I Graduated with a Marketing Degree and Learned the Most at a Law Firm

“Wait, you worked in marketing… at a law firm?”

The semester before I graduated, I received the email that would change everything: my first full-time job offer. During my internship, there had been a few conversations about the possibility of staying on full time, but nothing was ever confirmed. I didn’t want to assume anything, so I kept my head down, focused on delivering strong work, and hoped it would speak for itself. When the offer finally came through, it felt like all the long nights, part-time jobs, and quiet persistence had paid off. I called my dad the second I opened it and said, “I got it,” barely able to stop smiling. On the other end of the line, his voice was warm and proud. He congratulated me, and I felt a rush of validation. But when the call ended, I sat quietly for a moment. Something about the silence made me pause. He hadn’t said anything wrong, but the tone lingered.

“Marketing? At a law firm?”
“Is that even a real role?”
“What will you do there?”

If I had a dollar for every time someone raised an eyebrow when I told them I worked in marketing at a law firm, I could have funded our whole department’s budget for the year. I understood it. A law firm doesn’t exactly scream innovation or creativity and what does marketing have anything to do at a law firm. But the irony? That made it the best possible training ground I could have asked for.

After graduating from Suffolk University with a degree in marketing, I transitioned from a Marketing Intern to a full-time Marketing Specialist at Caldwell, a global law firm. The shift was interesting because while the responsibilities remained similar, the mindset had to change. I was no longer supporting from the sidelines, I was driving the work forward. That transition pushed me to take full ownership, make decisions with confidence, and start thinking like a strategist rather than just an executor.

The marketing team was small, consisting of just my manager and me. When she went on maternity leave halfway through my first year, I stepped into a much larger role and became a one-woman operation. I relied on every tool available to stay organized and efficient. Google Docs, Notion, and ChatGPT became essential parts of my workflow, helping me manage campaigns, build internal processes, and keep everything moving. It was a demanding period, but it taught me how to lead through uncertainty and proved that I could take on more than I had imagined.

Every project started with a single question: What’s the goal here? This helps me ground myself in cutting out the fluff, and getting straight to the point. Whether I was planning firm-hosted events, building content strategies, or writing email copy, I had to think in systems. Legal audiences are detail-oriented and risk-averse. Our messaging had to be thoughtful, accurate, and human. Over the course of that year, I helped grow our LinkedIn following by 60%, increased Instagram engagement by 20%, and drove a 90% boost in brand visibility. We hosted ten firm-branded events that brought in over 700 attendees across panels, networking sessions, and seminars. I created the strategy, coordinated the logistics, and executed every detail start to finish (if you're curious on what I've helped accomplish, view my portfolio here). And I did it while learning, adapting, and occasionally asking ChatGPT to help refine my LinkedIn copy.

The skepticism didn’t stop once I started delivering results.

People would ask what I actually did there. It didn’t come with the same shine as working at a startup or consumer tech company. But behind the polished law firm logo was some of the most challenging and creative work I’d done. Crafting content for startups in the tech and life sciences space isn’t about selling a vibe, it’s about translating complex, high-stakes thinking into language people can actually understand and trust. Every campaign demanded both precision and storytelling as it pushed me to be flexible, intentional, and strategic.

When my manager went on leave, I had two choices: complain or adapt. I leaned into tools and began experimenting with AI, drafting content when my inbox overflowed, sparking ideas when creativity stalled, and building workflows and reporting systems that made the chaos more manageable. The more I used it, the more I realized I was just scratching the surface of what was possible. It felt like I had unlocked a new layer of marketing entirely. I didn’t just want to survive that chaotic season, I wanted to work at the edge of where marketing and AI collide.

Today, I work at Pegasystems, where I support the ABM (Account-Based Marketing) team for the financial services and insurance sector. Pegasystems is an enterprise software company that helps organizations automate, personalize, and optimize customer experiences through AI-powered decisioning and workflow automation. In a world where customer journeys are increasingly complex, Pega helps brands cut through the noise and serve people in real time, intelligently and at scale.

What I love about being here is that I finally get to merge everything I’ve learned from sharp messaging to systems thinking to utilizing the tools of AI. I’m no longer working in isolation as I’m part of a collaborative, cross-functional team that pushes strategy forward across channels and segments. And yet, the mindset I built as a team of one hasn’t left me. I crave the moments where I can bridge departments, experiment with AI, and find smarter ways to activate engagement through personalized storytelling. I want to be part of the conversations shaping how marketers use AI, ethically, meaningfully, and creatively. The law firm gave me discipline, clarity, and resilience. Pega gives me scale, momentum, and a bigger playground. This is just the beginning, and I see endless opportunities to contribute and grow.

Advice for Those Who Never Asked

Your first job might surprise you, and that’s a good thing.
Don’t write off an industry just because it’s not “cool.” Legal marketing made me sharper.

AI is an amplifier, not a crutch.
The earlier you learn how to use it, the faster you’ll uncover your edge.

Every experience counts.
Especially the ones that make people raise eyebrows.