Alumni Spotlight
Emily Hounshell
by Abbie Kate Hancock
Emily Hounshell graduated May 2020 from Mississippi State with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication with a concentration in Public Relations.
She is from Franklin, Tenn., and recently moved to Nashville, Tenn., after accepting a job as a customer experience associate at the Farmer’s Dog.
In her role, she is responsible for communicating with both prospective and current customers on a daily basis. This can mean answering their concerns or helping them adjust their dogs’ feeding plan along with offering advice and suggestions.
Hounshell said she is learning about all departments at The Farmer’s Dog.
“I’m able to collaborate and learn from other departments in the company in order to grow my skill set as well as my relationships with other TFD employees,” said Hounshell.
When searching for jobs, Hounshell was not sure what to do with her PR degree.
“A family friend gave me a great idea to write down a list of things I’m interested in first and to go from there,” said Hounshell. “I decided to do that and after writing l searched LinkedIn for opportunities that overlapped with this list.”
She loves dogs and people and knew TFD would be a great option for her.
She said the most important thing she learned from interviewing for jobs is to completely be yourself.
“Job interviews and applications can be intimidating and scary, but it’s crucial that you’re able to be transparent and open with a future employer (with proper boundaries, of course),” said Hounshell. “It is super okay to go into this process and tell the interviewers what you’re looking for out of this process as well besides the job!”
As part of our alumni spotlight series, we ask each alumnus a set of fun, rapid fire questions about their time at MSU. Please see Hounshell's responses below.
Favorite memory as a Communication student?
As stressful as it was, I have to say Orgs. Though my senior year got cut short and we didn’t get to actually present in front of our client, myself and my group got very close and worked really hard. It was nice to apply all of the knowledge we had learned prior to one full PR plan. Oh, and we won! (Humble brag :))
Favorite Communication class you took and why?
Definitely PR Production - It was awesome to be able to be creative in a world of AP and APA rules!
Any funny stories about your time in McComas?
Oh goodness - this wasn’t funny at the time. But my last semester, I interned for Dr. Likes and was in charge of updating the TV monitor when you walk in. This monitor did NOT want to work ever and constantly showed error messages so I would have to manually grab a mouse, grab a ladder, and click around on the screen through the ceiling tile until the error went away. This happened every day for 2 weeks. An absolute pain, but so funny as I look back on it.
Favorite Communication professor and why?
Melody Fisher. Taking orgs, I couldn’t imagine having another instructor. She was not only so helpful and knowledgeable, but I enjoyed creating a relationship with her outside of just coursework. She showed genuine interest in her students lives and well-being! Plus, she’s super funny!
Preparation for graduate school and the workplace?
Absolutely! Being a part of student organizations at MSU has given me the opportunity to connect with people and grow in my personal skill set. My job in sum is to create lasting and trusting relationships with customers and being a part of those organizations as well as doing so in my work experience has led me to excel at this job.