A Story-Filled Career: An Interview with Savanna Polasek '18

Savanna Polasek ‘18 discusses her journey to becoming a Marketing and Communications Specialist, Freelance Writer, and Entrepreneur after graduating with an English degree from Texas A&M. 

One statewide non-profit, 81 program locations, 9 different social media accounts, and a memoir-writing business on the side—all components that make up the daily life of Savanna Polasek, a former English student who graduated from Texas A&M in 2018. In her current role as a Marketing and Communications Specialist at Upbring, a nonprofit dedicated to breaking the cycle of child abuse in Texas, Polasek gets to do what she’s always wanted to do: write.

“I knew that there were stories as a very little kid, and I loved them. Then, I found out that somebody was writing the stories, and then, I wanted to be a writer,” Polasek said.

To pursue her dream, Polasek completed the creative writing track during her time as an English major at Texas A&M. She said the coursework she took trained her in valuable skills that she still uses today.

“In the creative writing track, I learned how to read like a writer and so many writing tricks, like how to engage the audience and keep them interested. Also, all liberal arts classes usually involve defending a point or articulating an idea and expressing yourself, which is something I think you have to do anywhere, not just in marketing.” 

She also pursued multiple extracurricular experiences that gave her various perspectives on writing about diverse topics for different audiences. According to Polasek, one of her most valuable experiences was interning for the Texas A&M Foundation as a writer for Spirit Magazine. 

“The experience just opened a whole new world of nonprofits and philanthropy to me. Before, I was mostly writing essays and creative things, so learning about writing for the web and for print and infusing my creativity into those pieces while still making sense was a great learning experience,” Polasek said. 

Along with her internship, Polasek also joined The Eckleburg Project, an undergraduate literary journal at Texas A&M University, as a Screener to review submissions for publication, and eventually served as Prose Editor for the organization. 

“I think it really helped being a Screener for The Eckleburg Project to see other students’ work. I was already kind of seeing other students work in creative writing classes, but just to see even a greater diversity and all those perspectives was good for me creatively. It was also good to see what we wanted to publish and to know that sometimes a work isn’t selected because of other reasons,” Polasek said. “Now that I’m submitting my own work, I don’t take the rejections very personally because they might have a theme in mind, or they’re not accepting my specific kind of work yet.”

Polasek’s extracurricular activities enhanced her already rigorous and impactful writing course load. One of the classes she took at Texas A&M inspired her to start her own business called Memoir Ink, in which Polasek transforms interviews with clients into memoirs. 

“[Memoir Ink] was inspired by my creative nonfiction class that I took with Dr. Susan Stabile, which was one of my greatest classes at A&M. That’s when I first learned about creative nonfiction. I became really interested in memoirs and people telling their stories,” Polasek said. 

As a Marketing and Communications Specialist with Upbring, Polasek continues to bring stories to life for the nonprofit and its multiple programs that empower children, families, and communities. She specializes in external communications for the nonprofit, overseeing the content posted to Upbring’s 9 social media accounts, monitoring the news, creating press releases, supporting media and public relations, writing articles, and running the organization’s blog. 

“I create a content calendar each month, and I decide what’s going to go across all those channels,” Polasek said, describing one of her main responsibilities. “A big part is thinking about messaging and how different content would relate to our audiences.” 

In addition to content management, Polasek also incorporates the passion she has for discovering and telling peoples’ stories in her work.

“My favorite part of the job is interviewing the people that our programs are helping or the people working in those programs,” Polasek said. “Being able to interview, for example, foster moms and ask why they foster, and ask people aging out of foster care about their journey and how they’re progressing is really impactful.”

For current English students looking to enter the Marketing & Communications field, Polasek recommended pursuing volunteering opportunities and additional certifications to demonstrate valuable competencies to potential employers. For her work, Polasek completed the content strategy certification on LinkedIn Learning, and she suggested courses on SkillShare for more design-oriented training. Joining associations such as the Public Relations Society of America and the American Marketing Association is another great way to become involved in the field’s community.

For aspiring freelance writers, Polasek highly recommended Writer’s Market, an annual publication that explains what writers should do and how much to expect to be paid for certain pieces in certain publications, like The New Yorker or Time magazine. 

Speaking about the Writer’s Market publication, Polasek said, “I think that it’s the most valuable thing I found after graduating.” 

For all writers looking to enter the workforce, Polasek highly recommended networking now with current classmates and student organization members to form friendships that can support you later on in the job search. Making use of the Association of Former Students’ resources to network with Aggies in your career field can also provide useful career information. Finally, saving and keeping (safely) all of your work is essential. 

“You need more than a flash drive - put it on your Google Drive, and if it’s on your TAMU Google Drive, get it onto your personal account because that’s going to expire one day, and your flash drive might get wet - I’m speaking from experience,” Polasek said. “Even if your writing from freshman year was really rough, having an idea to go back to is really helpful.”

According to Polasek, anything that students can use to demonstrate their skills will make them more marketable when the time comes to start the job search.

“All of these things will give you an advantage and just show that you know how to do things. Because even though you know what you can do, it helps make a better case for you to HR if you have those things as well,” Polasek said. 

Polasek's work-from-home desk, featuring art from co-workers and letters from former classmates.


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