Steve Roberts

In layperson terms, what do you actually do at work?

As someone who does marketing for our company's corporate social responsibility program, I spend most of my time trying to tell people what our company does in terms of our social and environmental responsibilities. So, I write a lot. I create blogs, speeches, presentations, social media posts, even advertising copy that explains various projects and beliefs the company has related to how we implement energy efficiency, greener packaging, recycling, fair labor practices, etc. I also manage projects that involve others. I'm not an artist, so I turn to our creative team or to outside ad agencies to design visuals I need. I develop a "brief" that outlines what I want, the strategy I have, and what I'm trying to accomplish. There are also "end-to-end" projects that I manage. For example, we have a program that lets customers donate a small amount to a nonprofit partner of ours that does tree planting and habitat restoration. I work with the folks who collect that money, I create the messaging and the creative projects, and I do presentations to talk about it. Lastly, I spend a lot of time in meetings (some good, some zzzzzzz). I serve as part of the company's sustainability council, advising on how various programs should function, what policies we should set, etc. In this respect, it's mostly providing my opinion.

What is the most useful piece of career advice you got as a student, and who gave it to you?

Be curious. Before I started at college, I had a teacher who told us to take a wide variety of classes - hard classes - when we first started. Things we wouldn't normally think to do. This, he said, was the best way to figure out what gets you excited and that is how you should figure out what you want to do. Discover your passions. He also gave another great piece of advice: Find a quiet place to study that inspires you and is where no one will bother you. Don't tell your friends where it is. For me, it was the main floor of the Deering Library at Northwestern OR on nice days Shakespeare Gardens.