TXST student named 2024 AAF Award Winner
By Elissa Jorgensen
Zaria Jackson – named one of America’s Most Promising Multicultural Students – found her calling while attending the School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
Jackson thought that because she’s African-American “sometimes you get the short end of the stick,” she said.
But a trip to New York City where she was named one of the 50 Most Promising Multicultural Students by the American Advertising Federation (AAF) in 2024 changed her perceptions.
The “trip changed that because all the people who went to visit encouraged us to just reach out and try no matter what,” she said.
Jackson graduated from Texas State with a bachelor's degree in advertising in December and is continuing her advertising journey with a marketing internship in Grand Prairie, Texas. She helps plan the city’s community events and oversee their promotion via email and social media.
She initially struggled with her identity and where it would lead her professionally.
Jackson learned about the AAF program from Texas State’s Associate Professor of Practice Jenny Buschhorn.
“I feel like at Texas State they have the professors and resources for if you do need to come back and talk to somebody, and that's what I did,” Jackson said. “I talked to Professor Buschhorn, and I had her look over my resume, my cover letters, and different things like that.”
Jackson met a number of media professionals and advertising agency representatives during luncheons and recruiting expositions during the convention. It provided her with valuable networking and learning opportunities, she said.
Jackson credits the trip with showing her how the advertising field is changing its approach on diversity in the workplace.
“Advertising has changed a lot with diversity, and it was cool to see all these companies going that route and trying to implement more African-Americans, more Asians, and more Hispanics into their companies instead of just, you know, the typical white man,” Jackson said.
Although she always believed she wanted to go into advertising, Jackson didn’t have any mentors in the field until attending Texas State.
“No one I knew was in advertising, so the mentors definitely relied more on professors,” Jackson said. “Texas State has resources for people. I think most people don't go back to their college whenever they need help, and that’s something people should do.”