Rachel graduated from Grady College with a bachelor’s degree in Advertising and with minors in French and Theatre in May 2022 and is currently pursuing a Master of Journalism and Mass Communication with a concentration in Emerging Media through the Double Dawgs program. She is from Marietta, GA and loves UGA for the people, campus culture, and academic challenges it provides.
Why Advertising?
Rachel was on the yearbook staff in high school and knew that she wanted to pursue something in the world of journalism, as she loved people and finding ways to communicate to them. However, upon arriving at UGA she had no idea what to do and decided to take Dean Davis’s lecture about all that Grady College has to offer to students. From there, Rachel was hooked on Advertising because it would allow her to be creative, use business strategy, and engage with a variety of people with diverse backgrounds and skill sets. Since becoming an AdPR student, some of her favorite classes have included Brand Storytelling, Copywriting, and Social Media Analytics.
“What I love the most about Advertising is the way it challenges me to use my creative and strategic mindsets together to solve business problems in an innovative way.”
Involvement & Professional Experiences
On campus, Rachel has been involved in several activities including: Relay for Life, Women in Media, Ad Club, Sigma Kappa Sorority, and is currently serving as the Talking Dog Agency Director of Intern Relations for this upcoming year. She talks very highly of her experience with Talking Dog Agency, UGA’s premiere student run Advertising and Public Relations agency, saying that being a member of this organization has helped her gain real world experience working with clients and furthering her interest in the field of AdPR.
Professionally, Rachel has already accomplished so much while being a student at UGA. Previously, she worked for Krystal Restaurants as a Marketing Coordinator, Liv2BMe as a Social Media Intern, and McDonald’s Corporate as an Agency123 Intern. She is determined, driven, and with the experience she has already gained, Rachel is on a path to great success in the Advertising industry.
Favorite Advertising Campaign
When asked what her favorite advertising campaign was, Rachel replied with the Lays Chips, “Smile with Lays” campaign. This campaign used real customers’ smiles as the top part of the Lays chip bags, which allowed customers to hold the back up to their face and make it look as though they were a part of the chip bag. Rachel loved this campaign because of the cohesive and successful interaction between print, digital, social, interactive, and merchandising that speaks to the effectiveness of the Lays brand to bring happiness to customers in a well-rounded and wholesome way.
A Piece of Advice
If Rachel could give one piece of advice to incoming and current Grady College students at UGA it would be to check out the elective courses that Grady College has to offer! Her favorite course that she took during undergrad was an elective copywriting course that completely changed her outlook on her skillset as an advertiser and helped her build her portfolio.
“The wide selection of electives Grady College has to offer can allow you to immerse yourself in a different skill or field than you are used to and make you more well-rounded and knowledgeable about the industry.”
Looking Forward
Rachel is so happy to be back in Athens for another year and is looking forward to playing a role in the success of students in the AdPR department!
Connect with Rachel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelziner/
