During my first semester at UF, a friend of mine approached me about an opportunity to work with the iconic luggage, handbag and accessories brand Vera Bradley. Since then, for four years, I worked with Vera Bradley as a campus ambassador, creating social media content incorporating Vera Bradley product for my personal Instagram page. As an ambassador, I collaborated with organizations on campus for events and giveaways, to cater the brand to as much of its campus target audience as possible. My very first sponsored post was for Vera Bradley, and I have learned so much about influencer marketing since then. This experience initially launched me into my journey pursuing opportunities to collaborate with brands on social media campaigns.
The content typically follows a theme, such as ‘back-to-campus’, ‘weekend getaway’ or fun holidays like ‘national coffee day’.
Pictured here: Dance Marathon (biggest university-wide fundraiser for our local children’s hospital), She’s The First (an on-campus organization that raises funds for girls education in developing countries) and a sorority house dinner giveaway.
One of my favorite tabling events was when we celebrated women empowerment by asking girls what made them feel empowered. We had them write out their answers on a dry-erase board, snapped some photos and shared them on social media. Every participant was entered into a giveaway for a Vera Bradley bag. I loved seeing girls share when they feel their most confident and powerful, and creating a connection between women empowerment and the Vera Bradley brand. For this initiative, my co-ambassador and I received recognition from our program supervisor and Vera Bradley’s PR team.