Sarah Brechbill (IMC20)

Social Media Senior Manager at Real Chemistry

Tell us about your career path. How did you get where you are today?

I began telling stories through the lens of a journalist working as a television news reporter in Fargo, North Dakota and Madison, Wisconsin. However, I quickly realized I was more focused on winning over my interviewees rather than delivering the news. For close to two years, I managed the social media channels at a university in Philadelphia but soon realized I was missing key knowledge when it came to the business marketing side of telling a brand’s story. This realization ultimately led me to pursue my master’s degree in Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern. Today, I work as a social media senior manager at the digital healthcare agency, Real Chemistry.

What are your main responsibilities in your current role?

I serve as a day-to-day social media executor for a variety of pharmaceutical clients in therapeutic areas including aesthetics and oncology. I am responsible for managing the editorial calendars for various brands including content strategy, planning and copywriting as well as working closely with our creative counterparts to bring visual concepts to life. I also work on monthly performance reports for clients to summarize performance and guide key learnings and insights for future content! 

How did the Medill Integrated Marketing Communications Full Time program prepare you for your career?

The Medill IMC program was instrumental in providing me the necessary tools and knowledge to become a data-driven marketer focused on delivering business results. Telling a brand’s story is great but being able to make strategic content decisions based on key insights is ultimately what moves the needle. From learning about audience segmentation to understanding meaningful metrics, the IMC program prepared me to be a seasoned marketer!

What did you do during Immersion Quarter?

I served as a member of the real estate company, Home Partners of America. The project focused on ways to improve retention by better engaging with current customers. Together with my group, we developed a persona of satisfied/dissatisfied customers, conducted customer interviews to identify gaps and opportunities in the communication journey and even created and presented an IMC brand marketing plan to the entire HPA company!

What is a class or experience that stick out in your mind and why?

The Brand Management foundations class was essential as I transitioned from journalism to the marketing world. Understanding the foundational branding frameworks was key to understanding how to develop a successful, strong brand. It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day tactics, however this class taught me the necessity in seeing the bigger picture to inform actionable insights and drive business success.

How has Medill Career Services helped you?

I owe a big one to Medill Career Services for supporting me through many rounds of resume and cover letter edits! At the time, I didn’t think I had any direct business results to highlight in my resume, however with the help of Career Services they helped me redefine what I considered as personal metrics of success, helping me realize I had more to bring to the table!

How can your industry be more inclusive and representative of society?

This is a question we are constantly addressing on a day-to-day basis. In the social media landscape, many brands want to simply post for the sake of posting, regardless of what they’re doing offline to support marginalized groups. Instead, we work to educate our clients about the need to have concrete actions to show true commitment to change before posting on social media.

How have your identities influenced the way you navigate your professional career?

When discussing how brands can genuinely participate in various social media awareness days, it’s critical to recognize who is in the room when having these conversations. For example, when our team was tasked with developing a social post to recognize Juneteenth we immediately looped in our diversity and inclusion experts to ensure we’re appropriately thinking through the impact of this content.

What advice would you give to someone considering the Medill Integrated Marketing Communications Full Time program?

The immeasurable skills and industry knowledge you will gain puts you at a significant competitive advantage compared to others in the field. On top of that, the robust Medill alumni network will continue to support you throughout your career!