{"id":2377,"date":"2026-04-29T13:24:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T18:24:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jmcjournal.org\/?p=2377"},"modified":"2026-04-29T13:24:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T18:24:20","slug":"i-never-wrote-a-slogan-my-journey-from-murray-state-to-spotify","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jmcjournal.org\/?p=2377","title":{"rendered":"I Never Wrote A Slogan – My Journey from Murray State to Spotify"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Megan (Summers) Haneline (ADV ’13)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Too many years ago, I was sitting among the cluttered bookcases in Professor Welsch\u2019s office, daydreaming of having my own office someday, when he asked where I saw myself after graduation. I\u2019m sure my answer was something like writing catchy slogans at an ad agency in New York City. I had never even been to New York, but it seemed plausible; glamorous, even. I originally thought obtaining my college degree would give me a straight line to a specific job title. Go to class, put in the work, get the degree, and then hopefully, a big flashy title. What Murray State actually gave me was a foundation of understanding how brands communicate, how audiences think, and how to position a message. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the most formative experiences I had at Murray State actually took place in Professor Valentine\u2019s classroom when a larger-than-life industry veteran named Bob Norsworthy walked us through his decades-long career in advertising. A self-made ad man who\u2019d traded small-town roots for boardrooms, Nors didn\u2019t just inspire us; he worked alongside our professors to connect students with real internship opportunities. The process was competitive, with multiple rounds of interviews, but landing that internship was the bridge between Murray, Kentucky, and New York City. I would not have made it there without him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After graduation, I found myself in New York again, and this time, working at an ad agency. I was learning the ropes and figuring out what I enjoyed doing. Turns out, I really enjoyed the technical side of the work, and more importantly, helping others understand complex sales systems and processes. I gravitated toward technical writing and training, and eventually realized those were the skills that energized me the most. Gaining that clarity changed everything. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This past January, I celebrated 10 years at Spotify and received the coolest anniversary gift -my own Spotify record plaque. I’m not an artist. I can’t hold a tune. But a decade ago, I was working at that ad agency and started browsing companies I thought were cool. I wanted to work for a brand I used every day and loved. I found a role on Spotify’s website that matched exactly what I was doing at the agency. The worst they could say was no, right? So, I submitted my resume at 2 a.m. that morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I started at Spotify in Ad Operations, placing ads directly on the platform. From there, I transitioned to working with clients on reporting and billing, all while still managing the backend and ad placements. After my maternity leave, I made what turned out to be the most meaningful move of my career and joined Spotify’s Sales Training & Enablement team. I now train our sales and vendor teams on how to use our various sales systems and tools. Over the past 10 years, I’ve gone from being nervous about speaking in front of a small group to confidently leading training sessions with over 300 people. I’m genuinely proud of how far I’ve come. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve been lucky to have incredible women in leadership to look up to \u2014 people who pushed me, supported me, and helped shape the career I have today. None of that happened because I followed the exact path I mapped out in Professor Welsch’s office. It happened because my education gave me a strong enough foundation to stay curious, be adaptable, and keep saying yes to opportunities that looked a little different from the plan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what advice would I give to students in the JMC program today? The advertising and marketing world is enormous. You may end up in a role that doesn’t exist yet, at a company you haven’t heard of, doing work you didn’t know was possible. I didn’t fully grasp until after graduation just how many doors an advertising degree could open. Your career will evolve, and the skills that set you apart may not be the ones you expect. For me, it was technical communication and training. Find your version of that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Murray State gave me a starting point, a curiosity about how brands and people connect, and professors who asked the right questions, even when I had the wrong answers. I may not have written a single slogan, but I finally did get my own cluttered bookcases, and a dream career. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Megan (Summers) Haneline (ADV ’13) Too many years ago, I was sitting among the cluttered bookcases in Professor Welsch\u2019s office, daydreaming of having my own office someday, when he asked where I saw myself after graduation. I\u2019m sure my answer was something like writing catchy slogans at an ad agency in New York City. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2378,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8,6,1],"tags":[43,40,18,33],"class_list":["post-2377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-featured","category-jmc-dept","category-uncategorized","tag-alumni","tag-featured","tag-murray-state","tag-murray-state-jmc","eq-blocks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jmcjournal.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jmcjournal.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jmcjournal.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jmcjournal.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jmcjournal.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2377"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/jmcjournal.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2377\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2383,"href":"https:\/\/jmcjournal.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2377\/revisions\/2383"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jmcjournal.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jmcjournal.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jmcjournal.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jmcjournal.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}