This week, we feature Alyssa Neo on our Senior Spotlight!
Alyssa was previously a Strategic Planner for Mei Mei, a small Asian fusion restaurant located in BU’s south campus. As a graduating senior, we sat down with her to talk about her experiences with the club.
Alyssa joined GMS as a general member in the fall of her junior year. As a junior transfer from The George Washington University, she came to BU looking for more specialized opportunities in marketing as well as a more diverse community on campus.
After her first semester, she decided to apply for a position as strategic planner. It was an incredibly gratifying moment for her to have attained the position as she knew how competitive it was to attain a leadership role given that her peers were more experienced with GMS. She says she wanted to stick with GMS throughout the remainder of her college career because she appreciated the hands-on experience that it offered, and how she was able to apply the knowledge from GMS workshops to branding strategy. “I want to keep working with this team and being in this club - I want more people to know about this club,” she said. Being able to present to clients as well as see them utilize her work was also an extremely rewarding experience.
When asked about GMS as a whole, she emphasized how the club teaches you how to be both a good team member and leader. As a Strategic Planner, she was able to diversify her skills which in hindsight, also helped her with core. GMS also helped her learn how to lead by example. “Just because you’re in charge doesn’t mean you dictate everything; I think it really helps to delegate work, and people get to learn that way too.” She says, GMS’ methodology and how it forces you to work with different companies in possibly very different industries every semester gave Alyssa a “fresh perspective” on marketing, pushing her to be increasingly innovative with every new undertaking.
In her free time, Alyssa likes to stay active through exercise and listen to hard pumping music, traits that sprouted from her time in highschool as a track runner and marching band member.
She has now graduated with a degree in Business Administration and Management from Questrom, with a concentration in marketing, and was working part-time at korean hotspot Bonchon Allston (which is currently open for takeout and delivery) when we last spoke to her. When we asked her for advice, she had this to say: “If there’s something you want to do I say go for it -- the worst thing that can happen is that you don’t get it. I’m sure there’s a lot of students coming in that want Account Manager or Strategic Planner roles, I say go for it. Look how it turned out for me!”
We hope that Alyssa, her fellow BU graduates and now GMS alumni will forge ahead confidently in their respective fields. Once again, congratulations to the class of 2020!
