12/21/2025
This semester marks the close of an incredibly meaningful chapter for me, and I am officially an App State Alumni!🎓 I graduated last Friday, December 12th with a BS in Commercial Photography and a BS in Advertising.
Throughout my time at App State, I grew as both a creative and a strategist through hands on leadership, real world projects, and collaboration. This semester especially brought many of those experiences together in a way that felt full circle.
I served as Social Media Manager for Her Campus App State, the App State Advertising Club, and the Commercial Photography program, creating engaging visual content and strengthening audience connection across platforms. At the same time, I worked with Second Story Media on client based projects, including the Turtle Island Nature Preserve account, where I contributed new photography and a video as part of a website refresh.
One of the highlights of the semester was traveling to New York City with the American Advertising Federation for the National Career Conference. While there, I had the opportunity to learn from and visit companies such as Ogilvy, Known, Mischief, Publicis Groupe, FCB New York, WPP Media, PepsiCo, Sony Music Entertainment, Paramount, Peacock, JPMorgan Chase, Google, and Indeed. The experience offered valuable insight into agency life, collaboration, and the intersection of creativity, strategy, and technology.
I also presented my work at my Commercial Photography Portfolio Show, where I designed and printed a professional photo book, created branded materials, and built a portfolio website. I am incredibly thankful to have been selected as the recipient of the Maren S. Robinson Photography Scholarship, which allowed my work to be displayed on the walls of Katherine Harper. I was also proud to end the semester on the Chancellor’s List.
Outside of academics, I am grateful for creative and work experiences that kept me balanced, including dancing with Remedy Independent Winterguard during the spring and working seasonally at Camp Lake James over multiple summers.
I am deeply thankful for the professors, mentors, classmates, and organizations who supported me throughout this journey.
Looking ahead, I am excited to share that I will be interning with the photography team at Altar’d State.
If you would like to view my work, you can visit OliviaCommercial.com.
Excited for what is next and ready to keep creating ✨