Strength in Flexibility

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For Damaris Rivera Woodbury '99, Liberal Arts Education Opens Doors from Madison Avenue to Sesame Street

When Damaris Rivera Woodbury arrived as a first-year student at Mount Holyoke, her game plan was not to have one. With no specific major in mind, her main goals were to explore a wide range of subjects and challenge herself academically. "I picked classes where I knew that I would have to work extra hard."

That approach served Woodbury well. She took extensive advantage of the College's abundant career and scholarship services. Through the Career Development Center, she arranged three January Term internships—two in educational organizations, the third at ABC's daytime variety program The View. She also went to numerous career fairs, one of which led to a summer internship and, after graduation, landed a full-time job at Leo Burnett, a prestigious international advertising agency in Chicago, where she worked on Kellogg's, Philip Morris, and U.S. Army accounts. After more than four years at Leo Burnett, Woodbury took a job at DDB Worldwide, a leading multinational advertising agency.

Having succeeded in the field of advertising, she is considering a new career in teaching, a subject she studied at Mount Holyoke as part of her major in the psychology and education department. "Education always called to me, but the field of advertising wasn’t as familiar, so when I was offered the job at Leo Burnett, I couldn't pass it up." To this end, she is enrolled in a master's program at DePaul University in Chicago. After completing her degree, she will be certified to teach kindergarten through ninth grade.

Like many other MHC alums, Woodbury has found that career flexibility is one of the great advantages of a liberal arts education. "I've loved finding out that my skills are transferable and that I could do a job I had no previous experience in and do it well."