Majoring in English was the smartest decision I’ve made to date. Studying English prepared me in a few key areas that are directly translated in my day-to-day life:

• Capturing the key details in a sea of words and being able to translate them to other people.
• Talking about books I never read (or in this case topics I don’t know much about – know enough to talk to smarter people about it and learn every step of the way).
• Avoid adverbs. This one’s always stuck with me (Stephen Kruger).
• Be conscious of the ratio of other people’s ideas in your own work and leverage it to your benefit. It’s important to acknowledge the ideas of people you’re doing business with.
• Take notes. Copious notes. Pro-Tip: Use Google Docs so they’re easily indexed and searchable at a later date.

Now I am leading a team of incredibly passionate and talented digital designers and developers. As Lead Digital Project Manager at a creative agency, I oversee the full lifecycle of mobile/web application development projects, digital marketing and content strategy engagements, and highly technical projects (that are often over my head in terms of tech, but hey, I still get to learn every day!) On top of a full-time job, I am getting my MA in Digital Humanities at the Grad Center (in the MALS program–Master of Arts in Liberal Studies). Always more to learn. Reading, interpreting, and writing about literature in new and innovative ways is my focus these days. How do we blow up the book and take it from a different angle?

Long story short, for all the paranoid English majors who have read one-too-many memes on Facebook about their imposing doom, it’s going to be okay. Just hustle. Learn. Adapt. Don’t be afraid to bullshit a little. You do it every time you fluff up your papers to hit 10 pages.