Professional work.
Overview
Included positions and applicable focuses:
Volunteers of America Oregon — Non-profit; social media and digital marketing; videography
Alexander Hamilton Scholars — Non-profit; management; quarterly and annual publications
Paper Bird Public Relations for HLAA-Whatcom — RFP Public Relations campaign; non-profit; coursework
Bellingham Regional Chamber of Commerce — Branding; non-profit; internship
WWU AS REP — Branding; PR collateral & PSAs; non-profit; coursework
Office of Marketing and Communication, Western Washington University — Social media content creation, higher education
University Residences, Western Washington University — Photography; videography
Communications Coordinator for
Volunteers of America Oregon
The biggest opportunity VOA Oregon had was promoting its storytelling through video and channel-specific social media strategies.
Throughout my time with VOA Oregon, I’ve elevated the storytelling of this longest-serving social services organization in the state.
Relevant experience includes:
Social media content creation and management
Website and brand refreshing
Photography and Videography
Communications & Data Manager; Coordinator for
Alexander Hamilton Scholars
AHS Annual Report 2022
Representing the second annual report I prepared for AHS, I consider this 2022 edition to be my best work in both design and the advancement of human-centric storytelling at AHS, centering the values of clients in their partnership with AHS as they achieve a college education and break the cycle of poverty. My ultimate goal was empowering clients to take ownership of their stories to mitigate perceived feelings tokenization while balancing the organization need to show impact.
AHS Annual Report 2021
Annually, in an effort to lead with transparency and gratitude, AHS releases a report that reflects on the previous year and what the community can look forward to in the coming one. This 2021 report includes eight features of Hammies at different places in the AHS Empowerment Program.
Every piece of this report was crafted by me; I interviewed the scholars, pulled together statistics, and disseminated the report to our community.
I joined Alexander Hamilton Scholars first as the Communications & Data Coordinator in April 2021; I advanced to Communications & Data Manager in 2022.
Alexander Hamilton Scholars is a youth empowerment program that serves underserved, high-achieving high school juniors through a unique five-year college access empowerment program. These scholars — lovingly nicknamed Hammies — are provided resources and mentorship as they navigate transitioning from high school to college, life in college, and from college to what lies beyond.
As manager, I planned and executed all outbound communications to donors and scholars, engaged as a mentor, and streamlined internal/external processes using data.
Relevant experience includes:
Leadership and management
Identifying and executing workflow improvements using data
Heavy graphic design workload
Mentorship
Paper Bird Public Relations for the
Hearing Loss Association of America Whatcom County Chapter
Campaign proposal booklet
This 51-page booklet includes the entire pitch given to HLAA-Whatcom; pitch highlights include a comprehensive social media awareness campaign, and a proposed partnership with local pillar of the community.
I was responsible for the every piece of graphic design for the campaign. including posters, social media graphics, and the booklet itself. Furthermore, I assisted with ideation, copy writing and content layout.
Campaign slide deck
The final piece of the capstone was the pitch to the client itself; this is the slide deck used in that client presentation.
I was, again, responsible for all graphic design work done.
My senior capstone project was a fully realized PR campaign pitch, based off a request for proposal from the Hearing Loss Association of America Whatcom County Chapter; Paper Bird PR was founded by myself and two other peers to complete the work as part of an assigned three-month long group project.
Out of three competing proposals, our pitch was selected by HLAA-Whatcom.
Relevant experience includes:
In-depth research and decision making using survey data
Pitch and campaign development
Engaging in non-profit mission and values
Heavy graphic design workload
Teamwork & brainstorming
“While we would be pleased to work with any of the teams and believe all would produce very successful results, our team believes the most effective would be Paper Bird PR.”
Marketing Internship
Bellingham Regional Chamber of Commerce
BRCC brand guide
Brand guide addendum
During my final quarter at Western, I completed an internship with the Bellingham Regional Chamber of Commerce; work was done during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
My role was to create a comprehensive brand guide that included asset standards, voice and language guide, and a recommendation for future programing logos.
Relevant experience includes:
Branding
Engaging in non-profit mission and values
Heavy graphic design workload
Self-driven workload
Western Washington University
Associated Students Representation and Engagement Programs (AS REP)
AS REP brand guide
I developed my first brand guide for the AS REP.
AS REP Media Kit
The Associated Students Representation and Engagement Programs (AS REP) is a student organization at Western Washington University. The REP’s purpose is to provide support and resources to equally represent student voices in local, city, county and national issues using different strategies like community engagement and political action.
Other materials:
This poster PSA was created for use on community bulletin boards in the student union building.
This video was created for Western Washington University's Associated Students Representation and Engagement Programs as part of a service learning project.
Western Washington University
Office of Marketing and Communication
IG Story Takeover of @WesternWashingtonUniversity. Taken by John "Elias" Olson for Western Washington University for the purposes of promoting an event on their campus on their primary social media content. This video acts as a representation of promotional materials and was published as part of a portfolio at eliasolson.com
Instagram Highlight Capture of @WesternWashingtonUniversity. Recorded by John "Elias" Olson for Western Washington University for the purposes recording metrics for use in portfolio. This video acts as a representation of promotional materials and was published as part of a portfolio at eliasolson.com
2019 Enrollment at Western Washington University
This infographic was used in a early fall 2019 edition of the family connections newsletter.
Post written as part of a series on safety.
Short news brief for Window Magazine.
My time with WWU’s communications office has spanned almost half of my higher-education career; work included storytelling via Instagram Stories, infographic creation, pitching in copy for Window Alumni Magazine and the Family Connections newsletter, as well as writing articles for Western Today.
Finally, I received a nomination for 2019-2020 Student Employee of the Year.
Western Washington University
University Residences (Housing)
Galleries:
University Residences; Resident Advisor Shoot
University Residences; Move-In Day 2019
Over summer 2019, I had the chance to capture the two pieces of the housing experience at Western; I worked alongside staff to tell the story of the importance of becoming an RA and the intricacies of the moving-in process, by capturing photos and videos for use in future promotional materials.
