PERSONAL STATEMENT
I am a creative and dedicated individual with leadership experience as a student-athlete and coach. I have extensive educational experience in both advertising and strategic communication. My goal is to be able to use my experiences to make a positive impact on an organization and to be an individual who leads by example while supporting the organization’s mission, vision and values.
MY PROFESSIONAL PROFILE
Growing up, my life revolved around tennis. This experience gave me the opportunity to receive scholarships and pursue my education in the United States. I was honored to represent Clemson University and the University of West Florida as a student-athlete who succeeded both on the tennis court and in the classroom. I earned my bachelor's degree in advertising and my master's degree in strategic communication & leadership and I would now like to utilize my knowledge and experience in a professional setting. My primary focus areas that I would like to pursue are in strategic communication, advertising & marketing communications, campaign development, public relations, health communication, crisis communication, human resources and general management.
PROFESSIONAL HISTORY
My Roles & Responsibilities
SALES REPRESENTATIVE
May 2017 to present
I am currently working as a part-time sales representative for J.Hilburn fine custom menswear company. My job is to build client base and sell merchandise throughout Pensacola area. I am also responsible for building relationships with new clients and maintaining them with existing ones, marketing company's products and hitting monthly sales quota.
GRADUATE ASSISTANT COACH OF WOMEN'S TENNIS TEAM
August 2015 -Â May 2017
Working as a graduate assistant coach for University of West Florida, an NCAA Division II women’s tennis team, gave me an opportunity to develop my management and leadership skills while working with 11 to 13 talented young women. My duties included managing the team during team travels and during the practice time, helping the head coach with recruiting, developing team tactics and strategy, and keeping the players motivated while being able to maintain friendly and fun atmosphere on the team.
MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS INTERN
May 2016 - August 2016
I had a pleasure to help and promote services for the local Pensacola community as the marketing and communications intern at the United Way of Escambia County. My duties included helping with the design of promotional materials for the organization and it’s events, creating brand identity and brand awareness and serving as a marketing representative at the organization's events. I was also in charge of media tracking and commercial budget spending and I contributed to the production and design of the annual report guide book.
HEAD TEACHING PROFESSIONAL &Â CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE
May 2015Â - September 2015
As a busy full-time student-athlete I always looked for opportunities to develop myself professionally while making some extra income. I had a privilege of working as a head teaching professional and customer service representative at a prominent Northeastern country club located in Southampton. My duties included motivational coaching, providing first class customer service, professional communication with clients, and assisting with the sales in the local pro-shop.
TENNIS TEACHING PROFESSIONAL & CAMP COUNSELOR
May 2014 - August 2014
May 2013 - August 2013
Similarly to the description above, as a full-time student athlete I had an opportunity to work two summers in a row at two prominent Northeastern country clubs as a tennis teaching professional and camp counselor. My duties included organizing and counseling kids summer camps and teaching tennis to both young juniors and adults.
HOTEL MANAGEMENT TRAINEE
May 2012 - July 2012
When I started college, my initial major was hotel and tourism management. Therefore, I chose to work as a management trainee at a five star hotel located in Slovakia, Bratislava. My duties included welcoming guests at the site, keeping a track of guests who visited the restaurant, providing excellent customer service and reporting to the general manager of the hotel.
PROFESSIONAL TENNIS PLAYER
2007Â - 2010
While I was performing as a professional tennis player on the WTA tour, I learned the value of hard work and discipline. I was ranked as high as 482 in singles and 323 in doubles. Since this career involved extensive traveling, I got to meet people from different cultures with different backgrounds which shaped me into a well rounded and accepting individual.
SKILLS
LEADERSHIP
As a student of leadership and strategic communications I had an opportunity to learn about theories related to this filed and I was able to utilize them both in my professional and personal life. Please see my top five leadership theories that I aspire to by clicking on the button below.
MARKETING STRATEGIES
I have worked on various marketing projects while interning for the United Way organization, as well as while attending school. As a group of six undergraduate students of a marketing class we had an opportunity to develop an enhanced marketing plan for a local bookstore. The findings included improved organization of the store, strategically placed signage and improved services for disabled individuals. As a graduate student I developed a marketing plan on how to raise attendance of college tennis matches via various activities and incentives. This plan was then adopted by the athletic marketing department. Please view the document for the detailed plan by clicking on the button below.
MOTIVATIONAL COACHING
As a coach, motivational coaching became a natural part of my skill set. However, there is an established theory which proves that motivational coaching should not only be implemented in sports, but in professional organizational environment as well. Motivation Language Theory (MLT) explains why keeping the employees motivated is crucial and how discouraged or burned-out employees negatively affect the organization's performance. Please click on the button below to learn more about the MLT.
SPORTS EVENT MANAGEMENT
I had an opportunity to organize a number of tennis events which required high level of organizational skills, time management, site securing and logistical skills. At some events we hosted up to 150 men and woman athletes, along with their coaches and parents. The guests had to be continuously informed about the progress of the event and the site had to be continuously maintained to provide the highest quality of customer service.
ADOBE CREATIVE SUITE
As an undergraduate student of advertising it was a part of the curriculum to learn the basics of creative programs such as Adobe Creative Suite. I became familiar with Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator, of which InDesign is my favorite program that I have the most experience with. I must point out that I am not a graphic designer, but I can claim with confidence that I can create advertising materials such as flyers, brochures, billboards or magazine ads. Please see a couple of examples of my creative work by clicking on the button below.
MICROSOFT OFFICE SUITE
I am proficient in working with Word (expert), Powerpoint (expert) and Excel (advanced). Besides this software, I am proficient in working with the SPSS program for quantitative statistical analysis. I have used this program while conducting my research study for my mater's thesis. I also like to use sometimes Prezi instead of PowerPoint, which is just a little more fun program designed for presentations. However, I would not choose to use this platform for formal business presentations. Prezi is suitable for more fun and informal presentations.
LANGUAGES
As a child I grew up in a bilingual household. My mother and her side of family spoke Hungarian, while my father and his side of family spoke Slovak. After studying and living in the United States for seven years, English became my third language. Now I am fluent in all three languages and my goal is to learn German and Spanish.
EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE
M.A. UNIVERSITY OF WEST FLORIDA
2015 - 2017
My master's degree specialized in strategic communication and leadership, as well as in health communication. Most of the projects I worked on were hands on and team-based projects. We worked with professional organizations on improving their internal communication based on leadership and communication theories, we consulted on image recovery of individuals and organizations through building effective public relations plans, we had the opportunity to develop strategic marketing and advertising plans, and learned the importance of good communication in healthcare.
B.A. UNIVERSITY OF WEST FLORIDA
2012 - 2014
My undergraduate degree was focused in advertising. I did not claim a minor because I decided to take a mix of marketing, business communication and graphic design courses that complemented this major very well. I had the opportunity to complete a full campaign and learned how to pitch it to the client. I learned about graphic design and got a lot of experience in the Adobe Creative Suite.
HEALTH COMMUNICATION CERTIFICATE, UNIVERSITY OF WEST FLORIDA
2015-2017
Along with my graduate studies I completed my health communication certificate. I learned the importance of communication in health care, conducted numerous research papers on the importance of cultural competency in healthcare, importance of crisis management and health marketing.
MY LIST OF AWARDS
WHO'S WHO AMONG STUDENTS IN AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES & COLLEGES
2017
Who is Who is an award made on the basis of scholarship, leadership, citizenship and participation in academic and extra-curricular activities at The University of West Florida. Selections are made by the campus committee and are based on above average academic standing, community service, leadership ability and potential for continued success.
ATHLETICS DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
2015
In order to receive the award, student-athletes must have maintained a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher, competed two-years at their current institution and must have been an active member of an intercollegiate team during their last academic year.
INTERCOLLEGIATE TENNIS ASSOCIATION SCHOLAR ATHLETE
2015
ITA Scholar Athlete award winners must have a GPA of 3.5 or above during the 2014-15 academic year and must be a varsity letter winner.
FOUR-TIME INTERCOLLEGIATE TENNIS ASSOCIATION ALL-AMERICAN
2014 - 2015
Earned ITA All-America honors in singles and doubles during the 2014 and 2015 spring seasons at the University of West Florida.
INTERCOLLEGIATE TENNIS ASSOCIATION SOUTH REGION SENIOR PLAYER OF THE YEAR
2014
I earned my first ITA South Region Player of the Year Award after earning my second consecutive Gulf South Conference Player of the Year award in 2014 to lead West Florida to its fifth straight conference championship. I was ranked as high as No. 6 in the nation in 2014 in singles and No. 5 in doubles play.
PRESENTATIONS & RESEARCH
CAPSTONE PROJECT
April 2017
This research project was conducted for my final paper, capstone, which was required for the completions of my master's degree. The research focused on the use of sexually suggestive imagery in print advertising and its effects on consumers' perception of the brand. In summary, the research found that sexually suggestive imagery in print advertising had overall, negative effects on consumer's perception of the brand, and this was more so true when it came to women's audience. Please see the video of the full presentation or view the findings section of the research paper located under the 'Sample Research Paper' for more details.
SAMPLE RESEARCH PAPER
April 2017
This research paper was conducted on the 'Sexually suggestive imagery in print advertising and its effects on consumers' perception of the brand,'Â a requirement to complete my master's degree. This is a complete research paper with survey samples included at the end of the document. Please view the full paper by clicking on the button below.
PROFESSIONAL WRITING
January 2017
Along with professors from Denver University and University of West Florida I had a privilege to develop content for a chapter for health communication case study book. This book will serve as an educational textbook for health communication students and professionals. Please see the full content of the chapter along with the discussion questions by clicking on the button below.
COMMUNICATION TRAINING
April 2015
Along with three graduate students we developed a training session on the importance of branding and networking among professionals for an educational organization. The key points included the importance of pitching the organization's premise in 30 seconds and being able to sell the benefits of the program. The training also included various educational advice on how to effectively network in the technology era. Please view the workshop guidebook for more details by clicking on the button below.
ASSESSING &Â IMPROVING ORGANIZATIONAL DYNAMICS
November 2015
As a team of three graduate students we conducted a research analysis on a company of our choice that was facing some internal issues at the time. Amazon's leadership was dealing with some negative feedback from their employees who claimed to be overworked and dissatisfied with the culture of cutthroat competition. Therefore, we decided to examine the root of the problem and proposed a communication assessment plan to address those issues in order to improve the organization's internal relations. The benefit of addressing those issues would include higher employee satisfaction, retention of the best talent and improved company's reputation. Learn more about this project by clicking on the button below.
CREATIVE STRATEGIES & TACTICS
December 2014
As a team of four undergraduate students we worked on a campaign that served for rebranding and reinventing Mary Kay as a leader on the market of beauty products. We conducted a comprehensive competition analysis by using primary and secondary research methods and created a campaign bundle with all elements included for a successful campaign. Please view the full campaign bundle by clicking on the button below.
SAMPLE POWERPOINT PRESENTATION
November 2015
This presentation was created for a graduate class with a team of three graduate students who conducted a situational analysis on Hewlett Packard and its internal issues that the company was facing at the time. Challenges included failing attempts of brining back the old organizational culture, issues with communication between employees and managers as well as problems with communication disconnect between management across the board. Please view the full presentation by clicking on the button below.
"After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb."