Spot STL
I decided to name my blog Spot STL because I visit various coffee shops, restaurants, and parks in the St. Louis region. I create weekly blog posts on WordPress, as well as two tweets and one Instagram post. In order to stay organized between full-time work and full-time school, I created a monthly editorial calendar. I also created a master file in Excel which organizes my Twitter analytics in terms of which tweets performed the best and why.
FOCUS St. Louis
During the summer of 2016, I had my very first internship thanks to FOCUS St. Louis. During my internship, I did a lot and learned a lot. I became skilled in InDesign because of the continuous hard work on the Leadership St. Louis catalog. I did a lot of editing on the FOCUS STL website, press releases, and weekly news letters – searching for errors and sharing insights. Additionally, I designed headers for the website and drafted their statuses for LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.
HavenHouse
I volunteered on the content side with HavenHouse. During the time I volunteered, the 2016 HopeFest gala was in the planning process and I was able to watch their PR professionals thought process during the weekly meetings. I gave my input on ideas and listened to theirs, as well. My main job was to contact various vendors in the St. Louis region to see if they were willing to donate to help fund and contribute prizes to the gala or HavenHouse in general.
Bosnian–American Professional Network (BAPN)
BAPN is a nonprofit organization in the St. Louis region. It is a new organization, started in 2015, with a mission to bring professionals together in order to make life-long relationships. I am a volunteer with the organization and contribute to their mission in my spare time. While a volunteer, I was the female MC for the 2015 Walk to Remember Srebrenica Genocide in St. Louis. This was an important event for the Bosnian community because it marked 20 years since the genocide. The turnout to the event was more than 2,000 individuals; including the local news stations and international news. Additionally, I have edited their social media news releases and created a campaign to attract new members to the organization. The campaign was my final project in Writing for PR at SLU, but I gave BAPN my work upon graduation. The materials are available in my portfolio tab.
ALDI USA
Upon graduating from high school, I began working at ALDI near my house and still work here. The most important thing I learned at ALDI is to know that everything is possible. Working in a fast-paced environment continuously brings out the strategist in me and challenges me to prioritize time effectively. Although I work with several colleagues during each shift, I also work alone. At ALDI I wear multiple hats and challenge myself to accomplish duties from cashiering, to cleaning, and to managerial duties during peak business hours. At ALDI, I worked full-time throughout college in order to receive an education. If anyone knows about hard work ethnic, it's me.
Crepes Etc.
At the age of 16, I went Crepes Etc. for a night out with my sister, Elmedina, and landed my first job. Out of all my experiences this is where I learned to be responsible on the job and constructed my overall work ethic. Throughout my time at Crepes Etc. I learned how to communicate effectively with customers and colleagues; how to organize my time effectively; how to multi-task; and how to prioritize tasks to get the job done on time. Not long after I was hired, I began training new employees and working alone on weekend nights that normally required two individuals to get the job done.
Leadership and Activities
Public relations specialist for the SLU Ad Club, Fall 2014
- I organized tabeling events during the semester in order to raise money for the club. Also, I worked along with the rest of the members to design the logo and best way to interact with the SLU students via social media.
Interpreter for the Bosnian community at a cardiovascular screening event in St. Louis
- I was a volunteer with the event and helped the individuals who weren't fluent in English understand their screenings and the best way to move forward in life.
President of the Chemistry Club, Spring 2014
- I am a well rounded individual and like knowing a little bit about everything. As president, I organized weekly meetings and agendas, emailed members any urgent news, recruited new members, organized tabling events to raise money, and made Chemistry Club feel more fun than it sounds by designing flyers for the campus boards.
English teacher in Istanbul
- During the summer of 2012, I went to Istanbul for eight weeks as a volunteer through the Federation of Balkan Americans (FEBA). I had no idea where I was going to live, who I would teach, or who else was going other than my sister, Elmedina. I was chosen to be a teacher for high school girls. As their teacher, I created lesson plans, communicated in English, and built relationships where they can ask me something they didn't understand.