Jada Flowers, (B.A. ‘20, M.A. ‘21), project and event coordinator for the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at ComArtSci, has been honored for her work by a prestigious Detroit advertising organization.
Flowers was one of four recipients of AdCraft Detroit’s inaugural Elevate Awards. The award recognizes Flowers’ “commitment to elevating inclusion in the advertising community and being someone who is doing great things.” The award was presented during the organization’s conference on September 17.
Part of Flowers’ duties include managing the ComArtSci DEI social media accounts, which she describes as a mainly student-led initiative.
“We post a lot of student resources such as scholarships and internships, and we also post cultural celebrations, such as Indigenous Peoples Month,” Flowers said. “So, my job is supervising our student staff and making sure they’re getting some relevant and engaging content out on our social media page.”
Flowers is also instrumental in coordinating the ComArtSci DEI NYC Trip. The immersion program is designed to provide students with an interest in advertising and public relations – specifically in the role of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion– with access to the New York City advertising and PR community through participation in site visits to The One Club for Creativity, Reddit, PepsiCo, Fanatics and other activities. She plays a key role in preparing students for professional opportunities by helping them in refining their resumes and portfolios, guiding them in reflecting on course experiences for LinkedIn and Handshake and sourcing opportunities at companies and agencies. Flowers also hosts events such as the ComArtSci Office for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion “Professional-ish” networking event, a panel discussion allowing current students to talk with recent graduates about their career journeys.
She also supports students’ career access through a program she herself created. During her academic career at MSU, Flowers developed MSU Ignite. It’s a five-day summer program that helps recent high school graduates learn more about ComArtSci academics. Flowers and the initial student team envisioned it to be a bridge to help incoming MSU students adjust to their new environment.
“Ignite started about five years ago,” she said. “It was only going to be for advertising students, but then we decided during the pandemic that since the students weren't getting as much contact with MSU, we wanted to open it up to all different majors. So, for the past four years we’ve been welcoming underrepresented students from historically marginalized backgrounds from all over Michigan and all over the world.”
Flowers says Ignite garners a lot of positive feedback, both from students and parents.
“[Parents] are always super appreciative of the program and the fact that it’s free,” she said. “They always see a lot of growth in their student, even though it's just one week long. Then they feel a little more comfortable sending their child to campus.”
Based on such positive reviews, Flowers hopes the MSU Ignite Summer Program will grow. Currently, just two people manage a program that supports about 75 students. Flowers says her goal is to bring on more staff and possibly expand the experience to two weeks.
“I started the program when I was an undergrad, so it’s satisfying being able to see it go from an idea on paper to a meeting and then to see it come to life,” Flowers said. “It’s fun being a resource to the students and being someone who can tell them, ‘hey…I think this would be valuable for you; I think this would be a great idea for you.’ It’s nice to be someone from whom they’d take that feedback or that resource and actually utilize it.”
By: Kevin Lavery