Gillian Rainville is a 24-year-old social media manager from western Massachusetts who has lived in New York since college. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Communications from Ithaca College in May 2020, where she studied media and television production. From a young age, her interests have been in music, social media, and the entertainment industry.

ICLA

In the spring of 2020, Gillian attended ICLA, a program offered by Ithaca College that allows students to live and intern in Los Angeles, California. She interned at an entertainment social media agency, and had the opportunity to work on various social media accounts, mostly of up-and-coming musicians and TV shows. The internship taught her what it was like to work in social media. She knew after this experience that it was her dream field. Gillian finished her internship remotely due to the pandemic, and accepted a remote social media assistant position upon graduating.

Post Grad Life

She has managed all digital media for a small e-commerce sporting goods company for the past two years. This role has been the first time she has been able to grow and run social media accounts entirely on her own. Some of her favorite interactive media experiences have come from this position because of her autonomy with the work. She suggested that the company should have a TikTok, due to the platform’s rising popularity in recent years. The company’s TikTok page grew to 18,000 followers in less than a year, all from Gillian’s efforts. She saw success using strategies that involved making content surrounding the topic of sports, rather than only the products. She discovered the key to social media marketing is creating a connection with the audience outside of selling them a product. 

A New Chapter

Gillian has learned a lot from her two social media roles, but she is eager to learn more to continue advancing in her career. This desire to further her education led her to discover the Interactive Media and Communications master’s program at Quinnipiac University. Gillian’s undergrad experience was broader and not focused on social media. Therefore, this program appeals to Gillian because it will allow her to take courses that center around social media practices. She hopes to eventually use her knowledge and experiences to work on a social media team within an industry that she is passionate about, such as music or entertainment, as well as the wellness or beauty space.

Gillian’s audience for this blog is her ICM classmates and potentially future employers. Readers expect to get a clear understanding of what she has taken away from her master’s program at Quinnipiac. She hopes to convey this well by writing her critical thoughts on what she has learned in her ICM courses. Gillian also wants to share who she is in her blog by connecting her classroom lessons to real-life ones.