February, 2013
Within a month of graduating from Western, Racquel Ankney, B.B.A.’07, was moving to southeast Michigan to work for McCann Erickson. A manager had seen her resume in the WMU Advertising Club Resume Book, and she quickly became a part of the company in the traffic department. A year later, Ankney became a strategic planner at the company, a position she has held for more than four years.
Ankney credits the numerous extracurricular choices at the college in helping her fine tune her interests. “When I became an advertising major, I was really lost as to where to start and what would benefit me in the long run. I joined both the Advertising Club and Phi Chi Theta early on and both groups helped me become a well-rounded professional,” she says. The two organizations helped Ankney prepare for her future career with a strong resume and job search skills.
Success to Ankney means being able to think outside the box while using and analyzing data. During data collection, she often has the opportunity to engage with and represent consumers and identify opportunities and insights through research. “Representing the consumer is my favorite part of my job, and lucky for me, it’s what my job is all about,” she says.
Ankney supports the Haworth College of Business by keeping in touch with advisors and faculty. She also enjoys coming back to campus and answering students’ questions. “I know when I was a student I always valued the things you couldn’t learn in a classroom and those were the things you learned from alumni stories,” she says.