Katie’s background in rhetoric and copyediting helped pave the way to a successful career.
Where she is now | Katie Newport, ’11, is the Head of Creative for Blue State Digital in Washington, D.C. She works directly with clients as a Creative Director and relationship manager, runs the Communications team and the company’s global Paid Media practice, and she’s engaged in a small office leadership team. Katie’s work involves one-on-one meetings to help manage projects and clients, reviewing draft copy of client content, strategy development for nonprofits, hiring and vision planning, and identifying resourcing and operations challenges. One of Katie’s current projects is working on a fundraising strategy for Howard University. Howard has been her client for three years and their annual fundraising efforts have brought in more money each year. Recently, two of Katie’s healthcare advocacy projects earned Gold and Silver in the Modern Healthcare Impact Awards.
How she got there | Katie was able to move up within the agency she works for because she’s a self-described “relentless problem-solver who moves quickly and can wear many hats”. She adapts her writing to her many hats, whether she’s writing as a sales person, manager, or creative director. Having a strong background in copyediting and rhetoric made Kate well-suited to adapt her writing persona to her audience’s needs.
Katie’s advice for aspiring writers | Katie enjoyed bridging science writing and social media communications for her thesis, and appreciated the encouragement she received to think beyond the discipline. Her advice to future MPWC students is to learn as much as possible, so that they can identify their likes and dislikes as they move into finding a career fit. Katie says that writers in the MPWC program should “learn how to hear feedback, learn how to evolve your work thoughtfully, establish a high professional metabolism, refine your project management skills, and either intern with or interview people in this business to build relationships and network (and learn what you definitely do and don’t want to do).”
