The program demands cross-functional training, intense innovation projects and deep onsite dives into Anheuser Busch’s domestic and global operations.

Because of Kelley, Linn is no stranger to intense, open-ended, strategy-driven projects.

The Integrated Core gave her a solid foundation in business fundamentals and how they work together. The Consumer Marketing Academy immersed her in hands-on consulting projects that require strategy-driven solutions. Working in Ghana with the Global Business and Social Enterprise Program (GLOBASE) gave her global perspective on business.

Linn’s Kelley experience gave her the skills and the confidence to hit the program—and her career—at a full sprint.

“Kelley really helped me develop my marketing instincts,” Linn said. “I feel like I’m approaching every project armed with the diverse perspectives of my peers and the expertise of the Kelley faculty. It’s almost like I have my own internal marketing team. Peers, faculty, frameworks—they’re my cheerleaders, my mantra and forever part of my marketing brain.”

During her internship at McDonald’s, Linn worked on the USA Value Marketing Team as the company was undergoing large strides to turn around its business. Linn helped with that effort, launching and monitoring an innovation project and developing a strategy to gain incremental traffic by leveraging the dollar menu.

“Kelley taught me to reach out and take the time to understand the whole business before diving headfirst into my projects,” she said. “Gaining key opinions and aligning stakeholders along the way was half the battle.”

Before Kelley, Linn’s approach to marketing was tactical. She worked as a restaurant manager and sommelier for Walt Disney World Resort, a role, she admits, that gave her a “myopic view on business.”

“I felt I was missing the strategic lens from which to really understand and drive business decisions,” she said.

She chose Kelley because its career-focused Academies provided “on the job” experience and clear road map for career changers like herself.

“Knowing I would have this structure going into this unknown world was fantastic,” Linn said. “That’s what ultimately swayed me to choose Kelley. From peers to faculty to career services to alumni, Kelley is invested in my success.”

“Kelleys want to see other Kelleys succeed. That’s so uplifting.”

The structure, the lessons and the Kelley community continue to support her, even after she’s left campus. In the first weeks of her new job, Linn found herself leaning heavily on the marketing frameworks and lessons she learned in courses like BUS-M 591 Digital Marketing in her role in events and experiential marketing.

Event and experiential marketing are notoriously hard to measure in terms of their returns and efficacy. In companies that are results focused, it is often hard to justify expenditures that don't necessarily have tangible results—especially in a field like experiential marketing that is still evolving.

“This is where my digital marketing learnings come in. The classes I took in digital marketing were rooted in hardcore academic research. I learned how to find the backbone and legitimacy in a field that is less concrete.”

And while she knows that skills learned in other courses, like BUS-M 575 Brand Asset Management, won’t come into play in her first year, they do “give me a better insight into business that will help me be a better leader from day one.”

Short-term, Linn hopes to master the sales and marketing roles at Anheuser-Busch. Long-term, she would like to see herself in an international rotation, ideally in marketing or business development.

“Kelley teaches to your whole career,” Linn said. “It’s not just about succeeding in your first job after your MBA. Kelley gives you the tools, the skills and the network to shape a successful career.”