Jacklyn Jaronik | DOWL
In this month's spotlight, Jacklyn Jaronik takes time out of her busy day to chat with SMPS.
Q: How did you find your way to the AEC industry and your current firm?
A: I was in my final semester of college at UAA, studying English Rhetoric, and still wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my degree, so I started applying to any entry-level jobs I was qualified for. I particularly knew I didn’t want to go into a traditional marketing field, but I wasn’t getting any responses from jobs I had applied to and, on a whim, decided to look up marketing jobs. I stumbled upon a listing for a marketing coordinator position and was pleasantly surprised that the position was at an engineering firm since I was trying to find my way into a scientific or technical writing career. I applied to a few firms, connected with other marketers on LinkedIn, and went to an SMPS meeting to learn more about the field and network. It sounded so perfect to me that if DOWL hadn’t scooped me up, I was considering moving out of state just to get a job in this field. I’m currently two years into my career with DOWL, and it still feels like someone put a glitch in the matrix to make this career a reality. I love it!
Q: What is your favorite part of the job or your most meaningful project?
A: I’ve always been a passionately curious person and really enjoy digging into the details of projects and engineering concepts so I can help technical staff with proposal writing. I wrote a lot of scientific-based research and literature review papers in college, so the transition into writing and editing proposals at DOWL felt like an extension of that work. My most meaningful project so far was working on the Parks Highway Alternative Corridor Planning and Environmental Linkages project. I grew up in the Mat-Su Valley and know the area very well. This is a project that has been talked about for a long time and is much needed, so I was excited to be a part of DOWL’s proposal development for it!
Q: What was a pivotal point in your career?
A: The most pivotal point in my two-year career so far was finding my way in! It’s life-changing when you find a career that really suits you and makes you excited to get up in the morning to go to work. I’ve heard that this is typically a field that people fall into rather than seek out, so I feel lucky to have fallen into it right out of college.
Q: What advice would you give to someone who is about to enter the marketing or business development field?
A: Be ready to stay on your toes! There’s always something to do, and it takes a high level of coordination to keep all your ducks in a row.
Q: How do you spend your time outside of work?
A: It seems like I’m always on a mountain. I go snowboarding at Alyeska and Hatcher Pass a lot in the winter and love after-work hikes in the summer. If I’m not on a mountain, I’m probably running a trail or working out.
Q: What do you look forward to most in a post-COVID world?
A: I can’t wait to start meeting new people and going to cafes again!
Q: Guilty pleasure: What can you not live without?
A: The obvious answer is probably my phone, but I think mozzarella sticks and iced coffee make me happier.
Q: If you could be a superhero, who would you choose to be?
A: Wonder Woman!
