In her time at Chambers, senior Lydia Reilly has seen her passion for marketing thrive.
With a major in marketing and a minor in data analytics, Reilly says she’s a people person who loves to share ideas, and is unafraid to get into specifics.
When she picked data analytics as her minor, she said it looked challenging and exciting. Her time at Chambers has shown her how data analytics and marketing can work well together.
“Data analytics gives me the flexibility to be able to understand marketing initiatives, but also understand the backend of things,” Reilly said. “It lets you connect people with the data and bridge that gap between ‘here are some really cool ideas’ and 'here's actually how we’re gonna walk through this.'”
Reilly wanted to see how what she’s learned in her classes could be applied to real clients. In her sophomore year, Reilly joined 304 Marketing Agency, Chambers’ student-run marketing agency where students can work on real projects for real businesses.
“I love learning and the classroom is one of my favorite places to be, but I was thinking ‘how can I actually apply what I’m learning to a real-life scenario?’ So I learned about 304 Marketing Agency and I thought it was really cool, because I have to actually be responsible, learn about my clients, and propose different ideas. So I’m taking everything that I’m learning in class and applying that to a real business or a real industry.”
At 304 Marketing Agency, Reilly not only got the chance to work on projects for real companies, it also let her learn more about the industry and what specific skills marketers might need.
“Not only has that helped me communicate with clients and learn marketing as a whole, I had to hone in on research skills like paid ads or building websites. I didn’t have a lot of experience doing that, so I had to learn more about those specific things that marketing agencies do.”
The agency also gave her a look at how marketers will often work with many types of industries.
“We had a client that worked in the baseball and softball industry, and I didn’t know anything about that. So I had to do my own research on the industry and then teach them about marketing.”
With those experiences under her belt, Reilly says she believes Chambers has shown her how to turn her passion for marketing into a career.
“I love marketing because I’m passionate about it and Chambers has guided me through that. Learning how you can make that a reality, how you can turn your passion into something that’s worthwhile as something that you can do everyday.”
Reilly’s drive to learn more outside of the classroom went beyond just 304 Marketing Agency. She was also involved with the American Marketing Association chapter at WVU, as well as the Ad Club. Reilly also decided to help other students carve their own paths by becoming a peer mentor for two years. During that time, she helped freshmen develop their skills and figure out potential majors to pick from.
Skilled with what she’s learned at Chambers both in and out of the classroom, Reilly is looking forward to taking the next step in her education. She plans to move to New York City after graduation to attend NYU and get her Master’s of Science in Marketing and Analytics.
As she moves forward, Reilly says she sees herself one day working at an agency that lets her face clients and work together in teams to form creative ideas.
-WVU-
JC 05/07/26
MEDIA CONTACT:
Jacob Comer
Senior Communications Specialist
John Chambers College of Business and Economics
jrcomer@mail.wvu.edu
