Emily Coppella (she/her)

Throughout my professional career path, I’ve made sure to focus on my abilities as a storyteller. Since graduating from Carleton University, I’ve worked in the tourism and media industries. I was a Marketing and Communications Assistant with Tourism Kingston which allowed me to discover my passion for supporting local events and businesses. My English major at Carleton gave me the skills I needed to craft engaging digital content there, and my Women and Gender Studies minor allowed me to pitch stories that aligned with the intersectional feminist perspective Carleton helped me develop. After receiving my M.A. at Queen’s University, I landed an amazing position less than three months later with Narcity Media Group as a Branded Content Writer. Perhaps the most memorable part of my time spent at Carleton was attending workshops to fulfill my Creative Writing concentration. These workshops helped me build confidence as a writer, allowed me to accept and integrate feedback, and inspired me to simply get out of my own way as a creative person. By the time I graduated, I had nearly a year and a half of full-time work experience thanks to the Co-Op program. My first placement was at Ontario Power Generation as a Web Page Publishing Student and my second placement was at Carleton University’s Office of the Vice-President (Students and Enrolment) in the Strategic Initiatives Office.

Since graduating, my poetry and short fiction have been published in several Canadian and international literary magazines. I’m so proud of the way the English department deeply supports the literary arts — I never missed an iteration of the Showcase of Literary and Dramatic Arts.

I’ll be forever grateful for the way my Carleton English degree shaped me as a communicator. The skills I learned during the program are highly respected by professionals. Each class I took taught me the power of attention to detail, creativity, discipline, and the ability to create content that is clear, concise, and captivating. I’ve learned how invaluable these are in the professional world.

My experience at Carleton and living in Ottawa was unforgettable. I was a “Life in English” student blogger, attended a Scotiabank Giller Prize event, was in the same room as Margaret Atwood, and learned how to become a specialist in the English language and its literatures. I’m not sure where I’ll go next — but I’m grateful to know Carleton is where I came from.