This week I spoke with Marlee Morgan, 2025 UVA grad who’s now pursuing a Masters at the S.I. Newhouse School Of Public Communications, one of the highest ranking communications institutions in the country.

The Rundown:

• COLD OPEN: Finance or marketing? Intern at Dell. Grad school at Newhouse and NIL dreams

• TURNING POINT: Learning how to enter a field completely different from what I studied in undergrad

• STEAL THIS: How did you stay resilient?

• INDUSTRY INSIDER: Why grad school isn’t a waste of time or money

• IF I WERE YOU: Pick a goal, and orient around it

COLD OPEN

How Did You Get Your Start?

In high school, we had to do a deep dive into career paths and while searching through different ones, I knew I wanted to help people make better financial decisions – like people in my community who didn’t know a lot about debt and loans. Yet I also wanted to pursue my creative side, I had been designing clothes and bracelets.

I ended up choosing UVA knowing I wanted to do McIntire. While doing different pre-req classes like financial accounting, I realized I maybe didn’t want to do finance anymore.

I ended up pivoting into marketing and management concentration, then later on finding out and applying and being accepted into the promotions class, where I did a lot of video and creative in like special ops positions that I really enjoyed.

That experience led me to a job at Dell in Austin to be a marketing analyst. I enjoyed Dell when I was there and during my internships, but I had to make a change. I knew that I wanted to go deeper within media and multimedia.

I learned about different post-graduate programs and found out about Syracuse. Syracuse has one of the top programs for communications and it’s very student focused. I knew I would get a lot of hands-on experience in multimedia work. That’s why I’m here now.

One of the more recent goals I’ve been pursuing is critical multimedia storytelling in the NIL space. Then, following up on that earlier dream of mine, I could help students with large sums of money learn how to invest and set up their post-NIL lifestyle.

TURNING POINT

What’s A Challenge You Faced Early On?

Since I pivoted into media – completely different from what I did in undergrad – I found it challenging to navigate a space with people who already had long resumes in that field.

In video, photography, and design, it’s easy to tell the quality of work people produce. I had to make sure I wasn’t playing the comparison game and not get discouraged. I had to understand that new challenges come with learning new skills.

STEAL THIS

What’s A Question You Love To Be Asked (Or Asking)?

After any new large circumstances in my life, I like people asking me “How did you stay resilient? How did you come out on the other side with joy?” I really like being asked those questions because now that I know the truth of it on the other side, my response is always a hopeful one.

INDUSTRY INSIDER

What Do People Misunderstand About Grad School?

A lot of people are discouraged about grad school. They think it’s either going to be overwhelming since it's shorter than a four-year program or that it’s money wasted on more schooling. I think there’s a lot of value in going deeper into a specific field.

It’s a great opportunity to go to schools that will help direct your career path. There are professors and alumni within the industry and programs that offer internships to different companies. You can take advantage of people who have already been in the field to get a lot out of your degree.

IF I WERE YOU

Do You Have Any Advice For Students?

Always ground yourself in a goal.

In school, we always talk about having a “main thing” and orienting ourselves around it. It can be easy to fall through life and get anxious, but when you have a main goal that keeps you focused and forward-looking, it can help a lot.