation for working in the real world.