Well-Rounded Go-Getter: JCOM Alumnus Bradley Thatcher

By Corinne Clarkson

If USU Journalism and Communication alumnus Bradley Thatcher could give one piece of advice to students, he would tell them to be as well-rounded as you can be. The knowledge and experience you gain at school will be used and valued in the “real world," as he has shown through his short, yet successful career. 

Thatcher started his undergraduate studies wanting to go into human resources. It wasn’t until he started an Aggie Radio sports show that he discovered the JCOM department, through his friend and co-host who was in the journalism program. Thatcher thought it was a good fit for him, so he switched and loved every bit of it. 

“My experience in school and in the JCOM program was awesome,” Thatcher says. He appreciated the real-life experience that his professors had and how their experience helped him grow as a student. 

 “There are so many good professors and the best part about JCOM professors is the majority of them have come from the workforce,” says Thatcher. “For example, Steve Reiher worked for several Fortune 500 companies and done a lot of different things that gave credence to what he was saying. The same with Debra Monson, Matthew LaPlante and Brian Champagne, to name a few.

“JCOM professors are not just students turned teachers, but students turned professionals, then turned professors,” Thatcher said. “It was big for me to get real applicable training from people who had actually done it.”

While still in college, Thatcher started an internship at one of the largest franchises in the world, Harris Research, based in Logan. After graduating in 2015, he was hired as a marketing and public relations coordinator for the N-Hance franchise brand. He became the marketing manager for N-Hance franchise development shortly after. 

Thatcher left to help with an Ogden-based startup, Better Way Franchise group. He had a ton of fun with the startup scene, but had the urge to leave franchise consulting and get into technology. Thatcher heard about a job at Logan-based Juniper Systems as a content marketer to curate the content for the company’s different products.

After applying and accepting a job at Juniper Systems, he hasn’t found one thing he dislikes about the job. His favorite part, however, is product planning and coordinating the launch of new products, most of which are rugged, hand-held devices and tablets. This includes making the road map to plan the content they release for each new product. This includes corresponding videos, blogs, press releases, social media strategies and web content. 

Thatcher shares the story of a series of communication audits he did for an assignment for Dr. Monson’s public relations research class. At the time, he thought it was a random assignment. A few years later, he was helping with a startup for his employer, and a huge part of it was communication and social media audits for other companies. Thatcher was able to use what he learned in Monson’s class to successfully manage his work assignment.

“Don’t treat the projects that they give you lightly,” Thatcher said. “Take the opportunity to learn more. 

“For example, I think every PR student should do more with professor Champagne’s class because of the amount of work he does with film, recording, photography,” Thatcher said. “That stuff translates so much, not just to broadcast journalists, but to public relations and marketing. My job is based on content creation. I record all the audio, I work with all the imagery, I do a ton of blog posts for the company with customer stories, which is just like writing an article in any of the journalism classes.”

Thatcher’s other piece of advice to students is to not limit themselves to looking for PR jobs once they graduate, but look for content writing, content management or even marketing opportunities. He also emphasizes the importance of having a digital portfolio, even if the amount of content is limited. But overall, he says, “take advantage of the classes offered and leave USU as well-rounded as you can be.”