Bianca Miceli

Major: Communication Arts (Radio, TV, Film) & Italian

Certificate: Digital Studies

Graduation Date: May 2014

How did you end up at UW Athletics?

I began as a Varsity Sports Video Coordinator, which is coaches’ film for athletic teams. While I enjoyed the problem solving aspects of it, it didn’t really fit into my desire for a creative outlet. I soon found myself enjoying making highlight videos for the teams a lot more than helping the coaches with their scouting needs. From there I developed a strong relationship with the volleyball staff and I began producing digital content for them. Eventually, it led to me earning the title of Brand Manager for their program.

What does a typical day look like for you?

My day-to-day is constantly changing since I wear a few too many hats in my current role. Some days my focus is creating video content. Some days it’s coming up with a funny tweet. Other days it’s working in an excel sheet entering social analytics. Regardless, all of this is important in developing a strategy to promote the growth of the Wisconsin Volleyball program. My ultimate goal is to ensure that across all our external channels our messaging is consistent and is connecting with our target audience.

How has Digital Studies influenced your career path?

Obviously, the hands-on camera experience helped a lot at the beginning of my career when that was my main responsibility. However, classes like Com Arts 200: Intro to Digital Communication started to get me really excited about digital media trends.

Did you have a favorite Digital Studies class or professor when you were a student?

I really enjoyed Com Arts 346: Critical Internet Studies because it gave me the foundational knowledge of how we got to where we are today. I love learning about how things came to be, and the history of the “internet” was very interesting to me. I also really enjoyed English 178: Digital Media and Literacy because of the way we got to work with other students closely. It was probably one of the few classes where I got to really engage with my classmates in a creative way.

Do you have any advice for current students?

I started looking at the classes that are offered now, and I wish I would’ve had half of those offerings when I was a student. I changed majors to Communication Arts, and wish I would have done it sooner because I was so much more passionate about those classes than what I was doing prior to that. It made school way more enjoyable. There are so many opportunities at UW, and if you can fit a class in there that you get excited about AND it fills a requirement, do it.

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career thus far?

This may sound generic, but I really am proud of how far I’ve come overall. I’m proud of how confident I’ve become in myself, especially in an extremely competitive field like mine. I’m proud that I haven’t lost my drive to continue to grow. I just really love where I am right now.