Words of Advice from a College of Media Alumnus

Alec Kuznitsky

 I conducted an interview with Alex to gain some insight on how he settled on the College of Media and what steps he took to get to where he is today.

I recall hearing that you did not start out as an Advertising major. Did you start out in
the Division of General Studies (DGS) or did you enroll at University of Illinois with
another career path in mind?

"I love this question. I was a Psych major when I started at the University of Illinois. I walked into my first psych class, Social Psych, and didn’t like it. I had this pressure from high school to pursue some sort of pre-med or engineering-related major. For the next three semesters, I was balancing all sorts of math and science intensive courses."

"Advertising was my sixth major. I transferred because I joined AAF my sophomore year. It took three semesters for me to find my calling, but I did not waste my time with those three semesters. These helped me to build the work ethic that followed me into the Advertising major."

When did you discover that studying Psychology wasn’t satisfying for you? Was there a
particular instance that caused you to realize that your passions lay in the College of
Media?

Learning about Psychology was interesting but was mostly memorization. I wanted to apply my knowledge. Advertising is a perfect place to do so. Basically, I found advertising and was like, “okay, this is what I need to do.”

What advice would you give to students in the College of Media who are unsure of
themselves and/or their capabilities?

You just gotta do the damn thing. What I learned in college is there’s no use in
waiting for permission to do things. In AAF, when there was an opportunity I saw, I just
did it. I was proactive and ambitious.  I sought out opportunities and made things happen.

My advice for undergrad students is to look to where you want to be, whether that’s professionally or personally. Make an effort to take at least one step to get close to that, and just do that over and over again until you hit it.

A lot of people get impatient when things don’t happen the way they want them to, but one thing to keep in mind is that things don’t happen immediately. It takes time to reach your dream.

When I was a sophomore, everyone was talking about internships. I was like, “I don’t know what the fuck an internship is.” I did some research and then I picked up smaller roles to make myself a better candidate for an internship. All you need to do is have a goal and take baby steps.

How have you advanced professionally following your reign as President of the
American Advertising Federation? Where are you currently employed?

The first thing I did after graduating was take an internship in New York City because I
wanted to determine if I could foresee myself living there with a full-time career. I took an internship
with Saatchi & Saatchi and worked on the Olay account, which is global. I learned what an account manager does in a big team setting.

At the beginning of September, I started my job as an Assistant Account Executive for Deutsch on Johnson & Johnson’s Acuvue, which is also a global account. On top of the stuff I did for Saatchi
over the summer, I was also part of the Publicis Group Égalité, an LGBTQ business resource group.

I was a MAIP intern, a Saatchi intern, and a Publicis intern. I worked on three campaigns over the summer, one for each of those internships. You can check my website for more information on that.

What is your long-term goal in the advertising industry? In what ways do you feel the
College of Media at Illinois has prepared you to achieve these goals?

I have a lot of goals. I think my biggest goal in advertising is to work on a campaign that creates a conversation and has a social impact, specifically by targeting marginalized groups and representing them, whether that be a diverse ethnic group or the LGBTQ community. I want to work on a campaign for a brand that takes a stance and includes those groups in a proper way.

The Advertising department at University of Illinois is full of such incredibly
passionate, smart, and supportive staff. I think I was lucky to have gotten close to most
of my professors and as a result, they would help me start projects like Verge, and help me get my foot in the door.