Sariah Wilkey at the annual World Refugee Day Celebration
Sariah Wilkey: Creating A Career out of Compassion
Emmalee Davis, writer
The summer before Sariah Wilkey entered her senior year as a Utah State University JCOM student, she found herself in a position many students are all too familiar with: hours spent scrolling through Handshake with the hope of finding a new job.
For Wilkey, the listing for “Outreach and Development Coordinator” at the Cache Refugee and Immigrant Connection, or CRIC, caught her eye.
“I had a few interviews with other companies, but nothing was sitting right with me, none of them were super exciting. Then I saw this opening and knew I wanted to work for a non-profit as well as refugees or immigrants,” Wilkey says. “With a non-profit, you just feel good.
You’re doing something good. I’m not a refugee or immigrant, but my heart is tuned into this aspect of life. I just believe everyone deserves to belong.”
To her excitement, Wilkey secured the part-time position which would later transform into full-time after her 2023 graduation.
Now, Wilkey spends her days at CRIC managing general community outreach by responding to emails, creating content for social media accounts, crafting press releases or news pitches, and her favorite: event planning.
Wilkey is most proud of the hard work she’s poured into running events such as the annual World Refugee Day Celebration or the Harvest Dinner over the past year and a half at CRIC.
World Refugee Day is a free community event celebrating the refugees living in Cache Valley and features the foods, traditional clothing or dances of each refugee community involved.
“With this event, it’s the one time the community can come to meet people from Somalia, Afghanistan or Eritrea,” Wilkey said. “It’s also fun for the different communities because they get to dress up in their cool traditional cultural gear they wouldn’t usually wear to just run errands.”
She describes her work as a one-person team. “I’ve had to become a jack of all trades just because it’s not a big corporation where there’s a graphic design team or email marketing team. I’ve had to learn to do all those things myself. It’s been super fun because I get to try everything out. Normally in your first job out of college, you’re just a social media person or just an email marketer, but I’ve been able to learn and do it all.”
Thankfully, Wilkey says the skills she learned in USU JCOM courses like “writing for PR” helped prepare her to become a versatile employee. She points to writing speeches, press releases, or news advisories as the most real hands-on practice she had entering the position.
For students who may find themselves in the same scenario of scrolling USU’s Handshake in preparation for an upcoming graduation or in time for summer internships, Wilkey has two key pieces of advice. First, master the secrets of Canva, and second, don’t be afraid to put yourself out there.
“Canva is my best friend and I would tell anyone to learn more about it,” Wilkey says. She uses the program to create much of the content for the center and urges everyone to explore the helpful tricks Canva has to offer.
Lastly, Wilkey asserts that she wouldn’t be in her position if it weren’t for her willingness to “shoot her shot.” She wasn’t sure if she had the skills or experience needed by the center, but reached out regardless. “They took a chance on me, I’m very grateful for their faith in me knowing that I was still in school. That wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t at least sent an application or resume and followed up with them.”