Emily (Em) Wiginton graduated from UAB in 2017 with an English degree and a concentration in Professional Writing. Emily was raised on a farm in rural Alabama and spent her college years working at the public radio station 90.3 WBHM. During her time at UAB, she was President of the Professional Writing club. Post graduation, Emily is located in North Carolina at UNC Chapel Hill and lives with her partner and their cat Jiji. Emily is a queer writer, artist, and communicator who loves traveling, Korean food, and video games.
1. What made you want to major in professional writing?
I initially went into Professional Writing because I was interested in a practical application of English, but also because I was terrified to talk to anyone. As an incoming freshman, I thought that Professional Writing sounded like a field that wouldn’t require a lot of communication with other people, but boy, was I wrong. PW ended up making me a much stronger communicator—and a better writer to boot.
2. How is your degree useful to you?
A lot of my job involves sharing and explaining critical information between Women’s Health organizations across the globe, and PW really helped me learn how to consider my audience when communicating to certain groups. I also self-publish autobiographical comic zines on the side, and learning how to use software like Illustrator and InDesign to design and print my own materials is still something I use literally every day.
3. What was your goal after you graduated from UAB and how did English/PW help you get there?
My goal after graduation was basically just to get a job—any job. A lot of PW focuses heavily on professional development, so by the time I graduated, I had a fully developed LinkedIn, a gorgeous resume, and a working knowledge of how to apply for positions or market myself in the industry using sites like Indeed. I also learned how to make a web-based portfolio (emilyrosewiginton.wordpress.com) through my PW classes, and having a website really gave me an edge in interviews.
4. What was your thesis on?
For my thesis, I created a sample email newsletter for the UAB-based PW publication, Memorandum, along with a user guide that could be used in both print and PDF formats. The user guide ended up being something I took to job interviews with me as an example of my skillset—people really like it when you have a tangible example of work you’ve done, especially one that combines writing, design, and self-publishing.
5. How did you get to UNC?
I got into UNC by working a few temp jobs when I first moved here. I can’t stress enough what a useful tool this was for breaking into the job market. The best advice I can give for recent grads is to apply to as many temp pools as you can get your hands on. There are tons out there, especially around Universities, and often for communications and writing-related positions. I was at the Department of Music here at UNC, then landed a permanent position at the World Health Organization Collaborating Center for Research Evidence in Sexual and Reproductive Health (WHO CC for short).
6. What are you doing at UNC now with your English/PW degree?
Here at the WHO CC, my official job title is Public Communications Coordinator, which means that I’m not only the front-facing person for our offices, but also serve as a connecting point between us and other Women’s Health Organizations around the world. We work to develop programs that apply implementation science to Women’s Health research, with a larger goal of ensuring reproductive health and justice for all. It’s challenging work, but honestly a dream job for me. As a queer, gender-nonconforming woman, I have a huge passion for reproductive justice in a global health context, and am so grateful to be working in a position that directly contributes to that.
7. What do you want to do in the future? Are you getting another degree?
My dream for the future is admittedly little less career/academia-focused. I mentioned earlier that I illustrate and self-publish comics in my spare time, and I’d love to get more serious about that while still maintaining a day job similar to what I do now. I’m so grateful to have such an amazing career, but my real joys in life come from making art, traveling with my partner, and pursuing my hobbies. However, I feel super fortunate that I can work in a position that matches up with my political and ethical convictions.
8. How did your undergraduate experience at UAB help get you to where you are today?
Professional Writing equipped me with the skills I needed to find a job pretty quickly after college, as well as the skills to pursue the things I wanted to do outside of a professional setting. Above all, however, PW helped me grow into a confident and effective communicator and leader. Professional writing is curriculum that teaches people how to write for certain audiences, interface with contemporary discourses and find work in a complicated job market which is more vital than ever, and I’m thankful that it was part of my education.
In Conclusion
Emily’s professional writing degree has propelled her into the job market seamlessly and with it, she acquired her dream job. The professional writing concentration offers skills that are necessary for most every major and vital to any job. Emily’s work post-graduation is proof of effective communication skills at work and has made the transition into the job market a rather easy one. A degree in professional writing gives you a skillset that is useful and relevant in any job.
