Faith Martin

Faith Martin (’12)
Sociology/Anthropology Major – Anthropology

What co-curricular or extracurricular activities were you involved in?

KTRM-FM Station Manager my senior year, organizer for the Tom Thumb Art Festival my senior year, KTRM-FM Chief Announcer my junior year, KTRM-FM Continuity Director my freshman and sophomore years, Missouri Hall President my sophomore year.

 What are you doing now?

I am the Research Specialist at Walz Tetrick Advertising in Mission, KS (outside of Kansas City). I head up all first-party and third-party consumer and competitive research for the agency and our clients. I also lead the internal education program for our employees, of which there are about 50. Basically, when one of our clients wants to understand their consumer base or competing businesses better, I do the research and report back to them, while also using that research to give them recommendations on marketing strategy based on the data. Tools I use include Resonate, GfK MRI (MEMRI), Nielsen Ad Intel, original-made surveys and focus groups, and of course Microsoft Excel.

How did you get to this place in your life/ career?

After college and living abroad in China, I started my US career in advertising working for the local ABC/CBS affiliate, KTVO. After that, I moved to Kansas City for better career opportunities and to live in an environment with more variety in culture and diversity. I worked at a radio network and a tv station before applying for the job I currently have. While working in TV I discovered how I could combine my education in social science and learning about human behavior into my love of communication and marketing. I apprenticed under our Research & Programming Director, and once I gained enough experience I began to look for opportunities that would allow me to fully focus on consumer and competitive research, which landed me my current job.

Have you been to graduate school? If so, where did you go? Did you go right after graduating from Truman?

I did not go to graduate school. While at Truman I was diagnosed with ADD, which helped me better understand some of the academic struggles I encountered while in undergrad. Because of this, and also due to the rising climb of student debt in the US, I decided that joining the work force after graduating would be the best decision for me. I have occasionally revisited the idea of going to graduate school since then. However, considering that I am very happy in my current role, doing something that I love, and also expecting my first child at the beginning on May, there is little motivation for me to do that at this time.

Do you have any advice for Truman students who are interested in going to graduate school?

I would say that while graduate school often seems like the natural next step after undergrad, it may not be the best choice for everyone, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Many Truman students, myself included, have gone onto career success in fields we truly enjoy without ever going to graduate school. If you really feel that you would not be successful in an industry without receiving a master’s degree, then graduate school may very well be for you. But if the idea of continuing your education right after undergrad seems stressful and would make you unhappy, it’s ok to not do it, and it doesn’t make you a failure or less of a person. Through my experience in the work force, I’ve discovered that the most important factor for being successful is a willingness to work very hard, to be patient, and to be open to opportunities that may present themselves as time passes.

How has the education you’ve received from Truman helped you?

I greatly value my education at Truman: not just my bachelor’s degree, but also my overall educational experience. To start, my experience with research development and data analysis is something I use almost every day in my current job. Having an understanding of what makes good, solid research helps me develop the methodology for my own work, and also assists me in finding reliable third-party research to use for reference when necessary. It also helps a lot in understanding how to interpret the data I look at and in how to explain this to clients and co-workers so that data is not misconstrued. Since a lot of this research and data is the basis for the recommendations I give our clients, there is extra pressure on me to make sure I am understanding everything accurately. Outside of my specialization in Anthropology, Truman’s liberal arts education made me a better, more well-rounded person overall. It especially emphasized critical thinking skills, which is something I use in my career and outside of it, as a consumer of information. For example, the 2016 presidential election saw a lot of misinformation spread on the Internet in order to sway potential voters. Because of the critical thinking skills I now have, I was much more skeptical about what I read, no matter what political slant the information had, and I was less likely to take this information at its word without doing my own research. Basically, I’ve learned that if something sounds fishy, it probably is, but you won’t know for sure unless you look into it yourself.

Is/are there any particular class(es) you’re glad you took? Did you like it/them at that the time?

For sure, our classes in research design and data analysis were crucial to my success today. They were challenging at the time, but I feel they really paid off in the end. It gave me a solid understand of how to construct a good research project with sound methodology, and then how to interpret the collected data accurately and develop conclusions from that data.

What is your favorite memory of your time at Truman?

It’s hard to pick just one! I have memories at Truman that span the entire spectrum, from really fun and exciting to very stressful and difficult. My time working at KTRM-FM was definitely a highlight. It was a very fun experience and I gained a lot of friends through the radio station. Studying abroad in China was an amazing time that I will never forget. It taught me a lot about one’s own ethnocentrism: that you can be an Anthropology student and understand ethnocentrism very well but still suffer from those biases. Lastly, being in smaller classes for my Anthropology and Sociology courses was a huge benefit that lead to some great class discussions that I still remember, and more one-on-one time with my professors, and that was important to my educational experience.

Why is Truman a good school at which to study?

I’ll start answering this by saying that Truman is not for everyone. I know some people who would have been unhappy living in Kirksville because of its small size and limitations in available places to shop, eat, drink, and have fun. That being said, Truman was definitely the right choice for me and many of my peers. As mentioned earlier, the smaller class sizes made a huge difference for me in my education. I never felt like I couldn’t get my instructor’s attention when I needed extra help or understanding. Getting one-on-one time with them also allowed them to know me better and what my educational goals were. Truman’s tuition is exceptionally affordable during this time of climbing student debt, and I don’t feel that I had to give up any educational quality in order to attend Truman. Truman attracts a certain caliber of students that take their studies seriously, and this is something we all shared and it helped to foster relationships.

Do you have any advice for someone wanting to go into the same line of work as you?

As I mentioned before, working really hard is essential to success in the marketing field. You have to show that you are an asset to your employer and that if your employer doesn’t give you the support and resources you need to do quality work, that you are more than able to find more suitable work elsewhere. In my specific field, networking is also crucial. As an introvert, I would have hated to hear that piece of advice at the beginning of my career, but it’s not as scary as it sounds. Just make sure that you develop positive relationships with your coworkers, and when those coworkers or you depart your current employer, you make an effort to retain contact information for future utilization. Even though Kansas City is considered a major US city, everyone seems to know each other in the marketing field and there’s a reason for that. Lastly, know that the opportunities you reach for may not always be available to you, but if you are patient they may appear at the right time, and you should be ready to follow them when it happens.

What do you miss most about campus life/ living in Kirksville?

In college, there was definitely more flexibility in when and where I could work on projects or schoolwork. Now, my schedule is much more rigid. I also miss being walking-distance from everything. In Kansas City, you pretty much have to drive to get around.

If you could teach current students one thing, what would it be?

Follow your own path, and if you don’t know what that path is yet, it’s totally ok. You will figure it out over time – it’s just not that time for you yet.