By Christiane Lee, ’18
Abbey Barker, 24, graduated from the College of Saint Rose with an English degree in 2015. She started college as a Communications major with a Journalism concentration, but switched into English at the beginning of her freshman year. She moved to Brooklyn after four years of traveling between Albany for school and Manhattan for her internship, but has since returned to the Capital Region for work. She loves writing creative non-fiction, literary criticism, and journalism. As an upcoming graduate, I took the opportunity to ask her some questions about her experiences as a humanities major after leaving Saint Rose.
What do you work in now? Do you use the skills you learned as an English major in this work?
Barker: I am currently the Field Director for Paul Tonko’s 2018 re-election campaign. Being an English major instilled in me the critical thinking skills and tools for thoughtful discourse that I use every day.
What kinds of jobs were you looking for after you graduated?
Barker: I interned every summer throughout college and, thankfully, was offered a full-time job before graduation. I started as the Administrative Director and Social Media Assistant at Bob Mackie Design Group at the beginning of 2015 and left as Social Media Director in 2017.
What difficulties did you face in the job hunt?
Barker: I started working at Bob Mackie when I was eighteen and before I knew it, I had been there for 5 years. What I wanted professionally and creatively began to shift. When I started looking for jobs and seeing what was out there, there were a lot of moments of feeling I wasn’t qualified to do anything combined with the insecurity of knowing there are 40 other people going for the same job I was. I say all that to say, be kind to yourself. It is hard to be young and unsure and searching for the job of your dreams or even the job that pays your rent. Be patient with yourself and with the process.
Have you thought about graduate school?
Barker: I have looked at CUNY Hunter and Emerson College’s MFA in Creative Non-Fiction/Creative Writing programs. Grad school is something I’ve been going back and forth on since my junior year of college. My approach has revolved around needing everything to fall into place perfectly: the timing would have to be right, the creative energy would have to be all but overflowing, and the funds to support myself would have to be available. In the three years since undergrad, I’ve been close to applying, but it never felt right.
If you could give one piece of advice to new and graduating English majors, what would it be?
Barker: You might think you know everything, but you actually know nothing. Let life happen so you can learn something.
English at Saint Rose 
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